Thread: Group gives migrants advice, warnings

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Group gives migrants advice, warnings

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times

JUAREZ AND PALOMAS, Mexico -- The men hid in the tall river reeds in the valley of Juárez, just east of Fabens. They stripped down to their underwear and held their bundled clothes and shoes, ready to dash across the Rio Grande into the United States.

When the agents of Grupos Beta pulled over in their bright orange shirts and their all-terrain vehicles, about six or seven of the migrants scampered into the nearby farming community in various degrees of undress. One left his sneakers behind.

Jose Cruz Anduaga, the patrol leader, corralled three men who were still pulling their pants up.

"The smugglers tell them that we're the police," Cruz said, annoyed. "They scare them so they can charge them more money."

But the members of Grupos Beta are not the police. They don't carry weapons. Many have no background in law enforcement, and they can't make arrests.

What they do is make migrants take time to learn about the dangers that await them on the other side of the border. Grupos members also offer water and pay for half of the migrants' bus tickets should they decide to go home.

The program, part of the National Immigration Institute, Mexico's federal immigration office, started in Tijuana in 1990 and spread to about 10 locations on Mexico's northern border.

The Juárez office, which has 11 agents, is now setting up a new station in Palomas, across the border from Columbus, N.M., where the bulk of illegal immigration in the El Paso sector takes place.

Border Patrol statistics show that apprehensions around Columbus and Fabens have more than doubled in the past three years, while apprehensions at the El Paso station have declined 17 percent.

Close to 30,000 undocumented immigrants have been caught near Columbus since last October, 17,000 near Fabens and 8,000 in El Paso.

Border Patrol officials in El Paso said they support Grupos Beta and have even helped the group with search and rescue training. Border Patrol officials said they have daily contact with the group.

"Our liaison mechanism is very strong with Mexican agencies, including Beta," said Doug Mosier, Border Patrol spokesman in El Paso. "It's a group we deal with on a fairly regular basis to the point that we provided training for them."

Last month in the Lower Valley, Gilbert Rodriguez, 29, one of the three men who didn't flee from the agents, received a lecture about the Franklin Canal, which is built like a funnel with seemingly calm water on top and treacherous currents at the narrow bottom. El Paso's medical examiner's office has recorded 10 canal drownings so far this year.

Rodriguez said he didn't even know there was a canal on the other side of the river.

Salt, sugar, limes, garlic

Near Palomas, where migrants can walk for days in the mountainous desert, the danger is exposure to heat or cold.

Migrants start their trek by catching old yellow buses that leave Palomas day and night for Las Chepas, a ghost village a few miles west. From there, they follow guides into the wilderness.

Grupos Beta's newest team of four -- made up of two Juárez agents, a former soldier and a high-school student -- stake out the buses on the dirt road outside of town and pull them over. Their goal is to talk to 300 migrants a day. They now average 140 contacts a day in Palomas, compared with 25 in the valley of Juárez.

One morning last month, agent Alexander Esquinca, an economist by training, climbed into one of the first buses of the day and launched into his speech.

"When you go through the desert, take with you food, water, salt, sugar, limes and garlic. You can mix salt, sugar and limes to make a serum that prevents dehydration. To avoid being bitten by animals, rub garlic on your body and on your clothes. Garlic is a natural repellent," he recited.

The bus driver, an old man with a tattered hat that said "Cerveza," sat back and yawned.

"If you are caught by the Border Patrol, do not run and do not put your hands in your pockets," Esquinca continued. "If you succeed in crossing, call your family. Because they're probably worried."

The agents then wrote down every passenger's name to keep a record of them in case their family came looking for them.

Migrants' dollars

Human smuggling is the biggest employer in Palomas, population 2,500.

Nearly every resident in the farming community makes some money from the droves of migrants who wait for a bus or a guide in the crowded little park in the center of town or look for food or a room at one of the many hotels in town.

