Mass Emigration Aides Corruption, Violence in Mexico
Monday was the one-year anniversary of the self-defense groups that have challenged the drug cartels in the Mexican state of Michoacán. A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies concludes that mass emigration from Michoacán to the U.S. has created conditions that “facilitate narco-terrorists and their allied kleptocrats,” in turn creating the demand for the self-defense groups.
View the entire report, "Mexican Emigration and a Failed State: The self-defense groups in Michoacán, Mexico".
Half of Michoacán's native-born population has left Mexico to reside in the United States. This mass departure has resulted in a financial boon for the state – $2.2 billion in remittances in 2012. But this boon has come at a heavy price: The state has had to import workers; the remittances have enabled local officials to divert public funds; the cartels, in particular the Knights Templar, have taken over local government, industries, and savaged the residents. Decapitated bodies of murdered politicians, police, and residents were common.
Local and state office holders and many federal politicians were either incapable of stopping the terror or were in collusion with the terrorists. Finally in 2013, the violence and corruption resulted in the formation of self-defense groups. Emigrants returning, for various reasons, from the U.S. have joined and played a role in empowering these groups.
This month the self-defense groups accomplished what the Mexican government could not do in seven years; they seized municipalities covering about 1/3 of the state’s territory. Group modeled after those created in Michoacán have appeared in other Mexican states suffering from cartel violence and political corruption.
“For almost a century Michoacán led Mexico in exporting citizens to the United States. It now has the distinction of being the only Mexican state ruled by a federal 'czar' appointed to bring an end to the barbarous conditions that haunt the state.”
Rather than lobbying for the United States to open the borders to more immigrants, Mexican leaders should consider encouraging their citizens to return home to help solve some of the country’s social and economic problems.
CAIRCO Research