- MEXICO CITY (EFE) -- More
than 100,000 Mexicans are behind bars in U.S. jails, Reforma newspaper
reported Friday in its Internet edition.
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- Most of the Mexican inmates have been jailed for misdemeanors
or drug trafficking offenses, Foreign Ministry Consular Protection Director
Roberto Rodriguez told Reforma in an interview.
-
- According to government data, 24,473 Mexican inmates
are in U.S. federal prisons, the rest in state and county jails and INS
detention centers.
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- California, Florida and Texas have the three largest
Mexican prison populations.
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- There are 54 Mexicans on U.S. death rows, while another
142 could face capital punishment.
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- According to Reforma, Arizona prison authorities offered
this week to pay for and build a prison in the border state of Sonora,
where some 3,000 Mexican prisoners whose relatives have been denied U.S.
visas to visit them in jail would be transferred.
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- Rodriguez however said the offer was not permissible
under Mexican law.
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- The only way to return Mexican inmates to their native
country from U.S. jail cells would be by a bilateral agreement that has
been used to repatriate 3,306 Mexicans and 1,891 U.S. citizens since it
entered into effect in 1977, Rodriguez said.
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- http://www.quepasa.com/content/?c=105&id=71623
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