[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6] [House] [Page 8619] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]MEXICO ABUSES IMMIGRANTS The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is at the White House today complaining about America. He said Arizona's new law ``opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination, and abuse in law enforcement.'' He said he will do everything in his power to protect the rights and dignity of Mexican citizens. He's just not too concerned about human rights abuses of illegals in his own country, however. While he's here falsely accusing officials in Arizona of perhaps maybe one day in the future violating the civil rights of illegals in Arizona, his own Mexican government officials are committing human rights abuses against illegals in Mexico. Just last month, the Associated Press said Amnesty International called the abuse of migrants in Mexico a major human rights crisis. Amnesty accused Mexican officials of turning a blind eye or even participating in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of migrants. Now, the Mexican Interior Department said that mainly Central American migrants who pass through Mexico on their way to the United States suffer abuses, saying the criminal cartels branch out into kidnapping and extortion of migrants. Amnesty International said failure by authorities to tackle abuses has made their trip through Mexico one of the most dangerous in the world. They have ``virtually no access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain of abuses.'' The Amnesty report also says Central American migrants are frequently pulled off of trains in Mexico and are kidnapped en masse and held at gang hideouts. They're forced to call relatives in the United States to pay the ransom to the kidnappers. There are thousands of these migrant kidnappings each year in Mexico, according to Amnesty's report. {time} 1700 The report goes on to say, ``Kidnappings of migrants--mainly for ransom--reached new heights in 2009. The National Human Rights Commission reported nearly 10,000 migrants in Mexico were abducted during a 6-month period.'' Half of the victims said in later interviews that public officials in Mexico were involved in the kidnappings. An estimated six out of 10 migrant women and girls experience sexual violence. Some of the people-smuggling coyotes now demand that women receive contraceptive injections ahead of the journey so they don't become pregnant as a result of rapes they endure in Mexico. Many women are raped, beaten or killed in the process of illegally transporting themselves through the nation of Mexico. Illegals in Mexico can't complain about the abuse to authorities. According to the report, Article 67 of Mexico's Population Law says, ``Authorities, whether Federal, State or municipal, are required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country'' of Mexico. Now President Calderon self-righteously criticizes Arizona for enforcing immigration laws, but his own nation requires the states in Mexico to enforce Mexico's immigration laws. The Amnesty report goes on to say and talk about an example of one of the horror stories of abuses of illegals that are in Mexico. On January 23 of this year, armed police stopped a freight train carrying 100 migrants in Chiapas State in southern Mexico. A girl who we'll call ``Veronica'' said that the federal police--the federal government--the federal police forced her and other illegals in Mexico to leave the train they were riding on. They were forced to lay down on the ground where she says Mexican federal police stole their belongings and threatened to kill them unless they continued their journey by foot along the railway. After walking for hours, the group was assaulted by armed men who sexually assaulted Veronica and killed at least one of the other illegals in Mexico. Now, Madam Speaker, it seems to me that President Calderon is here at the White House complaining about America, complaining about imagined and fictitious abuses in Arizona's new illegal immigration enforcement law, while he ignores actual human rights abuses of illegals and migrants in his home nation of Mexico. Perhaps he should clean his own glass house before throwing rocks at America, especially Arizona. President Calderon's nation is in economic turmoil. His economic plan is simple. He tells his citizens, Go to America by any means necessary, and send money back home to Mexico. He cannot take care of his citizens. His country abuses immigrants, and he is out of line criticizing the United States for any reason. His comments are hypocritical and irrelevant. And that's just the way it is. ____________________