I wish we could trade some of our never will do wells but I doubt the border would be that porous for south bound traffic.

Current exchange rate 15 pesos to one dollar in what you actually can get. Current wages for a grocery store clerk 105 pesos per day. cost of going to the best university preparatory school in my particular area 1800 pesos per month. The equivalent of our junior college. This involves for my kids a thirty minute walk way to school versus a 14 peso one way bus ride. They asked to have the money set aside for more important things.

Return on investment? Priceless.

The first one is the booklet itself produced by the govrernment and the second is an overview produced by one of the Universities. The booklet stresses the dangers of illegal immigration from the physical (weather, terrain) to the human aspect such as human traffickers, coyote guides who leave people to die in the desert, crossing in certain area. Status if apprehended, some places to gain assistance such as the Mexican Consulates and one area stressed is when the employer is a. Not to good about paying or b. the employment is not that expected such as forced prostitution. My lady friend said it was not so much a guide as a warning and directed more to the people coming from the southern end of Mexico who are less knowledgeable about conditions in the north end. Also how to act if apprehended, what to expect etc. It candidly suggested their might be rough treatment when being apprehended. Very interesting document I'm not sure how this was meant to help trump. Seems to do the opposite.

A bit of addition there is an active market in getting Mexican descents with US citizenship to carry packages from a friend across the border. i personally know where that has put people in jail for smuggling narcotics. Especially in the Tijuana area. US Citizens of a non Latino persuasion are often asked to do the same and everyone who lives here gets the warnings on anything but flat mail. I have on occasion but I insist on a thorough search first and only when I know people quite well.

Coming south it's very common to bring items for our vecinos (neighbors) and friends.We have a quite nice duty free limit so it's just a matter of space and weight. Boat parts, chocolate a big favorite and cosmetics. going south is not a big deal. I think in four years I've paid maybe 300 pesos in total.

Going north I take only flat mail and some of the better examples of costume jewelry in small amounts no problem except the cost of UPS or FedEx to Florida.

We used to help locals bring their children up to Shriners Hospital for various needed operations they couldn't afford but that's stopped by the new requirements for the kids to have actual passports a cost prohibitive item. Now the Doctors come south.

The way we legally help out is encourage or provide tuition assistance that gets them a skill then as a graduation present pay for the passport. Legal immigration looks for skills be it baking school, heavy equipment operator, or equivalent of Bachelors or Masters in the Sciences.

The group I'm helping at this time are enrolled from college prep through University in a school which is 50% taught in English.

The target audience of the pdf cartoon book are unskilled and uneducated but hard workers of a manual labor type.

You don't find many dentists or pharmacists using the services of coyotes.

Thanks again for sharing that