# What is the Mexico - Guatemala border like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547 "2007-03-12T02:18:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/1 "2007-03-12T02:18:32Z")
We in the US always hear and read so much in the news about our border with Mexico. What I’ve always wondered, though, is what the border between Mexico and Guatemala is like. Is illegal immigration into Mexico from the south a big issue for the Mexican government? I’m under the impression that there are at least some Guatemalans who try crossing the border into Mexico (there was a character in a short novel I read a few years ago, _Crossing_ by Manuel Martinez, who was one such immigrant.) Is it relatively easy or difficult for them to get through? What happens to such people if they are caught at the Mexican border? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/2 "2007-03-12T02:56:51Z")
I expect someone to come in with the assertion that Mexico has a superlong Berlin Wall between itself & Guatemala, or that they should. I decided actually to google “mexico-guatemala border” & while I do see some security at border crossings, it looks like an awful lot of it is unfortified. Which is not really surprising to those of us who have any familiarity with international affairs, due to reading up on revolutionary movements, persecuted missionaries, economic refugees, etc. Most countries simply aren’t curtained off. Normally, they don’t need to be. Check out this link: [http://varifrank.com/archives/2006/04/it\_cant\_be\_done\_1.php](http://varifrank.com/archives/2006/04/it_cant_be_done_1.php) Read the responses. ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/3 "2007-03-12T02:56:59Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] […] Is illegal immigration into Mexico from the south a big issue for the Mexican government? […]Is it relatively easy or difficult for them to get through? What happens to such people if they are caught at the Mexican border? [/QUOTE] Illegal immigration is a big issue since Mexico is “used” as the land bridge from Guatemala to US. Is is relatively easy, but it also means that there is a high level of corruption and extortion undocumented Cental American immigrants. A recent tactic has been for some local municipal police in collusion with criminal elements to kidnap the immigrants and request at minimum $1,000 per immigrant to relatives in the US. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/4 "2007-03-12T03:47:04Z")
I wish I could remember where I read it, maybe someone more astute will be along. It appears that Mexico may actually imprison illegals coming north. The only reason I remember reading it (and no, it wasn’t in a Coulter book or anything) is the stance of Mexico against imprisoning illegals coming into the US. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/5 "2007-03-12T03:58:39Z")
[Mexico’s ‘Southern Plan’: The Facts](http://www.worldpress.org/0901feature22.htm) (2001) [Mexico, devourer of migrants](http://mondediplo.com/2003/07/09revelli) (2003) > [@](#): > > The ’Southern Plan’ is a United States-inspired attempt to get Mexico to apply to its buffer-zone borders with Central America the same control that the US exercises over its frontier with Mexico. But the migrants still risk death and despair in the hope of heading north to the promised land. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/6 "2007-03-12T06:13:25Z")
I remember it being extremely easy to cross from Mexico into Guatemala. We went across in a shuttle, and I don’t think we even stopped. (similar to getting through the U.S./Mexico border if you are coming from the U.S.) Getting back into Mexico was a bit harder and took more time. They actually wanted our passports and stuff… of course, we were Americans so I can’t speak from the perspective of a Guatemalan trying to get in. Guatemala is even poorer than Mexico (here’s a visual description of border: it is a **SEA** of trash. Literally. Strewn with trash absolutely everywhere to the point where the people walking around are knee-deep in filth. Much of Guatemala is like this, which makes Mexico look like a hospital by comparison), and from what I gathered there were generally more people trying to get into Mexico than vice versa, and yes, security was definitley tougher that direction. Also, there was your standard assortment of money-changers swapping currency for totally usurious rates. Jesus woulda been pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/7 "2007-03-12T11:28:26Z")
This recent (UK) Channel 4 Documentary was fascinating: [Unreported World](http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/ontv/unreported_world/mexico+the+longest+journey/248748), although much of it dealt with the Mexican part of the journey. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/8 "2007-03-12T13:58:07Z")
[QUOTE=ChicanoRojo] Illegal immigration is a big issue since Mexico is “used” as the land bridge from Guatemala to US. Is is relatively easy, but it also means that there is a high level of corruption and extortion undocumented Cental American immigrants. A recent tactic has been for some local municipal police in collusion with criminal elements to kidnap the immigrants and request at minimum $1,000 per immigrant to relatives in the US. [/QUOTE] A uruguayan friend of mine maintains that at land border crossings within South America, you invariably get hassled / searched / asked for bribes at one of the two border posts, and the guys at the other one will wave you through. Never both of them or neither of them. Always one. Seems collusion is the norm, and they take it in turns. ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/9 "2007-03-12T14:49:53Z")
