MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Felipe Calderon accused the U.S. on Thursday of dumping criminals at the border because it is cheaper than prosecuting them, and said the practice has fueled violence in Mexico’s border areas.
U.S. officials earlier this week reported a record number of deportations in fiscal 2011, and said the number of deportees with criminal convictions had nearly doubled since 2008.
“There are many factors in the violence that is being experienced in some Mexican border cities, but one of those is that the American authorities have gotten into the habit of simply deporting 60,000 or 70,000 migrants per year to cities like Ciudad Juarez or Tijuana,” Mr. Calderon said at an immigration conference.
Among these deportees “there are many who really are criminals, who have committed some crime and it is simply cheaper to leave them on the Mexican side of the border than to prosecute them, as they should do, to see whether they are guilty or not,” Mr. Calderon said. “Obviously, they quickly link up with criminal networks on the border.”
On Tuesday in Washington, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said his agency deported nearly 400,000 individuals, the vast majority from Mexico, during the fiscal year that ended in September, noting that about 55 percent of those deported had felony or misdemeanor convictions.
There are no records to substantiate whether U.S. authorities opt for deporting undocumented Mexican nationals who have committed crimes instead of prosecuting them in the U.S.
The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on Mr. Calderon’s assertions.
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