MEXICO CITY, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Mexicans living in the United States are facing increasingly aggressive discrimination despite legal entry, Foreign Ministry official Daniel Hernandez Joseph said Friday.

    Hernandez said Mexicans, even those in the United States legally, were seen as the cause of increasing migrant crimes, and they were treated with greater hostility as the result of a general rejection of Mexicans, Hispanics and foreigners in the United States.

    Mexicans giving randomly made-up social security numbers in the country were charged with identity theft, though what they did was clearly different from deliberately defrauding a citizen by stealing their data, Hernandez cited as an example.

    Authorities acted most aggressively in the southern states where immigration was rare until around 10 years ago, he added. "There are fewer Mexicans there than in big cities, but their cases are more difficult."

    Mississippi state authorities have separated a woman from her child and put up this child for adoption, claiming that she was an unfit mother because of poverty, illegal immigration and bad English.

    "We are appealing the case and will continue to fight this injustice," Hernandez said. "We have not seen any other case like this."

    The nearest Mexican consulate, in New Orleans, a port city of Louisiana, has issued the woman papers that allowed her to remain in the country while she fought to regain custody of her child, and the government was working with a regional NGO, the Southern Poverty Law Center, on the case, he said.

    Consular officials are now being trained to seek out and rescue victims of human trafficking, including immigrants working under harsh conditions and forced sex workers.

    The total number of Mexicans seeking consular help did not increase, even though their experiences abroad were harsher, Hernandez said.

    In the 12-month period to late July, about 64,000 Mexicans had sought consular assistance, compared with 118,000 for the whole 2008.