Thread: Indifference to death alleged by family

By Jonathan Clark/Wick News Service

BISBEE - The body of a deceased illegal border-crosser from Mexico was discovered by family members Wednesday evening in the desert near Apache, and the family is accusing local law enforcement of indifference in the case.

According to reports from the family and U.S. officials, Eduardo Guillen Cortes, 33, was found in an abandoned building on the Fairchild Ranch near the New Mexico border by three family members and a ranch hand. A preliminary report from the Cochise County medical examiner suggests that he died from hypothermia.

Guillen's sister, Rosa Garcia, and two brothers-in-law, Leonel Garcia and Gerardo Almazan, say they arrived in the area on Monday from homes in Texas and California after learning Sunday that Guillen had been left behind during an illicit border crossing.

They say they searched for three days before finding the body, often getting directions via cell phone from a member of Guillen's crossing group who had returned to Mexico.

And although the Mexican Consulate in Douglas contacted the Douglas Border Patrol station on Monday to notify them that Guillen was likely dead in the desert, the family members say they saw little evidence of an official search.

"The only time we saw the Border Patrol was when they were driving along Highway 80," Almazan said.

A spokesman at the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector headquarters said agents were hindered by a lack of evidence and information.

Spokesman Gustavo Soto said the consulate told agents that Guillen, traveling in a group of about 20, had crossed the U.S. border near the Slaughter Ranch east of Douglas. But after conducting a search of the area, Soto said, agents were unable to pick up the group's trail.

Soto said the Border Patrol was never told to look for Guillen at an abandoned ranch building, and so with few clues to work with, the agents suspended their search.

"We never abandon a search, we just suspend it until more information becomes available," Soto said. "And in this case, unfortunately, when the information came in, it had turned into a recovery."

The family members say that after they found Guillen, they called 911 and asked an operator if a helicopter could come retrieve the body, since it was growing dark and rainy and the terrain was becoming treacherous.

According to Almazan, the operator said there was no helicopter available, and instead patched him through to the Border Patrol. Border Patrol agents were unsure about the search party's location, however, and told the family to meet them at mile marker 394 on Highway 80.

"What upset us was that after all that time we spent looking for him, now we had to leave him alone again for more than an hour," Almazan said.

"It was already night, and there were animals around that might get into the building. But what could we do?"

After driving 45 minutes to the highway, the family members returned to the site with five Border Patrol agents and a Cochise County sheriff's deputy. The officers examined the scene and put Guillen into a body bag, but then told the family that their vehicles were too small to carry the corpse.

"They told us, 'We're not prepared to take the body back, so can we use the truck that you're riding in?' " Almazan said. "There was no other option, so we said yes."

However, he said, the pickup truck, which belonged to a ranch hand who had been assisting the search party, had no cap on the back. And the bed was full of wood and other debris. The family members say they were afraid the body would fall out of the truck, or that Guillen's face, which had yet to begin decomposing, might get beaten up by the debris.

"He was carried away like a dead animal in the back of a truck," Leonel Garcia said.

"Why didn't they come prepared to carry away a corpse?" Rosa Garcia asked. "All they brought with them was a body bag."

County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carol Capas confirmed the basic facts of the recovery effort. Asked why the deputy responded to a call of a dead body in a vehicle that was not equipped to carry a corpse, she said it was an issue of logistics.

The deputy from the Apache district did not have access to a larger truck, Capas said. And while the Sheriff's Office could have dispatched a truck from another district, it might have taken that vehicle up to two hours to get to the remote location of the body, she said.

"Because of daylight issues, in order to get the body back to the road so that a mortuary could pick it up, the deputy asked the relatives if they would transport it in the back of the truck," Capas said.

Given the circumstances, Capas said, the deputy's request was appropriately sensitive.

"The longer the relatives had to be out there waiting, the longer they would have had to just sit there looking at this body bag with their loved one in it," she said.

The Mexican Consul in Douglas, Oscar De la Torre, had no comment on the Border Patrol's and sheriff's efforts to recover the body.

