Grupo Beta, an agency of Mexico’s National Institute of Migration to render humanitarian aid to migrants in transit through Mexico, is not supposed to assist those migrants in reaching the U.S. border. But some on the U.S. side of the border have accused the Mexican agency of doing exactly that.
Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, was quoted by Fox News as saying. “I’ve seen so much crazy stuff out here. Grupo Beta was formed with good intention, but there have been members of the organization caught smuggling.”
Moran blames Grupo Beta’s weakness in dealing with illegal migrants on the fact that the Mexican government disarmed them and stripped them of arrest powers.
“They lost whatever backing they had so now they have no incentive to contact law enforcement if they come across smugglers because of how powerful the cartels are,” Moran told Fox News. He said that he sympathizes with Grupo Beta’s agents who fear to get involved in enforcing migration violations when they have no means to defend themselves against violent lawbreakers.
Grupo Beta spokesman Luis Carlos Cano said that his organization will provide medical care to anyone who needs it, and will not refuse to render aid to an individual who is a trafficker of either drugs or humans. Neither will they report such criminals to Mexican authorities.
“We provide the assistance and warn them, but then allow them to be on their way,” Cano told Fox News. “We don’t ask questions or judge; we just provide care.”
Migrants who manage to enter the United States illegally will still be given aid by U.S. officials, if they are in danger. The U.S. Border Patrol has a special search-and-rescue unit known as BORSTAR (Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue) who look for and render medical assistance to illegals who are ill or injured.
Fox News noted that during the one-week period from June 13 to June 20, 2016, Laredo Sector Border Patrol alone rescued 87 illegal immigrants.
“The smugglers will leave these immigrants to die,” Mario Martinez, chief patrol agent of the Laredo Sector Border Patrol, said in a press release. “Temperatures will only get hotter and they have to understand that it is a dangerous trek to enter this country illegally.”
While no one has criticized Grupo Beta for giving medical aid to those who need it, some would say that if they are going to provide transportation to northward-bound migrants who have become stranded, that transportation should take them back to Mexico’s southern border, not its northern border with the United States.
Photo of migrants heading to U.S. border, as seen from inside a Grupo Beta vehicle: AP Images
