(CNSNews.com) – An ongoing federally funded research project that has cost taxpayers $2.44 million has concluded, among other things, that “deportation and loneliness” led former illegal aliens in Tijuana, Mexico to use drugs and patronize prostitutes.

Researchers working on the project—“Safer Sex Intervention for Male Clients of Female Sex Workers in Tijuana, Mexico”–did one-hour interviews with 30 men from both the United States and Mexico who patronized prostitutes in Tijuana’s Zona Roja.

The researchers paid the men $20 a piece “to describe and reflect upon their experiences purchasing sex” from prostitutes and answer questions that “explored clients’ motivations for seeking commercial sex, their condom use, perceived STI and HIV risk, and narratives on how socio-cultural and structural factors influence sexual and drug using behaviors.”

“Although deportees were not a specific recruitment target, almost all of the Mexican-born participants had been deported to Tijuana from the U.S., leading to separation from partners and families who remained al otro lado (‘on the other side’),” said an article the researchers published in the April 2011 issue of Social Science and Medicine.

“Most participants described how deportation and loneliness led to visiting FSWs [female sex workers] and using drugs simultaneously,” the researchers wrote. “Heavy drug use and unprotected sex were seen by some as inextricably linked responses to a lack of social support.”

The April 2011 journal article included direct quotes from some of the prostitute patrons.

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