For roughly 100 days, Thomas says he faced harsh detention conditions, despite agreeing to deportation
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.
He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.
From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was being held – or when he’d get out.
I hear the cartels are doing a great job on running things.
How many tourists to Mexico are having problems with cartels vs how many tourists to America are having problems with ICE?
Maybe they wouldn’t have so much power if the yanks weren’t busy buying them coke
Respectfully, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I live on the border, am in Mexico several times per week, and have traveled the country pretty extensively. Most areas of Mexico are as safe as any city in the rest of the western world as long as you’re not intentionally fucking around and finding out.
And I’ll say this—you’re way less likely to get a mass shooting at a Walmart in Mexico than you are to get one in America.
You’re literally 4 times more likely to be murdered in Mexico as in the US, according to both countries’ own statistics.
Edit: lol, imagine downvoting a plain fact.
Does this include school children?
I see what you’re implying. However:
Quote:
But in Figure 1 here, it shows the rate among US children to be about 1.5 per 100,000, in the same year, 2022.
Children are, likewise re the general population, four times more likely to be murdered in Mexico as in the US.
Also worth pointing out that in 2022, the rate for only Mexican children (6.5) is greater than the rate for all ages in the US (6.3). That fact should speak volumes all on its own.
Those statistics can be misleading. I spend a huge amount of time in Ciudad Juarez, a city known for violence. What the base murder rate doesn’t tell you is that over 90% of the murders are by cartel members to other cartel members, which means that only 10% or less of the murders are happing to a random bystander.
Furthermore, Mexico has extremely strict weapons laws which means it is very unlikely for bystanders to get caught in the crossfire of a “good guy with a gun”.
That’s what I mean by you’re relatively safe if you aren’t fucking around and finding out—just like how New York City was a lot safer back in the day if you weren’t interacting with the mob.
I’ve been all over Juarez at literally every time of the day and night walking alone, and I’ve never been threatened by anyone. Just last night, I walked several miles totally alone at 2 AM. I’m not saying that nobody ever gets in hot water there, but it is far from a guaranteed danger. By contrast, I experienced many more threatening situations both day and night in NYC while spending about an equal amount of time there. I know these experiences are anecdotal, but they are also first hand accounts from someone who has actually been there rather than just reading the news.
And if you’re a tourist visiting a popular place like Roma Norte in Mexico City, you will not only be very safe, but you’d be hard pressed to not have an amazing time.
And what makes you think the type of murder breakdown isn’t similar in the US? Most of the murders there are gang violence etc. as well.
The fact that Mexico’s raw number of annual murders is higher than the US’s, despite being a much, much less populated country, is not something that can just be handwaved away.
There is a reason Mexico’s net migration rate is negative.
Fine, I’ll concede and move passed the murder rate.
We are talking about the risk to travelers. America currently has a government sponsored effort to detain people who are visiting here, sometimes even when they are here legally. Mexico is not doing that. The risk to travelers is pretty damn clear right now.
Edit: Just to be clear, I don’t think that the gang violence rate breaks down differently for the US—before this latest ICE takeover, I would have said it is safe for travelers here too.
Where the travelers are traveling to, and away from, generally tells you all you need to know about where the overall quality of life is better.
Again, Mexico’s net migration is literally negative. If two bordering nations have one nation that has a net loss of population to emigration, and the other has a large net positive from immigration from the bordering nation, saying that the former is “bread” and the other is “shit”, sounds pretty ridiculous on its face.
Not to mention that it comes with it the heavy implication that you know better than the majority of those who actually undertook the endeavor of leaving their home country behind in search of better surroundings.
I see now, you’re offended about my opinion of America being the shit in the shit sandwich.
Ok, I’m willing to flex a little on that. It is currently shitty for some travelers, specifically ones who are not white or wealthy, in ways that it has not been previously. Overall, it has some opportunities for residents that may be better than other countries.
Likewise, Mexico has some problems for poor residents that sometimes make them choose to seek a better life elsewhere. As a travel destination though, I stand by my opinion that it is a good place to visit.
Happy?
Seconding this, I’ve had the great fortune to spend almost 18 months of my life in Mexico, visiting over 20 states. I’ve yet to feel unsafe in all that time. It’s an incredibly beautiful country with an extremely welcoming culture, stunning architecture and natural beauty, and unmatched cuisine. Mexico is a bucket list destination for sure.
Hell pretty sure we have more masked armed men shoving people into vans in the us now as well