Pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. are encouraging Mexicans to travel across the border on temporary visas to donate blood plasma in exchange for money, according to ProPublica.
Selling blood plasma was banned in Mexico in 1987, but the U.S. allows donors to give blood plasma up to 104 times a year, far more than most other countries that don't allow plasma donations at a high frequency because it could weaken the immune system.
The drugmakers offer money for each donation as well as incentives to recruit family and friends to donate. Donors can make up to $400 per month if they donate twice a week and recruit others to donate.
According to ProPublica's investigation, which was done in collaboration with ARD German TV, thousands of Mexicans cross the U.S. border each week to donate plasma, a practice that is in a "gray area" of federal immigration law. They are enticed with Facebook ads and colorful flyers offering cash.
Grifols, a drugmaker based in Spain that produces mostly plasma-based products, only offers full payment to donors if they give at the maximum frequency allowed by the FDA, according to ProPublica.
Grifols employees at five centers along the border told ProPublica that Mexican citizens make up 60 percent to 90 percent of its total donors.
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