Pubdate: Sat, 03 Apr 2010
Source: Brownsville Herald, The (TX)
Copyright: 2010 The Brownsville Herald
Contact: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/sections/contact/
Website: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1402
Author: Jazmine Ulloa

MEXICAN CITIZENS LOOKING FOR SANCTUARY

BROWNSVILLE - A middle-aged woman was driving along a  busy street in
Matamoros on her way to visit family,  when she passed a Soriana
grocery store barricaded by a  throng of Mexican soldiers and
vehicles. Gunshots  cracked in the distance.

She kept her eyes on the road and pressed on the gas,  following what
many Mexican citizens consider unspoken  policy: Look away. Mind your
own business. Keep your  mouth shut.

"These things don't come out in the newspapers," said  the woman, who
works as a housemaid in Brownsville and  asked her name not be used
out of concern for her  family's safety.

In recent months, she and other residents say, sporadic  shootouts in
broad daylight, like this one, seem to  have become more common in
Matamoros, once one of the  quieter cities along the Texas-Mexico border.

To be sure, with little trust in authorities and few  reports from the
media, it is difficult for Mexican  residents to discern what is fact
from hearsay. But to  be caught in the crossfire is a legitimate fear,
  families say - even more distressing, is constantly  seeing their
schools shut down, their news outlets  silenced and their streets
blockaded by Mexican  soldiers and military trucks.

Such concerns are driving Matamoros families away from  the border
city and into the Rio Grande Valley,  residential and commercial real
estate agents said. The  migration follows a steady stream of Mexican
nationals,  including journalists, officials and business leaders,
who have relocated to the United States since Mexican  President
Felipe Calderon launched a sweeping battle  against drug cartels in
2006.

But families from Matamoros have only been moving to  the Valley in
higher numbers since last year, real  estate agents said. And some
brokers noted calls from  Mexican nationals had become even more
frequent in the  last six months.

"They call and tell me, 'I need (a home) fast. I want  to take my
children out of school. There is too much  danger here,' " said Sandy
Lee Galvan, a real estate  agent with Century 21 Johnston Company in
Brownsville.  "Many want to pay cash upfront."

'Violence escalates, migration escalates'

Drug war violence along the Mexican side of the lower  Texas
borderline began to intensify in late February,  first after a bloody
turf battle erupted between the  Gulf Cartel and its former armed
wing, the Zetas, and  now has amplified as drug cartel men increase
their  assaults against the Mexican army.

"As the violence escalates, the migration escalates,"  said Mary
McGowan, broker and owner of All Star Realty  in Brownsville.

Real estate agents are taking inquiries from Matamoros,  Monterrey,
Victoria and Valle Hermoso, and even from  families living farther in
the interior of Mexico. Many  Mexican nationals are not stopping in
the Valley but  choosing to go farther north, to San Antonio or
Austin,  and even into other states, agents said.

But those who do stay prefer gated communities and  condos throughout
Brownsville and Rancho Viejo. Near  McAllen, the sweetest deals are in
the Sharyland  community, said Leanne Richards, broker for

Trendsetters Realty in McAllen.

"Everyone wants to get their children into the  Sharyland school
district," said Richards, who has  worked in real estate in the Valley
since 1994. In the  past, Richards recalls few Mexican families
calling in  to inquire about homes in the area. When they did buy,  it
took time and they purchased expensive $500,000  homes, she said. Now
people are buying properties  costing between $80,000 to $120,000
because they want  to move out soon. Many also choose to rent.

"They tell me, 'We are not going back to Mexico, we are  afraid,'"
Richards said.

The high number of asylum applications from Mexico in  part shows this
increase in migration. The number of  people applying for asylum under
"credible fear of  persecution," jumped from 179 in 2007 to 312 in
2008,  and increased again slightly to 338 in 2009. These  figures
were based on people who pleaded for asylum at  the nation's southern
ports of entry, according to U.S.  Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services.

Separate statistics collected from U.S. immigration  courts showed an
increase in the number of asylum  petitions from Mexico in the first
two years since  Calderon initiated the drug war offensive, from 2,793
  applications in 2006 to 3,459 in 2008, according to the  Executive
Office for Immigration Review under the U.S.  Department of Justice.
But the number of petitions  dropped to 2,816 in 2009.

Hard to keep count

Nonetheless, tracking the number of people coming into  the Valley,
Texas or the United States from Mexico out  of fear is difficult,
experts said. No agency seems to  be keeping count.

Part of the reason is because the way Mexican families  are moving
into the country runs the gamut. Some  Mexican nationals have double
citizenship, others apply  for investor visas or asylum, and some come
in  illegally.

To judge the economic impact, thus, is much tougher.  But Howard
Campbell, professor of anthropology at the  University of Texas at El
Paso points to Ciudad Juarez,  Mexico, as an example.

Between 30,000 to 500,000 people have fled from Juarez  to the United
States, according to estimates based on  the number of abandoned homes
and the assumed number of  people per household, he said. The number
may be  exaggerated, and it is uncertain how many of these  people
reside in the bordering city of El Paso, "but  the impact is tangible.
You can see it," Campbell said.

"It is very sad and tragic but the suffering in Juarez  is
contributing to the economic stimulus of El Paso,"  he said. "There is
also a cultural side. There is a  sort of rejuvenation and
reincarnation of Mexican  culture in the United States."

Many of the people fleeing Juarez are some of the  wealthiest in the
city and have injected a lot of money  into El Paso's economy, the
professor added.

Business boom

Real estate agents in the Valley said Mexican nationals  moving in are
helping keep the housing market afloat.  Richards, for instance,
estimated Mexican nationals to  make up between 40 to 50 percent of
Trendsetters'  clientele in Hidalgo county.

Many families also are "realizing it is a great time to  make
investments in the United States," said Norma  Rasco, a real estate
agent with Rancho Viejo Realty.

"Mexican nationals are cash buyers, and in this  economy, cash is
king," she said.

The stimulus is true of business in the Valley as well,  financial
leaders said. Larry Jokl, a commercial real  estate agent with
Brownsville Real Estate Management  Company, said he helped six
Mexican clients move their  businesses to the Valley last year.

"In the first three months of this year, I have had a  dozen clientele
from Mexico who have looked to locate  their businesses here, two of
whom already have," he  said.

Meanwhile, the Brownsville Economic Development Council  has hosted
about half a dozen prospects, or companies  serious to relocate in
Brownsville, from Mexico since  January. On any given year, that
number would have been  about two, said Gilbert Salinas, spokesman for
the  city's development council.

"A recurring theme has been that due to security issues  in their
country, they are now putting their plans on a  fast track to break
into the U.S. markets," he said.  "Business men and women always have
that - breaking  into the U.S. market - in the back of their mind. Now
  they are making it a priority." 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D