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On donaldjtrump.com, Trump writes

For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries). They have even published pamphlets on how to illegally immigrate to the United States.

The page contains a link to this NY times article I was also able to find this PDF apparently containing pictures from the manual and some translations, as well as some other political rhetoric.

Is this a real manual published by the Mexican Government?

Foo Bar
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DJMcMayhem
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1 Answers1

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This manual appears to be an authentic manual published by the Mexican government. A translation of its contents can be found here (American source) and here (Mexican source). The pamphlet does appear to describe methods to illegally immigrate to the US and methods to avoid getting arrested once in the US, although it nominally discourages such action.

That being said, the manual is rather scanty on details, and mainly consists of (very) general ideas on what to avoid in order to reduce the risk of death. Therefore, it seems that the manual was chiefly intended as a method to reduce death rather than as a method to export migrants.

A copy of the manual was created by the right wing organisation CFIF, which cited the original address of the manual on the Mexican government webpage.

This page has since been taken down. The Wayback Machine has however archived their information, and it can be viewed there.

Therefore, we can conclude that the Mexican government did in fact publish such a pamphlet, at least on their website. Given such a fact, it is not a stretch to conclude that they also published the pamphlet in hard copy, although I have no better sources than the NY Times article for this claim.

March Ho
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    This looks more like advises how not to die in the river/desert and not to get shot or abused by border patrol/police... definitely not a guide how to illegally cross border. – Eugene Petrov Aug 23 '15 at 22:54
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    @EugenePetrov The point is that it describes multiple methods of illegal immigration (swimming across a river, crossing a desert, hiring human traffickers) with lowered risk of dying, which makes it a guide to illegal crossing in my opinion. – March Ho Aug 23 '15 at 23:03
  • just imagine you have this guide and have to cross the border... There's nothing you'll want to know prior to going, I'm pretty sure they avoid "don't go" only to keep the reader agreeing and reading this. I agree with "lower risk of dying" part, but this is not the kind of guide Trump speculated about. – Eugene Petrov Aug 23 '15 at 23:19
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    @EugenePetrov I see your point, answer edited to reflect the intention. – March Ho Aug 23 '15 at 23:25
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    -1: *"does appear to describe methods to illegally immigrate to the US and methods to avoid getting arrested once in the US"* — nope, it describes *dangers* of entering illegally and explicitly advises to *not* attempt resisting arrests. – vartec Aug 24 '15 at 20:20
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    @vartec he says the article has both ways to get into the US, as well as methods to AVOID getting arrested, your down-vote is about resisting arrest, resisting /= avoiding. Also showing pointing out which ways are dangerous to enter, as well as pointing out safer or less dangerous alternatives, IS essentially informing you of ways in which to enter the US. – Himarm Aug 26 '15 at 20:49
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    @Himarm: yes, it _is_ informing how to enter US safely. It mentions one method to do so: enter legally. – vartec Aug 26 '15 at 21:02
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    @vartec and then says, but we know people arnt doing this, so these are ways in which to minimize your risk entering by other means... – Himarm Aug 26 '15 at 21:04
  • @Himarm: you're argument is like saying that US Department of State endorses drug smuggling by providing a list of countries where it's punishable by death. – vartec Aug 26 '15 at 21:05
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    @vartec the US doesn't outline the safest ways to smuggle drugs, this article tells you what to do, when performing an illegal action, "If you get lost follow utility poles, railroad tracks or furrows." "If you decide to use the services of a "pollero", "coyote" or "patero" to cross the border, consider the following precautions to take: Don't let him out of your sight; remember that he's the only one that knows the terrain and therefore is the only one that can guide you safely." – Himarm Aug 26 '15 at 21:07
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    the equivalent would be the US Department of State telling your its punishable by death in country X, and then proceeding to tell you how to circumnavigate country X to get to country Y were it is safe. This article says YES its illegal, however, since your determined to do something illegal, here are some tips to survive breaking the law...which is exactly how @MarchHo has explained it. – Himarm Aug 26 '15 at 21:13
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    @Himarm But US runs syringe exchange program for many years, why not just let those drug users to die from deseases? They've bought drugs illegally after all! I see exactly the same case here. They brake the law is one problem, but lots of them are dying trying to do it is completely another, which the pamphlet is obviously addresses. – Eugene Petrov Aug 27 '15 at 02:58
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    I think the discussion is going off topic, while it is likely the government intended it as a safety measure, it nevertheless describes the methods themselves as well as methods to avoid arrest. Any alleged malicious intent is incidental to the publishing, and is unrelated to the question which was asking whether the guide was authentic, which has been shown rather conclusively. – March Ho Aug 27 '15 at 03:10
  • @MarchHo but the title of question clearly implicates the intent of the manual ("manual on how to illegally...") and the claim clearly implies a motive in its publication "using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country." The question in the last paragraph doesn't mention these, it is true, but neither does the body of the question exclude them from the discussion. – phoog Jan 24 '17 at 19:43
  • @phoog The exact title is «Guía del migrante mexicano», whose closest translation would be "Mexican Migrant Handbook". Nice necro, anyway ;-) – Diego Sánchez Jan 24 '17 at 21:34
  • @DiegoSánchez what's a necro? – phoog Jan 25 '17 at 00:19
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    @phoog Answering a very old question, or following an old thread like it was still alive after 1,5 years. – Diego Sánchez Jan 27 '17 at 00:08
  • @DiegoSánchez well it was bumped to the top by Foo Bar's edit. – phoog Jan 27 '17 at 03:06