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Mexican Immigration Laws
Mexico abolished imprisonment of illegal immigrants in 2008. Under the modifications to the General Immigration Law, illegal immigrants to Mexico are liable for fines of between Ps1,000 and Ps5,000 ($100 and $500) and they may be deported or returned to their country of origin. Mexican law now considers imprisoning migrants for poverty and the search for opportunity to be "inconsistent with the basic principles of democratic penal law". In the U.S. criminal punishment for illegal entry is rarely pursued because of the statute of limitations. Many illegal entrants have been in the U.S. for years, and those that haven't need only "prove" by a preponderance of the evidence that they have been. Short of an admission of recent unlawful entry (or subsequent unlawful re-entry), federal prosecutors generally have no way of overcoming such testimony as, "I entered the U.S. six years ago and have continuously resided in the U.S. since then". Prosecutors that can't prove such testimony false have no criminal case and have no business seeking anything but the status quo ante via administrative removal proceedings.— April 19, 2009 6:29 p.m.