MEXICAN CITIZENS LOOKING FOR SANCTUARY

BROWNSVILLE - A middle-aged woman was driving along a busy street in
Matamoros on her way to visit family, when she passed a Soriana
grocery store barricaded by a throng of Mexican soldiers and
vehicles. Gunshots cracked in the distance.

She kept her eyes on the road and pressed on the gas, following what
many Mexican citizens consider unspoken policy: Look away. Mind your
own business. Keep your mouth shut.

"These things don't come out in the newspapers," said the woman, who
works as a housemaid in Brownsville and asked her name not be used
out of concern for her family's safety.

In recent months, she and other residents say, sporadic shootouts in
broad daylight, like this one, seem to have become more common in
Matamoros, once one of the quieter cities along the Texas-Mexico border.

To be sure, with little trust in authorities and few reports from the
media, it is difficult for Mexican residents to discern what is fact
from hearsay. But to be caught in the crossfire is a legitimate fear,
families say - even more distressing, is constantly seeing their
schools shut down, their news outlets silenced and their streets
blockaded by Mexican soldiers and military trucks.

Such concerns are driving Matamoros families away from the border
city and into the Rio Grande Valley, residential and commercial real
estate agents said. The migration follows a steady stream of Mexican
nationals, including journalists, officials and business leaders,
who have relocated to the United States since Mexican President
Felipe Calderon launched a sweeping battle against drug cartels in
2006.

But families from Matamoros have only been moving to the Valley in
higher numbers since last year, real estate agents said. And some
brokers noted calls from Mexican nationals had become even more
frequent in the last six months.

"They call and tell me, 'I need (a home) fast. I want to take my
children out of school. There is too much danger here,' " said Sandy
Lee Galvan, a real estate agent with Century 21 Johnston Company in
Brownsville. "Many want to pay cash upfront."

'Violence escalates, migration escalates'

Drug war violence along the Mexican side of the lower Texas
borderline began to intensify in late February, first after a bloody
turf battle erupted between the Gulf Cartel and its former armed
wing, the Zetas, and now has amplified as drug cartel men increase
their assaults against the Mexican army.

"As the violence escalates, the migration escalates," said Mary
McGowan, broker and owner of All Star Realty in Brownsville.

Real estate agents are taking inquiries from Matamoros, Monterrey,
Victoria and Valle Hermoso, and even from families living farther in
the interior of Mexico. Many Mexican nationals are not stopping in
the Valley but choosing to go farther north, to San Antonio or
Austin, and even into other states, agents said.

But those who do stay prefer gated communities and condos throughout
Brownsville and Rancho Viejo. Near McAllen, the sweetest deals are in
the Sharyland community, said Leanne Richards, broker for

Trendsetters Realty in McAllen.

"Everyone wants to get their children into the Sharyland school
district," said Richards, who has worked in real estate in the Valley
since 1994. In the past, Richards recalls few Mexican families
calling in to inquire about homes in the area. When they did buy, it
took time and they purchased expensive $500,000 homes, she said. Now
people are buying properties costing between $80,000 to $120,000
because they want to move out soon. Many also choose to rent.

"They tell me, 'We are not going back to Mexico, we are afraid,'"
Richards said.

The high number of asylum applications from Mexico in part shows this
increase in migration. The number of people applying for asylum under
"credible fear of persecution," jumped from 179 in 2007 to 312 in
2008, and increased again slightly to 338 in 2009. These figures
were based on people who pleaded for asylum at the nation's southern
ports of entry, according to U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services.

Separate statistics collected from U.S. immigration courts showed an
increase in the number of asylum petitions from Mexico in the first
two years since Calderon initiated the drug war offensive, from 2,793
applications in 2006 to 3,459 in 2008, according to the Executive
Office for Immigration Review under the U.S. Department of Justice.
But the number of petitions dropped to 2,816 in 2009.

Hard to keep count

Nonetheless, tracking the number of people coming into the Valley,
Texas or the United States from Mexico out of fear is difficult,
experts said. No agency seems to be keeping count.

Part of the reason is because the way Mexican families are moving
into the country runs the gamut. Some Mexican nationals have double
citizenship, others apply for investor visas or asylum, and some come
in illegally.

To judge the economic impact, thus, is much tougher. But Howard
Campbell, professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at El
Paso points to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, as an example.

Between 30,000 to 500,000 people have fled from Juarez to the United
States, according to estimates based on the number of abandoned homes
and the assumed number of people per household, he said. The number
may be exaggerated, and it is uncertain how many of these people
reside in the bordering city of El Paso, "but the impact is tangible.
You can see it," Campbell said.

"It is very sad and tragic but the suffering in Juarez is
contributing to the economic stimulus of El Paso," he said. "There is
also a cultural side. There is a sort of rejuvenation and
reincarnation of Mexican culture in the United States."

Many of the people fleeing Juarez are some of the wealthiest in the
city and have injected a lot of money into El Paso's economy, the
professor added.

Business boom

Real estate agents in the Valley said Mexican nationals moving in are
helping keep the housing market afloat. Richards, for instance,
estimated Mexican nationals to make up between 40 to 50 percent of
Trendsetters' clientele in Hidalgo county.

Many families also are "realizing it is a great time to make
investments in the United States," said Norma Rasco, a real estate
agent with Rancho Viejo Realty.

"Mexican nationals are cash buyers, and in this economy, cash is
king," she said.

The stimulus is true of business in the Valley as well, financial
leaders said. Larry Jokl, a commercial real estate agent with
Brownsville Real Estate Management Company, said he helped six
Mexican clients move their businesses to the Valley last year.

"In the first three months of this year, I have had a dozen clientele
from Mexico who have looked to locate their businesses here, two of
whom already have," he said.

Meanwhile, the Brownsville Economic Development Council has hosted
about half a dozen prospects, or companies serious to relocate in
Brownsville, from Mexico since January. On any given year, that
number would have been about two, said Gilbert Salinas, spokesman for
the city's development council.

"A recurring theme has been that due to security issues in their
country, they are now putting their plans on a fast track to break
into the U.S. markets," he said. "Business men and women always have
that - breaking into the U.S. market - in the back of their mind. Now
they are making it a priority."