Thread: Bush Heads to Border Smuggling Hotspot

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ ... TE=DEFAULT

By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press Writer

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) -- Over the past year, this stretch of desert in southwestern Arizona has become the nation's busiest immigrant-smuggling hotspot, a place of increasing banditry, violence, desperation and death.

Border Patrol agents are seeing spikes in arrests of illegal immigrants and cases every day of criminals preying on border crossers.

President Bush will get an up-close look on Thursday when he visits Yuma as part of his push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws and tighten the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border by sending up to 6,000 National Guardsmen in a backup role.

An eastern Arizona stretch that includes Douglas and Nogales used to be the busiest spot along the border for immigrants trying to slip across. But authorities say a buildup there of border agents and surveillance technology caused a shift last year, pushing immigrants toward the Yuma Border Patrol station.

The shift is part of a common pattern seen in recent years: Crackdowns in one section of the border send immigrants and smugglers flooding to other areas, creating an ever-changing front.

"Yuma is becoming the focal point," said Border Patrol spokesman Richard Hays.

At the Yuma station, which oversees 62 miles of the border, authorities said agents are catching 300 to 450 immigrants a day, which is comparable to last year's numbers, but they are seeing unusual spikes, including 840 on a single day in March.

Law enforcement authorities said the number of those who slip through is greater than the number caught, but they would not give any figures.

Along the entire 125-mile Yuma sector, of which the Yuma station is a part, Border Patrol agents have made 95,000 arrests since Oct. 1, a 13 percent increase from this time last year, authorities said. The number of Border Patrol agents assigned to the sector has double to around 700 in the past year.

An increasing number of immigrants who bypass fortified stretches of border are dying in the desert. Deaths in the Yuma sector hit a record 51 in 2005, up from 36 in 2004 and 15 in 2003.

Daytime temperatures in Yuma can climb to around 120 degrees - 10 to 15 degrees hotter than around Tucson, in the state's eastern sector. Another danger: The area includes an Air Force bombing range.

The Yuma station relies largely on patrolling agents, radar, sensors, cameras and observation towers. It has only a few miles of fences.

Thirty minutes south of Yuma, in one of the more active parts of the region, there are two lines of defense: a 12-foot corrugated metal fence that divides the city of San Luis from Mexico, and, about 50 yards north of the border, an 8-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and towers with surveillance cameras.

Stadium lights help agents spot those who try to slip across under cover of darkness.

In the U.S. community of San Luis, a few hundred yards from the fences, farmworker Salvador Martinez said immigrants try to open his back door or car at night in hope of finding a hiding place. He complained that immigrants running past his stucco house trample the roses and cactus in his yard, where a "Beware of Dog" sign is posted.

"They don't respect anything," Martinez said, taking a break from pulling weeds.

Many homeowners in San Luis have wrought-iron fences around houses, and yet they cannot leave their garage doors open, for fear of thefts.

Roving gangs of bandits also wait in the dense scrub of the dry Colorado River bed for the right moment to hold up immigrants on their way to work in the United States.

"If you live here and your bicycle gets stolen, we might not be there for an hour or so because we have to respond to one of these robberies," said Capt. Eben Bratcher, spokesman for the Yuma County Sheriff's Department.

Illegal immigrants also face threats from the smugglers who brought them across. Smugglers assault and extort money from their customers and are more likely these days to flee from police who try to pull them over, authorities said.

Some Border Patrol vehicles in San Luis have metal cages over their windows because of an increase in rock-throwing by smugglers who lash out at agents when stepped-up patrols make it harder for them to get across, according to authorities.

A quarter of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office's work is related to immigrant and drug smuggling. The office said it spends nearly $2 million a year jailing illegal immigrants suspected of committing crimes north of the border, and only a fraction is reimbursed by Washington.
Yuma County Regional Medical Center estimates it has $2 million a year in unreimbursed costs for treating illegal immigrants.

Charles M. Davis III, who has lived in Yuma for 25 years, said "draconian" steps are needed to stop the flow of immigrants and drugs across the border. "Putting the military on the border is the only way I see to really stop it," Davis said.

Still, Davis is not entirely behind the president's plan to use National Guardsmen, saying it could be a drain on taxpayers.

Other border residents are skeptical the National Guard will make a difference, given the way immigrants keep trying to come across despite the extreme danger.

"People are still willing to defy the risk of death," said Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network, an immigrant rights group.

President Bush will get an up-close look on Thursday when he visits Yuma as part of his push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws and tighten the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border by sending up to 6,000 National Guardsmen in a backup role.

And so, will be demonstrating his very real concern about the "urgency" of our national security at the borders. You know....those terrorists.... (sarcasm intended)

Someone please correct me...but didn't 9/11 happen in 2001?

I hope an illegal gets through the secret service and runs over his head.

Although thinking about if he saw and illegal trying to get across he would probably poo-poo the Secret Service and go shake his hand and thank him for coming to our fair country.

He might even go, pick him up and carry him over the fence, river, etc....

He has to get in his daily quota of photo ops at the taxpayers expense.

Too little, too late, Jorge!

Do you think he knows about the tragic death of the 3 year old child that was allegedly left behind by the mother?

Family values in action.

Wouldn't it be ironic if one of those vans or trucks carrying 40 - 70 illegals crammed inside went speeding by with the Border Patrol in hot pursuit while Bush was giving more lies (er...I meant speech)? He'd say, "See, there goes more good folks rushing to the jobs that no American will do!"

Originally Posted by VOATNOW1

Do you think he knows about the tragic death of the 3 year old child that was allegedly left behind by the mother?

Family values in action.

If he does, it will be to push his open borders - amnesty plans.

In his mind, it's our fault that this happened, because were so mean about not letting everyone into the country who wants in.

I've yet to hear him utter a single word about all the US citizens who have been killed by illegals. One can only conclude that he doesn't care about that.
We're just collateral damage in his great scheme of things.

Many homeowners in San Luis have wrought-iron fences around houses, and yet they cannot leave their garage doors open, for fear of thefts.


No, this can't be true! Not all those wonderful people coming for jobs! They wouldn't steal from their own countrymen.