The North and the Borderlands

A new 32-page Guide for Mexican Migrants (online version in Spanish) full of advice on surviving the hazards of the trip al otro lado has ruffled feathers north of the border and drawn some vitriolic editorials from the Dallas Morning News and others.

Yesterday, News editorial columnist Ruben Navarrette wrote a more balanced piece: Blame Mexico if you must, but immigration problem starts here.

Mexico’s foreign ministry has reportedly published 1.5 million copies of the ‘guide’ in a ‘comic book’ format familiar to the millions of Mexicans who devour the popular fotonovelas and historietas available from newstands.

The ‘comic book’ genre has had a long history and far-reaching impact in Mexico and within the Latino communities in the US, where they continue to thrive as a mainstay of popular culture. They are almost always adult romance stories with titles like Women – They’re All Alike! and Don’t Make Me Commit a Craziness… but range from entertainment to political to pornography, and everything in between. Print runs for these series can be as high as 250,000 or more. However, the format also lends itself well to communicating educational messages. The minimal text and visuals permit the stories to be easily read by any community. I think this was probably the rationale behind the guide’s publication… and the desire to save lives.