Mexican Government Distributes US Border Survival Maps

The AP story begins with this:

A Mexican government commission said Tuesday it will distribute at least 70,000 maps showing highways, rescue beacons and water tanks in the Arizona desert to curb the death toll among illegal border crossers.

A few paragraphs down we read this:

Officials said the maps would help guide those in trouble to rescue beacons and areas with cell phone reception. The maps will also show the distance a person can walk in the desert in a single day.

And then comes the kicker:

"We are not trying in any way to encourage or promote migration," said Mauricio Farah, one of the commission's national inspectors.

I suppose the Mexican government could also print a brochure detailing the easiest ways to rob a bank. No doubt their response would be: "We are not trying in any way to encourage or promote bank robberies. We do know that robbing banks can be very dangerous and we simply want to provide information that, if someone should decide to do such a thing, will help them avoid injury or death."

How kind of them.

Note to readers: I am not in any way mocking the many tragic deaths and the suffering endured by those attempting to enter the United States illegally from Mexico. Unscrupulous "coyotes" frequently abandon illegals if they sense any danger of being caught. Men, women and children will often find themselves disoriented in the middle of a desert landscape. It is wrong, of course, to not attempt to help such people but there is a fine ethical line between assisting a person in need of food and water and assisting a person in the act of commiting a crime.

To provide food and services to entering illegal aliens for the express purpose of assisting them in entering the United States successfully is against the law and wrong, no matter what idealistic justifications are offered in its defense.