What is illegal immigration like in Mexico?
Mexico has accepted large numbers of immigrants during several wars such as World War I (immigrants from Germany, Yugoslavia, Poland, etc.); the Spanish Civil War and exiles from the South American and Central American dictatorships. It has also received those who are fleeing their native areas for religious persecution such as the Russian Molokans and Christian Lebanese and Mennonites. However, in the last decades, Mexico has received illegal immigrants as the result of civil war in Central America, many of whom attempt to eventually cross the U.S. border illegally. Some of the immigrants are members of the Mara Salvatrucha, a criminal organization whose members have terrorized various places in Mexico. In the United States, they have extended their criminal activities as far north as Washington, DC. It is said that the U.S. is pressuring Mexico to stop this immigration and paying for the deportation of Central American citizens. In the first eight months of 2005, more than 120,000 pe
