Can You Believe This Cheap Mexican airlines are taking Mexican right to our border for illegal immigration?

Question

MEXICALI, Mexico - Among travelers, it's jokingly known as Aeromigrante - Migrant Air. 

New discount airlines in Mexico are doing a brisk business shuttling migrants to the U.S. border, turning what was once a days-long trek into an easy hop for legions of workers, both legal and illegal. 

"It's much more comfortable than the bus and about the same price," said Leopoldo Torres, 37, of Mexico City, as he stretched his legs aboard Volaris Flight 190 to the border city of He and a traveling companion, Julio Menéndez, paid $118 each for the three-hour flight. They planned to cross into the United States illegally through the California desert. 

Such migrants have become bread-and-butter customers for airlines Volaris, Avolar, Alma, Viva Aerobus, Interjet and Click, all of which have started up in the past two years. Older carriers such as Aero California and Aviacsa have cut their own prices to compete.

"The most productive routes we have are cities where you have those passengers who are traveling with the idea of the American Dream," said Luis Ceceña, a spokesman for Avolar. About 70 percent of Avolar's passengers are migrants, he said. 

For some airlines like Avolar, the emphasis on migrant travel was a conscious decision, with company officials structuring their routes and fares around migrants' needs, he said. For others, it was simply a side effect of low prices, which have opened up air travel to millions of poorer Mexicans.

The airlines say they treat migrants like any other passengers. The Mexican government has promised to try to slow emigration by creating jobs in Mexico. But by law, Mexican authorities and companies cannot impede the free travel of their fellow citizens, even if they suspect they are going to cross the U.S. border illegally. 


Heading for the desert 
Travelers planning to cross illegally are easy to spot. At the Hermosillo airport, a major crossroads for migrants headed to the Arizona desert, they are the men traveling in groups of three and four, wearing new sneakers or hiking boots and carrying nothing but backpacks. 

"Altar! Naco! Nogales!" taxi dispatcher Javier Montaño shouted outside the airport as he directed travelers to vans headed to the main staging grounds for illegal border crossers. 

Because of the increased traffic, Mexican immigration agents now check the IDs of all arriving passengers, even on domestic flights, to try to catch Central American migrants headed to the border. In Hermosillo, federal police conduct spot checks on the vans before they leave the airport. 

"By law, we can't stop the Mexican (migrants)," police Officer Carlos Zequera Arias said. "But the Central Americans are starting to get on these flights, too."


Falling prices 
Until the flood of discount airlines began in 2005, air travel in Mexico was too expensive for most poor Mexicans. A one-way flight from central Mexico to Tijuana ran $300 or more on the country's two flag carriers, Aeromexico and Mexicana. 

For most migrants, getting to the border meant days of travel on long-distance buses - or for the very poor, a harrowing and illegal ride on Mexico's railways while clinging to a freight car. 

The discount airlines cut costs by copying the business model of U.S. carrier Southwest Airlines. They fly out of smaller airports, make several stops on the same trip, bypass travel-agent fees by selling directly to customers, and concentrate on a few high-volume routes instead of a hub-and-spoke system. 

Typical fares to Tijuana from Toluca, just east of Mexico City, are now around $150 on the discount airlines.

That has opened up air travel to millions of new customers, said José Calderoni, marketing director for Volaris. About one-third of the airline's passengers have never flown before, he said. 

Overall, the number of Mexicans flying has jumped 36 percent since 2004. About 13.4 million people took domestic flights from January to June, according to Mexico's Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Processing.

The discount airlines have been adding planes and routes at a breakneck pace. Avolar has grown from one jetliner and three destinations to nine with 16 destinations. Viva Aerobus has 21 destinations and plans to double its fleet to 10 jets from five. Interjet has nine planes and says it will order 20 more. Alma has 15 regional jets and 25 destinations, Volaris has 12 planes and 17 destinations, while Click has 26 destinations with 18 planes and six on order. 
Read further details @ http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1012migrantair1012.html

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

to law above me- they were here first? Who is they? If you are refering to the  Olmec, Izapa, Teotihuacan, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Huastec, Tarascan, "Toltec" and Aztec indigenous groups that were the first "Mexicans" then I have news for you: approx 95% of the idigenous populations died from disease and war when the spanish came over. look it up. Today's Mexicans are mostly of Spanish descent (infact only about 11% of the Mexican population is of true indigenous blood) and therefore we have a much right to the land as they do.

