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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2005 
Fox Urges Migrants To Seek Assistance
 Wire services
| | Fox said he has instructed Mexican consulates in Houston and Atlanta to strengthen their outreach efforts. |
President Vicente Fox on Friday urged Mexicans hit by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cooperate with emergency workers without fear of being deported.
Mexicans make up one of the largest migrant communities in the flooded New Orleans area, say consular officials.
In New Orleans and other areas hit hard by the hurricane, Mexicans described harrowing experiences.
On Friday, a Mexican doctor trapped by floodwaters at New Orleans' Charity Hospital made an impassioned plea for help, in an interview with Mexico's Televisa network.
"Help us, please!" sobbed Rojas, saying that 1,200 people remain trapped in the hospital where he works, with staff members sleeping in hallways.
"The conditions of survival here are ever more deplorable," Rojas said, adding later, "Aid is arriving, but very slowly."
No Mexicans had been reported dead as of late Friday.
In the face of the humanitarian disaster, Fox said he has instructed Mexican consulates in Houston and Atlanta to strengthen their outreach efforts. Government officials said about US175,000 has been transferred to the consulates for emergency services.
Mobile Consultates
Fox also called for the immediate creation of mobile consulate offices in affected areas in Louisiana and Mississippi. He said there are now offices in Baton Rouge and the Houston Astrodome. The president urged Mexicans to cooperate with U.S. authorities.
"We ask that you work without fear of the U.S. authorities and cooperate with them," he said in an address earlier this week. "Don't be afraid to follow rescue officials' directions. They are capable people for these kinds of incidents and can help you."
Officials say illegal migrants may be avoiding authorities to duck questions about their immigration status, exposing themselves to even greater danger.
"We are sending messages that we consider very important so that they can receive the help of authorities without any fear," said Carlos González, Mexican consul to Houston, in a radio interview that was broadcast in Mexico City.
In a telephone interview, Remedios Gómez Arnau of the Mexican consulate in Atlanta said there are about 30,000 Mexicans in Mississippi and about 70,000 in Alabama. Yet, he was unsure of how many Mexicans were affected because of communication difficulties.
"At this point, we have not been able to find anyone in the Mexican community in the accommodations we have visited," he said.
In Alabama, an untold number of Mexicans have had their homes destroyed but many have resisted seeking help from authorities for fear of being detained and deported.
Raúl Anguiano, who moved to Mobile, Ala., from Michoacoan three years ago, said he lost everything.
"Our house was flooded by almost a meter of water and we lost everything: the cars, clothes, the furniture," he said. "The only the thing we have left is what we're wearing."
But instead of seeking refuge in a shelter or hotel, he preferred to move in with a Mexican family that had been more fortunate.
Avoiding Detection
"We are not like any of the other people affected. We always have to be careful with the border patrol to avoid being detected," he said.
The consulate offices in Houston and Atlanta have fielded more than 900 calls from people seeking to locate their families. Offices are distributing telephone cards to affected Mexicans so that they can contact their families in Mexico.
On Friday, U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza thanked Mexicans for their support, saying in a press release that "in the wake of the worst natural disaster to strike the United States in more than a century," U.S. citizens were grateful for the sympathy received from Mexicans. Many, he said, have family members and friends in the affected area.
Officials say 21 percent of Mexicans living in Louisiana are originally from Guanajuato and 12 percent of those in Mississippi are from San Luis Potosí. |
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