Immigration unraveling Mexican clans

By Mark Stevenson
The Associated Press
March 24, 2007

PURUANDIRO, Mexico – It's hard to find a family in Mexico that doesn't have relatives in the United States.

Even President Felipe Calderon says he has distant cousins, uncles and in-laws in Chicago, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, many of them living "a salto de mata," a Mexican phrase that translates roughly as "on the run."

In other words, he acknowledged his own relatives might be violating U.S. immigration laws.

However, Calderon also said he doesn't know their legal status. Generations of the Calderon clan lived in the village of Puruandiro, where low stone walls now mark abandoned family farm plots, but the Calderons have lost touch with their emigrant relatives, said family members.

And that illustrates another trend: As the immigration boom enters its third decade, many Mexicans have committed themselves to one side of the border or the other, weakening family ties.