Diana- just HOW MUCH money has Mexico contributed over the yrs to aid 3rd world countries? the mexican officials down there are far more greedy than americans

Anonymous · Answer

There are major advantages. Anyone who has ever known an illegal immigrant who worked his/her *** off day-in and day-out will know what a benefit they are to the work ethic in this country. The immigrants I've known, both legal and illegal, have been a better example of hard work for me than any US-natives. The problem is that there are so many who give the good ones a bad name. I don't know what the proportions are (and neither does anyone else answering here; most of what you've read is Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) but the hard working ones avoid being noticed as much as possible, because they need the benefits of working here for better wages than their native countries, while the others are very visible because of the media's tendency to comment on race any time a crime is committed by anyone other than Caucasian Americans. Seriously, turn on the tv the next couple nights and watch your local news. When a crime is committed by a Caucasian there will be no mention of the race. When it is committed by a Hispanic person you will see and hear clear references to culture. The double standard is sickening. Anyway, despite the advantages of having hard workers willing to do difficult work for low pay, in the long run that is damaging to the economy. Taxes are rarely paid by such workers, while many benefit from government assistance. There are hospitals in Texas where more children are born to illegal immigrants than any other service they provide, and those bills are paid only by government programs. I have personal experiences as well that confirm that behavior, but the free labor-and-delivery services (while concurrently providing US Citizenship) at border-town hospitals is a much clearer example. The simple fact is that the ones who work hard to immigrate legally are more consistently honest, upright contributors to society. That doesn't mean all immigrants are bad (what an ignorant point of view that is), it just means that the process of doing it legally makes it more meaningful to the immigrant than if they had to sneak across the border in the night and live in fear of the INS the entire time they live here. The immigration system is seriously messed up. My sister-in-law is a legal immigrant from Japan. Even having done everything properly, and having been here for well over a decade, it's still a hassle and witnessing the hoops she has to go through is a clear witness of why so many feel forced to come here illegally. That said, a wall, however deep and high, will not solve the problem. Throwing money at such an embarrassing display of insecurity will never solve the problem. Fixing (completely recreating) the immigration policies and the INS itself is the only way to solve the immigration problem, and as long as money is being spent on building a wall we will never have the resources to actually improve the situation.

Anonymous · Answer

Unfortunately, I can believe it.  These criminals care nothing about our laws and they shouldn't be here!  All 30+ million illegals, where ever the come from, are breaking our laws.

I heard a new estimate of the number of illegals (can't remember the reliable source). They said there are about 38 million illegals. Our stupid government still claims 7 to 12 million (supposedly 2005 figures).  Do they really think that we are that stupid to think the numbers don't go up each day!

guardEd · Answer

All these talks about illegal immigrants should go away only if we put teeth to our law.  Illegal residence = jail and/or deportation.  But as long as our government is hesistant to enforce these laws, and the citizenry enjoying the cheap labor of such illegals... expect it to be around for a long time.

Listen_n · Answer

I just don't understand why they are just letting them by the hundreds!!  This is absolutely ABSURD!

This is the statement that REALLY bothers me!

"By law, we can't stop the Mexican (migrants)," police Officer Carlos Zequera Arias said. "But the Central Americans are starting to get on these flights, too."

notgrannysmith · Answer

This does make me sick. If these hot crossing spots are known about, how come they are not being heavily guarded??


To villa:: This is spreading hate?? This is showing facts and educating us to some truths. Those who would rather keep us in the dark than let us see a situation at it's whole are doing nothing more than trying to cause havoc. Your answer showed signs of ignorance.

Kubla Con · Answer

Might be a slight positive to this: instead of being forced to patrol thousands of miles of borderland, perhaps ICE can stake out airports .

At least the illegals won't be able to throw rocks and bottles.

Anonymous · Answer

Note to avolar - the American dream is now a nightmare!

Anonymous · Answer

I just saw this on MSNBC and was in shock at how corrupt even the Mexican airlines are.  They will do anything for  a buck is seems. Greedy jerks.

Anonymous · Answer

Unbelieveable - although I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the # of illegals in the US!

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Can You Believe This Cheap Mexican airlines are taking Mexican right to our border for illegal immigration?

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