Mexican official seeks better inroads for immigrant workers
Associated Press
Dec. 19, 2007 06:21 AM
TUCSON- A Mexican human rights official says more legal channels are needed for immigrant workers wanting to come to the United States.
Mauricio Farah Gebara, the inspector general of Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights decried the deaths of those who he said have died in motor vehicle accidents while pursued by Border Patrol agents and others who have been fatally shot by agents.
Appearing in Tucson Tuesday, Farah Gebara distributed a report released last month by the human rights commission documenting 13 years of deaths of immigrants along the California, Arizona and Texas border with Mexico.
The report shows 1,049 immigrant deaths in Arizona during the period, with 873 of them south of Tucson.
“We come to demand the hunting and persecution of migrants stops,” Farah Gebara said.
“In the United States, the Declaration of Independence says that all men have been created equal (but)” but immigrants have been excluded from this right, he said.
Tucson Roman Catholic Diocese Bishop Gerald Kicanas said he hopes laws at the federal level will be passed that recognize some dignity and respect for immigrants.
“Nothing is more precious in life than the human person, no matter from where they come or which language they speak,” Kicanas said.
The Rev. Robin Hoover, founder and president of Tucson-based Humane Borders called the border issue a “human tragedy.”
Part of Humane Borders mission is to “tell the story of the plight of the migrant,” Hoover said.
