IOM this week officially opened its third office in Mexico in the
northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, State of Chihuahua.

In close coordination with Mexico's National Institute for
Migration, IOM Mexico is carrying out a pilot project in Ciudad
Juarez to strengthen the Human Repatriation Programme, which
provides reintegration options to Mexican nationals returned from
the United States.  The project identifies the needs of the
returned migrants and advises them on employment opportunities
available in selected Mexican states of origin.

Ciudad Juarez has also been designated one of the locations in
Mexico for the implementation of the second phase of the US State
Department Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration (PRM) funded
project "Information Campaign on the Risks and Consequences of
Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling". 

With the slogan, "No más trata de personas" (No More
Human Trafficking) the campaign is distributing information to the
general public and to potential migrants, especially youth and
women, about the risks of migrant smuggling, human trafficking and
irregular migration through local television and radio
stations.

"In the past five years, IOM's work in Mexico has mostly been
focused on the southern border and assistance to Central American
migrants.  However, we have identified increasing needs along
the northern border, including providing assistance to returned
Mexican migrants, victims of human trafficking and the so called
"niños de circuito" (circuit children) used by organized
crime to deliver small amounts of drugs or help irregular migrants
cross into the US," explains Thomas Lothar Weiss, IOM Chief of
Mission in Mexico.

The Ciudad Juarez IOM office is located on the "Paso del Norte"
international bridge between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso,
Texas.  IOM's main office is located in Mexico City; its other
sub-office is in Tapachula, Federal State of Chiapas, on the
southern border.

Although in the last years there has been a reduction in the
number of migrants irregularly crossing the border into the US,
according to the latest National Institute for Migration
statistics, there are still close to 500,000 Mexicans repatriated
each year. Along with tourist destinations such as Acapulco and
Cancun, the northern border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez
have been identified as important transit and destinations points
for victims of trafficking in persons in Mexico.

For more information please contact:

Jose-Ramon Cordoba

IOM Mexico

Tel: +52 55 5536 3922

E-mail: "mailto:jcordoba@iom.int">jcordoba@iom.int