THE U.S. BORDER PATROL WARNS MIGRANTS

AGAINST CROSSING THE BORDER WITH COYOTES

In 2009, the U.S. Border Patrol launched another in a long line of campaigns to try to dissuade Mexican migrants from attempting to cross the border into the United States by hiring a coyote.  This time, the Border Patrol made use of the popular ballad form known as the corrido to get its message across. It produced a CD containing five professionally-recorded corridos and distributed them to Mexican and U.S. Spanish-language radio stations for broadcast.  The campaign was controversial, given that no information was included with the CD to indicate that it had been produced by the U.S. border enforcement authorities.  In addition, the Border Patrol produced a television spot that portrayed coyotes as cunning, deceitful, and self-interested, very much in keeping with the characteristics ascribed to the coyote in Mesoamerican mythology and folklore.   

Learn more about corridos from the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibit Corridos sin Fronteras

Sample corridos from the Border Patrol CD        El respeto        El más grande enemigo        En la raya

The television spot about coyotes that aired on Mexican TV    Click here to view

Posters about coyotes exhibited in migrant detention cells in the early 2000s    Click here to view

News articles about campaign    San Antonio Express-News        Washington Post        NACLA

Last updated on May 25, 2010.