Illegal aliens and a smaller number of legal immigrants send more than $20 billion back to Mexico each year. That partly helps explain why that country has passed out a comic book to prospective illegal aliens showing them how to cross the desert. They also considered passing out maps (with the help of two U.S. collaborators), they operate a "migrant assistance" group called Grupo Beta, and the state of Yucatan even came out with a computer CD.

Thus, the report "Mexico offers satnav to illegals crossing into the US" - as ludicrous as it might sound to someone who's not familiar with our remora fish to the south - isn't that much of a surprise. Apparently officials from the Mexican state of Puebla (led by Jaime Obregon, "coordinator for the state commission for migrants") are going to pass out personal locator beacons of some kind to those trying to cross the border. If they get lost - or get abandoned by their coyote - they can activate the beacon and help - supposedly from either Mexico or the U.S. - will be on the way. An unnamed CBP spokesman denies any knowledge of the scheme.

The article is a bit questionable because it's in a Hong Kong newspaper and there doesn't appear to be any other source with the news, but the author is Justin Stares, who appears to be a writer for various British newspapers.

On the other hand, they say they might pass out 200,000 of the devices which could really add up. "Personal Rescue Beacons" for use on boats and such appear to cost several hundreds of dollars, they're so pricy that there's even one site offering them for rental (you need to sign in to see their rental prices so I didn't bother), and a device called a "Digital Angel" that uses cellphone technology appears to cost around $400. However, many or most cellphones contain GPS technology and they aren't too expensive so maybe there are cheaper alternatives.

Or, perhaps Mexico has some sort of a rental arrangement in mind, with the "migrants" turning their PLB into the local consulate once they arrive in Mexico's "Lost Territories".

UPDATE: This story also appears in the UK Telegraph, so it might be legit.

UPDATE 2: As discussed here, the AP has confirmed this report. A Mexican university is developing their own cheap beacon, which will be passed out free to "migrants". If they have the abilities to design and manufacture cheap electronic devices, one wonders why they're unable to put that to good uses that would reduce "migration" rather than putting it to uses that will only make Mexico's overall situation worse.