Most of the stuff on human rights violations on immigrants crossing the Guatemala-Mexico border can be found in Spanish. Nevertheless, here are quotes of interest: [Fleeing Guatemala [Article from Counterpunch]](http://www.counterpunch.org/viscidi07062004.html) > [@](#): > > Yet despite these obstacles, Central Americans continue to cross the border at ever-increasing rates. Last year Mexico deported 147,000 illegal immigrants, some 20 percent more than in 2002. Most hailed from just three Central American nations: Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. [From the Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/10/AR2005121000103_pf.html) > [@](#): > > To deal with the burgeoning number of transmigrants, Mexico now maintains more than 50 migrant detention centers across the country. In the city of Tapachula, near the Mexico-Guatemala border, the government is putting the finishing touches on what it touts as the largest migrant detention center in the Americas. [Illegal Immigration and Mexico’s Maras](http://www.samuellogan.com/hemisphere17.htm) [Borders [Blog containing good photos on Mexico - Guatemala border.]](http://www.samuellogan.com/hemisphere17.htm) [Finally, an excellent article from the Migration Policy Institute.](http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=389) ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/10 "2007-03-12T14:53:55Z")
Wrong Link…[here is the blog with photos.](http://web.mac.com/kurtzjack/iWeb/jack's%20joint/265509DC-92A4-11DA-8694-000393BB5E5E.html) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/11 "2007-03-12T15:12:35Z")
I lived for three years over a seven-year period in a village on the edge of Mexico’s Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which extends to the border of Guatemala, where the same forest continues as the Peten region. While one could walk on jungle trails to the border and cross with impunity, during my time there (1997 to 2003), the Mexican government built new patrolling infrastructure along each of only two roads which extend from the main east-west highway down anywhere close to that border. Specifically, there is a new military base about 10 km south of the highway town of Xpujil. There are soldier checkpoints along the main east-west highway which change location every month or so. The soldiers are mainly looking for drugs, but more and more they’re after Central Americans as well. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/12 "2007-03-12T17:40:28Z")
[QUOTE=JKellyMap] I lived for three years over a seven-year period in a village on the edge of Mexico’s Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which extends to the border of Guatemala, where the same forest continues as the Peten region. While one could walk on jungle trails to the border and cross with impunity, during my time there (1997 to 2003), the Mexican government built new patrolling infrastructure along each of only two roads which extend from the main east-west highway down anywhere close to that border… (snip) [/QUOTE] **KellyMap** basically hits it on the head. Although it’s been a couple of years since I’ve been there, I can’t imagine it’s changed **that** much. The Southern Mexico border has a lot of sections that are basically jungle. There’s not much to keep somone from crossing at will. Much like the US border with Canada. If you want to hike through the woods, you can make it across without too much trouble. Now granted that puts you in the middle of noplace, but you’re still there. One of the [Mayan sites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalakmul) I visited in Mexico was about 30Km north of the Guatemala border, and there was another large site just south of the border that had it’s own tourist industry. So I imagine that it wouldn’t be too difficult for workers at that site to make the crossing. Assuming they’re familiar enough with the area they were going to not stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/13 "2007-03-12T18:26:06Z")
Economically it seems like it would make sense for the US to annex Mexico. Lot easier to defend the Belize/Guatemala border than the Mexican border, right? On the other hand, lots of Americans would presumably have a problem with naturalizing the 100M+ population of Mexico, and I imagine a lot of Mexicans would have something to say about that, too. ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/14 "2007-03-12T19:43:47Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] Economically it seems like it would make sense for the US to annex Mexico. [/quote] No for the sole purpose of “defending” a border. No. It doesn’t make economic sense. > [@](#): > > I imagine a lot of Mexicans would have something to say about that, too. Yes. We would. I mean. It would be easier for us to annex the US to get to Canada. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/15 "2007-03-12T21:43:42Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] Economically it seems like it would make sense for the US to annex Mexico. [/QUOTE] What doesn’t make sense to me is how Americans often make statements of this nature. This theme has even been debated here on the SDMB. Is there no limit to American arrogance? ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/16 "2007-03-12T21:55:15Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] What doesn’t make sense to me is how Americans often make statements of this nature. This theme has even been debated here on the SDMB. Is there no limit to American arrogance? [/QUOTE] The idea of annexing Mexico goes way back even before the Civil War in the US. It’s one of those ideas that won’t die away. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/17 "2007-03-12T22:00:18Z")
[QUOTE=ChicanoRojo] The idea of annexing Mexico goes way back even before the Civil War in the US. It’s one of those ideas that won’t die away. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Yes, about the only difference is back then the thinking was to acquire the most territory with the least amount of Mexicans. Now they’ve progressed to what will they do with us all! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mexico-guatemala-border-like/395547/18 "2007-03-13T00:52:08Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] What doesn’t make sense to me is how Americans often make statements of this nature. This theme has even been debated here on the SDMB. Is there no limit to American arrogance? [/QUOTE] Oh, **CBEscapee** , you know me and you know I love Mexico, and of course you know _my_ remark wasn’t out of any sense of arrogance but of jest. All in all, though, there probably are a significant number of Americans that wouldn’t say it in jest. Rather more bothersome, though, are the greater number of Americans that would object to the free reign these new Americans would have over movement and rights within the United States (all other logic aside).