Friday, October 23, Vicente Teran Uribe, Mayor of Agua Prieta, Sonora, inaugurated Migratón 2009, calling for the border community to participate in the drive during the following 36 hours to overcome the 20,142 pounds of aid collected last year.

The event, held at the Plaza Plan de Agua Prieta, brought together officials, academics, businessmen and representatives of NGOs from both sides of the border.

At the podium of the Plaza, the Mayor was accompanied by the President of the Municipal DIF System, Irma Villalobos de Terán; The Consul of Mexico in Douglas, Arizona, Oscar Antonio de la Torre Amezcua, the General Director of Attention to International Migrants from the Government of Sonora (DGAMI for its acronym in Spanish), Evaristo Mendoza Paredes; the Regional Delegate of DGAMI in Nogales, Sonora, Alfonso Velasco Pérez; the Regional Subdelegate of the Mexican Immigration Office in Agua Prieta, Cuauhtémoc del Castillo; and the Coordinator of Beta Group in Agua Prieta, Hugo Rivera Duarte.

The event  opened with the National Pledge of Allegiance.

 After singing the Mexican National Anthem, President Terán Uribe greeted and welcomed the audience. Before giving the microphone to Evaristo Mendoza, Terán Uribe undertook to deliver in donations, the weight corresponding to all Local Government officials. For his part, the Director of DGAMI acknowledged the labor of everybody in the podium to guide and protect the migrant population.

Such recognition was shared by Mrs. Irma Villalobos de Terán, President of the Local DIF System, who highlighted the initiative of the Consul of Mexico in Douglas Arizona to conduct a laudable project and stressed the need to strengthen collaboration to meet the migrant women who face, in addition to the vicissitudes inherent in the phenomenon of migration, specific and serious problems related to their gender.

Consul de la Torre Amezcua, called on the public to help with food, water, clothing, shoes, over the counter medications and healing material. The diplomat recalled Migratón slogan "Help us to help," stating it is a community project and the result of several requests from NGOs to establish support mechanisms for over 100 thousand compatriots arrested and repatriated by the Border Patrol through the Naco – Douglas Corridor; forced to return to our country, sometimes without shoes, with their clothes in shreds, hungry, hurt or even with fractures or other serious injuries.

Migraton 2009 is intended to help migrants having a decent return to their homes, with clothes and shoes in good conditions and fully fed, said the Consul of Mexico.

Similarly, he indicated that "so far this year, the Border Patrol has arrested and repatriated about 75 thousand Mexicans through the Port of Entry Agua Prieta on its way to Mexico. During the same period, the Consulate has provided attention to 121 migrants with serious injuries, 21 with dehydration, 48 after motor vehicle accidents and 4 have been robbed.

He also expressed his sadness for the increase of deaths in the area, because 21 compatriots have died on the pursuit of the American dream.

Consul de la Torre Amezcua, also noted that "during this year, 1,030 unaccompanied children have been repatriated through the Douglas Port of Entry; compared to 1,099 children repatriated during the whole previous year.

Finally, the Head of the Consulate of Mexico in Douglas, Arizona, highlighted the commitment of federal, state and local governments, and NGOs from both sides of the border, which combine their efforts to alleviate the physical and moral damage suffered by migrants whose American dream gets truncated; always with one goal in mind: a decent way back home for our compatriots, as established by the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.