At the recent annual conference of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic advocacy organization in the US, the chief US Border Patrol agent for most of Arizona, David Aguilar, said that the US government has a responsibility to protect undocumented border crossers. While some outside observers said that the Border Patrol should not be in the business of providing humanitarian assistance, most maintain that basic human decency calls for agents to render whatever assistance they can to people in need.
At a later session, Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda called upon the US to legalize an estimated three million Mexicans living and working in the US without authorization. Castaneda also said that US border policy is the primary cause of deaths along the US-Mexican border. While saying that the current situation must be changed, Castaneda recognized that it likely will not be until next year that negotiations begin again in earnest.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. The information provided in this article has not been updated since its original posting and you should not rely on it until you consult counsel to determine if the content is still valid. We keep older articles online because it helps in the understanding of the development of immigration law.