Grupos Beta: Background information when reading Lucky Boy

Grupos Beta

This article relates to Lucky Boy

In the beginning of Lucky Boy, as Soli makes her way from Mexico to the United States, she spends several nights in a relief camp set up by Grupos Beta, a service agency operated by Mexico's National Institute of Migration (INM), that offers water, shelter, medical aid, and information to migrants at risk.

There are currently 22 Grupos Beta operations in nine Mexican states: Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas and Oaxaca. Started in 1990 as a kind of border patrol that protects rather than detains migrants, the basic role of the federal entity is to safeguard the human rights of migrants who might face serious dangers and health risks such as heat stroke, dehydration, and hyperthermia while traveling in Mexico.

Among the many essential services provided are water and air rescue for people navigating the harsh environments of canyons, mountains, and arroyos. The organization also places blue flags to mark the path that will direct travelers to water stations, and to let them know that they are patrolling the area. Once migrants find their way to a camp, Grupos Beta delivers medical aid, food, showers, and shelter for up to three days as well as assisting those who need longer term facilities because they are sick or too feeble to travel further. Recruits are encouraged to undergo paramedical training. With a motto of "vocation, humanitarianism, and loyalty," Grupos Beta also provides information and orientation, letting migrants know the kinds of issues to anticipate.

The organization works with other entities such as Humane Borders, a faith-based initiative out of Tucson, Arizona, that sets up water stations; and Kino Border Initiative, a Jesuit organization dedicated to helping migrants and deportees. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have expressed concerns that Grupos Beta is not sufficiently funded to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of migrants in transit each year who are vulnerable to abuse by gangs, kidnappers, robbers and sexual predators. In the past eight years, there has been a tremendous increase in unaccompanied children and youth traveling from Central America who are at great risk for becoming lost, injured or falling victim to traffickers.

The Mexican government provides a list of the various Grupos Beta organizations that can be contacted so missing children can be reported, in the hopes of reuniting them with their families, placing them in shelter care or in the worst case, having their remains sent to next of kin for burial.

Picture of Grupos Beta in action from PHP Mexico

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to Lucky Boy. It originally ran in February 2017 and has been updated for the September 2017 paperback edition. Go to magazine.