May 17, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

MEXICO: Desperation born from lack of work pushes more than 400,000 Mexicans and Central Americans every year to embark on a dangerous adventure in pursuit of the “American dream”.

Many die in their attempt to illegally cross the US border, are involved in accidents or are arrested by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

One such failed attempt occurred on Wednesday and resulted in the deaths of 18 undocumented immigrants who were left locked inside a trailer abandoned at a Texas highway rest stop.

Undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America are aware of the risks of trying to enter the United States, but even so, they try it. After all, millions of undocumented workers have crossed the border through harsh, desert terrain and difficult conditions and made it.

Many villages in impoverished regions have become virtual ghost towns, inhabited only by the very old or the very young after the young men took a few small possessions and headed north “to the other side”. Women, some with their babes-in-arms, also attempt the daunting trip.

Central Americans have an especially tough task since they must cross at least two borders, including the one between Guatemala and Mexico.

Along the Suchiate river in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, the flow of undocumented workers is steady. Deaths and abuse at the hands of the Mexican police are also frequent.

Some migrants lose arms or legs when they jump onto cargo trains and are dragged for kilometres, or, overly tired, they fall asleep on railway tracks and are crushed.

Some of them are assaulted by police or become victims of extortion. The weakest die from exhaustion. Many young women end up broke and work as prostitutes to earn a few more pesos to continue their trip to the United States.

Undocumented workers mostly are helped by human traffickers, known as “coyotes”, to whom they pay thousands of dollars per person to cross over. But coyotes are ruthless, and at the least hint of danger that they might be arrested by police, they abandon their charges, who are often packed into trailers or trucks, in the middle of a sweltering desert. Every year, nearly 400 people with dreams of a better life die trying to cross the border.—dpa