In Las Chepas, one woman turned her very neat house, decorated with frilly table cloths and plastic flowers, into a convenience store for passing migrants.

In one awkward moment last month, a bus driver on the road to Las Chepas recognized one of the Grupos Beta agents, the high-school student, as a former colleague. The agent, who is from Palomas, used to drive a bus to Las Chepas.

Life is not cheap in Palomas. A hotel room is $30 a night. A bus ticket costs between $5 and $10. And the smugglers can charge more than $2,500 to take migrants to their U.S. destinations.

One immigrant from Michoacan said he exhausted his savings in 15 days in Palomas.

Frigid welcome

Even though Grupos Beta agents can't stop migrants from crossing the border, which is not illegal in Mexico, their tactics often disturb the smugglers' operations.

On the day the group spoke to the men in the reeds in the valley of Juárez, their conspicuous presence attracted the Border Patrol's attention on the U.S. side of the river and the migrants had to abandon their plans for at least several hours.

Human trafficking is a crime in Mexico, but the polleros, or chicken farmers, as the smugglers are called in the region, hide among their group and migrants rarely tell on them, officials said.

In Palomas, the welcome from the polleros has been frigid.

Soon after Grupos Beta agents started stopping buses outside of town, rotting carcasses of dead cattle appeared at their preferred roadside spots. Agents don't go out after dark.

Agents also have to contend with the state of mind of the migrants -- anxious to go and high on adrenaline.

In Las Chepas last month, agent Samuel Ramirez tried to talk Juan Briones, 30, out of crossing. Briones explained that he had been waiting for five years for a green card to go join his wife, a U.S. citizen, in Louisiana.

"Don't do it, my friend. Don't risk your residency," Ramirez urged.

But, like most, Briones didn't change his mind, and when Grupos Beta came back from patrol an hour later, the man had left with a guide.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.

Here is the other half of the page on this artilce. I couldnt get the pictures to post, but thought you would be interested in this as well.

Migrants Neftall Hinojos, 25, left, and Israel Martinez, 23, waited on a bus bound for Las Chepas, Mexico, where they will attempt to enter the United States as Grupos Beta agent Marco Antonio Armenta Leyva takes information from others.

Human smuggling
Apprehensions of undocumented immigrants at different Border Patrol stations in the El Paso sector. Figures reflect apprehensions made from Oct. 1 to June 20.
Oct. 1, 2004-June 20, 2005
CITY NO. CAUGHT
Deming 29,600
Fabens 17,058
El Paso 8,298
Oct. 1, 2003-June 20, 2004
CITY NO. CAUGHT
Deming 21,448
Fabens 13,961
El Paso 8,501
Oct. 1, 2002-June 20, 2003
CITY NO. CAUGHT
Deming 18,425
Fabens 11,149
El Paso 10,075
(Entire sector for all of last year: 104,430)
Source: U.S. Border Patrol.


Photos by Mark Lambie / El Paso Times
Grupos Beta agent Alexander Esquinca stops a bus traveling from Palomas to Las Chepas along the U.S.-Mexico border.The border is separated only by a waist-high fence, seen at left.


Grupos Beta agents Alexander Esquinca, left, and Marco Antonio Armenta Leyva talk with Eleazr Baes, 52, and Maria de la Luz Villalobos, 50, as they relax at the Palomas Plaza awaiting cooler temperatures to attempt to enter the United States.

Work details
From January to June this year, Grupos Beta in Juárez spoke to about 3,400 migrants: 2,617 men, 292 boys, 415 women and 73 girls.
The group gave further assistance to about 2,100 of them, including:
# Giving medical attention to 305 (including taking five people to the hospital and two to the psychiatric center).
# Taking 180 minors to children's shelters.
# Taking 144 adults to shelters.
# Taking 271 people to the bus depot.
# Budget for Grupos Beta in Mexico: About $60 million last year.
Source: Mexican Institute of Immigration.
For more information: www.migracion.gob. mx/paginas/420000.htm.