Immigrant group fears Zetas if deported near border

By Alejandro MartĂ*nez-Cabrera \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 06/16/2011 03:46:47 PM MDT

A group of 21 undocumented immigrants being held in New Mexico is asking not to be deported to Mexico through the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila or Tamaulipas, where they fear they could become victims of organized crime.

The group, being detained at the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, said in letters written to the immigrants' rights group No More Deaths that they feared falling prey to violence, extortion or forced recruitment by the Los Zetas drug cartel.

In one of the letters, a member of the group said he had been deported through Texas before and was kidnapped by local police officers upon his return to Mexico.

The letter said the man was "held hostage along with other deportees and (it) was always at gunpoint.

Some didn't have family or had no money to pay the ransom so this group killed them and the ones that paid escaped death but not a beating. É On the other side of the border of Texas is where this takes place every day."
A No More Deaths news release said the inmates are asking to be deported through the state of Sonora and called on Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano to help.

"They're not asking not to be deported. The immigrants asked us to intervene to avoid being deported along the Texas and New Mexico borders because their feeling is that it's all Zetas territory," said Sally Meisen helder, a volunteer with No More Deaths.

Drug cartels are known to target undocumented immigrants who are making their way to the United States border or who have been deported.

In a recent Houston Chronicle interview, a former member of Los Zetas said the drug organization arms kidnapped bus passengers with machetes and hammers, and pits them into gladiator-style fights against each other to recruit new assassins.

"The imminent danger is not only death, but to suffer a cruel and merciless death. That's what they fear," said Leticia CalderĂłn, a professor at the Doctor JosĂ© MarĂ*a LuĂ*s Mora Research Institute and an expert on immigration.

The inmates at Estancia were arrested at separate times in the past three months for carrying fake visas or crossing illegally into the United States through the Arizona desert.

The No More Deaths news release said the deporting of the inmates might start Wednesday. It is unclear where in Mexico they are scheduled to be released.

Immigration authorities were unavailable for comment.

Alejandro MartĂ*nez-Cabrera can be reached at a.martinez@elpasotimes.com;546-6129.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18283424