UTEP’s ‘Mexodus’ Project Examines Immigration From Mexico

By Angela Kocherga

There?s a new effort to document the mass exodus of families fleeing drug violence in Mexico and the impact it has on the United States, and the University of Texas in El Paso created the ?Mexodus? Project to examine the phenomenon.

?Our idea was to put a spotlight on this different kind of migration which is a really a migration of middle class and upper middle class business people, professionals,” said Zita Arocha, a journalism instructor at UTEP who spearheaded the project.

Journalism students did much of the work for the reporting project, which was launched last October.

?We focused on school districts, health care, community and businesses,? said Aaron Martinez, a UTEP senior.

He worked on two Mexodus reports, including one examining a spike in enrollment in El Paso area public schools. His report and others are posted online at UTEP?s border journalism website borderzine.com.

?We know what?s happening across the border. We know friends, family, relatives; people who are going to school here are all being impacted by it,? said Martinez.

During a nine-month period, 100 journalism students from UTEP and California State University Northridge, along with the Chihuahua and Mexico City campuses of the Monterrey Technical Institute examined the impact of the exodus both in Mexico and the U.S.

?Because of the violence, people are just moving around, moving with their businesses, with their families,? said Lourdes Cardenas, Mexodus project director.

A $25,000 grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism foundation helped fund the project.

?All the stories include lots of info graphics, charts, interactive maps, and so they provide a lot of information and a lot of context to the problem we want to report on,? said Lourdes Cueva Chacon, Web designer and editor.

It was difficult to determine exactly how many people have left violent regions of Mexico. Estimates vary widely.

?We really dig into those numbers and we really talk to a lot of people about this new phenomenon,? Cardenas said.

Mexodus was able to confirm at least a quarter of a million people have fled to the U.S. or safer regions of Mexico in the past five years, but the project website says the number is likely much higher.

Families moved to escape the drug war and violent crime including kidnappings and extortion. Most are too afraid to talk about their experience.

The bilingual multimedia project includes testimonials. One is from a business owner in Tijuana facing extortion threats. Another is from a teenage girl who survived a kidnapping in a rural town near Chihuahua City.

In the video, the teen recounts the night a group of gunmen broke into her home, robbed her family and abducted her. She was freed after the family paid an $8,000 ransom. They escaped to El Paso.

UTEP journalism student Mariel Torres interviewed the teen for the Mexodus Project.

?It?s bad when they?re my age. I?m 21; this girl is 15. It?s not much of a difference. It?s hard,? Torres said.

Torres was about to drop out of the Mexodus project because she was so frustrated with constant roadblocks. Many of the students encountered barriers when they tried to get information from school districts, public officials or other agencies.

Torres changed her mind after meeting the teenager who agreed to share her powerful story.

?Now that I see it on the website, I?m like, ‘Yay!’ It makes me feel really good.?

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