Report: 230,000 Displaced by Mexico Drug War

March 15: Mexican army soldiers stand outside a home. A report based on local research says at least 230,000 have been displaced in Mexico due to drug violence. (AP2011)

MEXICO CITY -- A report suggests that at least 230,000 people have been displaced in Mexico because of drug violence and that about half of them may have taken refuge in the United States.

The study by the Swiss-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center says the Mexican government does not compile figures on people who have had to leave their homes because of turf battles between drug gangs.

The center says this week's report is based on studies by local researchers.

But recently released government census figures support the idea of an exodus. The census show almost two-thirds of homes in one hard-hit northern Mexico township have been abandoned.