Massacre Might be Worst Yet

Though I found the massacre of the migrants on my Walmart Connect website this morning, I heard no more about it in the news today until I did a web search tonight. I do not catch television news to know how much play it had there.

I guess I thought it would be the lead story. I do wish what was going on in Mexico would attract more attention. With 72 people being massacred, perhaps the worst massacre of the drug wars in Mexico so far, it seems it would warrant more concern.

The Laredo Sun website indicated the massacre was yet to be verified as being the work of a drug cartel. A man believed to be the lone survivor said the attackers identified themselves as Zetas, which is the most feared of all Mexican gangs. The Zetas demanded the migrants work for the cartel, according to the survivor. Evidently, the migrants declined, and were killed.

They were reportedly from Ecuador, Honduras, El Salvador and Brazil. They were but 100 miles from the U.S. border when killed.

How dangerous is it for a migrant to journey across Mexico in hopes of reaching the U.S.? The Mexico Human Rights Commission says 500,000 make the trip each year. It said 10,000 were abducted in about six months from 2008 to 2009, so the rate of abductions is high. They are taken at point of life, and forced to serve the drug cartels, and others are extorted before being let go

The dangerous trip across Mexico surely discourages many, and will dissuade even more when they hear about the massacre.

Since I try to post an opinion on an issue each day and tie it into a news story, my opinion is that we should legalize immigration. The obstacles facing a person who wants to come to America often mean he must wait years to come, or if he comes, he must come illegally. In essence, then, it is illegal for many to immigrate into the U.S., thus we have so many illegal immigrants.

Instead of making it illegal for them to come, and leaving them facing the terror of crossing through the drug-cartel land of Mexico, I wish they were escorted here. I wish Mexican officials greeted them at the southern border and escorted them safely to the U.S. border, where they were issued paperwork making it legal for them to enter the U.S.