The Long Road from Guatemala to the United States
Trends: Mexicans are still by far the largest group of illegal immigrants to the United States: In 2005, 86 percent of apprehensions across the U.S.-Mexico border were of Mexicans. But as Mexicans head north to find a better life in the United States, Guatemalans are falling in behind them—between 45,000 and 75,000 Guatemalan peasants cross the southern Mexican border each year, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Disturbingly, drug lords are seizing control of the human-smuggling business across the Americas, using migrants as human decoys for diverting border authorities from shipments of drugs.
Hot new route: The new fence along the U.S.-Mexico border in California and Texas merely shifted migration routes away from traditional entry ports near San Diego and El Paso. The hot new gateway is the area around Tucson, Arizona, which saw a 64 percent increase in the number of apprehensions in 2004 compared with the previous year.
Why they leave: It’s the economy, stupid. Most migrants from Latin America are looking for a better-paying job in order to send remittances home to their families left behind. But violent crime could also play a role: Increasing numbers of asylum seekers from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala cite fear of “gang violence” on their applications.
What they find: In the United States, a crackdown: tough Border Patrol agents, the National Guard, and the Minutemen, anti-illegal immigrant activists who are taking enforcement into their own hands.
Northeast Asian Exodus
Trends: In an indication of just how bad the situation in Hermit Kingdom has gotten, apprehensions of North Koreans skyrocketed in Thailand in 2006. Since the mid-1990s, at least 200,000 Chinese have moved to far southeastern Russia.
Hot new route: Desperate North Koreans are forced to get creative in fleeing to the more prosperous South. A common way to get there is via Thailand through China and Laos. Many never make it out of China.
Why they leave: The severe famine that hit North Korea after disastrous economic reforms prompted thousands to leave their homes. Along with China’s surplus of males, this migration has fueled a new kind of sex trade: Chinese smugglers attract young women, many of them from North Korea, with the promise of a good job, and then sell them to local Chinese men as “wives.” At the same time, Chinese living in the three underdeveloped provinces nearest a depopulated region of southeastern Russia have responded to growing demand for labor across the border.
What they find: A rude welcome. Beijing stubbornly calls North Koreans refugees “defectors” and pledges to hand them back to Kim Jong Il. For its part, the Russian media has labeled Chinese immigration a “yellow peril,” a threat to Russian identity.
