Mexico: Gov't seeks bus company bids to deport illegals

Bids on deportation of migrants
(translation from Spanish original)
By Victor Fuentes and Luis Alegre
Reforma (Mexico City), April 21, 2002
http://www.reforma.com/nacional/articulo/188166/

MEXICO CITY -- To transfer the foreign undocumented workers detained throughout the country, the National Migration Institute [INM] put out a call for bids for at least 8,200 bus trips between June and December of this year, an average of 40 trips per day.

The Institute has 235 routes established to transport undocumented workers to the detention centers where they are kept until their legal situations are reviewed.

More than the 60 percent of the trips, around 5,000, involve Chiapas, but they are anticipated in every state.

The maximum anticipated amount of trips exceeds 11,000, and according to Institute sources, the estimate is based on last year,s experience and needs.

Although the bidding terms state that the service "should be first class", each business has its own definition of that term.

The bidding terms also state: "The bidders should provide two drivers for each bus as well as all the necessary equipment for the ground transport of the passengers. Also they should be aware that at any moment for reasons of security the National Migration Institute can alter the pre-established routes according to need."

According to INM data between 1995 and 2000 a total of 718,000 foreign undocumented workers were detained in the country, a daily average of 327 persons that had to be transported immediately to migration centers.

Last year the average increased to 413 detentions per day, that is to say, some ten tourist buses full. Some 60 trips a day would be necessary if the maximum number of trips were required.

Approximately ninety percent of the undocumented come from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador which explains the saliency of Chiapas in this plan, and specifically of the city of Tapachula.

Of the 235 routes, at least 107 have Tapachula as their final destination, the location used to deport Central Americans back to their country of origin.

Some routes to that city depart from localities as distant as Mexicali, Tijuana, Nogales, New Laredo and Matamoros.

Between 2,500 and 3,500 trips, 30 percent, are anticipated along the route of departure and return between Tapachula and the migratory station of El Manguito, municipality of Tonalá, only five kilometers from the border with Guatemala.

The other two more important routes in Chiapas are El Hueyate-Huehuetan-The Manguito-Tapachula, with less than 950 trips, and Comitán-City Cuauhtémoc, with 350 trips.

As for the trips originating outside of Chiapas, the routes Villahermosa-Tapachula and Tapanatepec-Juchitán-Tapachula predominate. This last route covers Oaxaca and Michoacán, with a daily trip each one.

The most extreme case is that of the route that goes from Tijuana to Tapachula, passing for Mazatlán and the DF. Few Central Americans arrive so far away, so that from June to December there will be only between 6 and 9 trips.

The intention of the INM is that a single company provide the service throughout the country, for which, according to the procurement terms "partial passage will not be considered."

The company presently offering the service is Autotur, the largest tourist bus company in the country.

In 2000 100 million pesos were spent in deporting the undocumented, 70 million in ground transportation and the remainder in air. The objective has been to reduce the costs, so much so that that last year the assistance of the was requested to deport Ecuadorian migrants.