"We informed U.S. officials, and then they notified us that the body had been found," he said. "I don't know the details of the search."

De la Torre said that once Guillen's autopsy is completed, the consulate will arrange to transport the body back to Mexico, with the Mexican government covering the costs.

Guillen's family members said the husband and father of three boys had been a taxi driver in his hometown of Morelia, in the central state of Michoacan. He reportedly left Morelia on Jan. 19 with four other men before crossing the border two days later with a larger group.

One of the men who left Morelia with Guillen was apparently caught by the Border Patrol and repatriated to Mexico, where he told Guillen's wife that her husband had fallen behind the group somewhere between Douglas and Rodeo.

Guillen's wife then notified family members living in the U.S. and asked them to try to find him.

The family members said they were unaware Guillen had set out for the border. They said he had wanted to start his own taxi company, and they suspected that he had come to the U.S in hopes of earning money for a business license.

http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles ... /news5.txt

I don't mean to sound cruel but you have to wonder if his family members are even here legally. Second, at what point is the Mexican government going to be blamed and held accountable by its citizens for their poverty and overall plight? Why is it that our border patrol officers are convicted and jailed for protecting us and our borders, and criticized for not doubling as morticians and blamed for the death of illegals who die in the process of invading our sovereignty?

Originally Posted by WhatMattersMost

I don't mean to sound cruel but you have to wonder if his family members are even here legally. Second, at what point is the Mexican government going to be blamed and held accountable by its citizens for their poverty and overall plight? Why is it that our border patrol officers are convicted and jailed for protecting us and our borders, and criticized for not doubling as morticians and blamed for the death of illegals who die in the process of invading our sovereignty?

Good Questions!! How about it Traitor Bush,and congressmen, we would like some answers!!!

"What upset us was that after all that time we spent looking for him, now we had to leave him alone again for more than an hour," Almazan said.

So why didn't two stay with the dearly deceased and one meet BP?

This infuriates me.

They say they searched for three days before finding the body, often getting directions via cell phone from a member of Guillen's crossing group who had returned to Mexico.

And although the Mexican Consulate in Douglas contacted the Douglas Border Patrol station on Monday to notify them that Guillen was likely dead in the desert, the family members say they saw little evidence of an official search.

And they think the BP should have done MORE to find this guy?????? When this illegal alien died the BPs job was OVER because the last time i checked dead people were NOT a threat to our borders. What the BP should have done was contacted ICE to run status checks on all these freakin family members in Texas And California! And again, here goes the mexican consulate sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. I swear to God these people must be mentally challenged. Same mentality as a burglar that breaks into your house and sues you because you didn't have a nice enough stereo for him to steal.

Well, if he hadn't been breaking the law then this would not have happened to him and he would be at home with his family and driving his taxi.

Outrageous lady! Wanting to call out the emergency helicopter to pick up a dead person. The fuel, maintenance and the pilots fee would cost more than cremation.

Dixie

I'm sure the grieving family would have paid all expenses associated with the retrieval of the body. Even the cost of a new helicopter to replace the first one that could have crash since "it was growing dark and rainy and the terrain was becoming treacherous".

Originally Posted by JadedBaztard

This infuriates me.

They say they searched for three days before finding the body, often getting directions via cell phone from a member of Guillen's crossing group who had returned to Mexico.

And although the Mexican Consulate in Douglas contacted the Douglas Border Patrol station on Monday to notify them that Guillen was likely dead in the desert, the family members say they saw little evidence of an official search.

And they think the BP should have done MORE to find this guy?????? When this illegal alien died the BPs job was OVER because the last time i checked dead people were NOT a threat to our borders. What the BP should have done was contacted ICE to run status checks on all these freakin family members in Texas And California! And again, here goes the mexican consulate sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. I swear to God these people must be mentally challenged. Same mentality as a burglar that breaks into your house and sues you because you didn't have a nice enough stereo for him to steal.

Truly you have to wonder if every single illegal supporter shares one brain cell and have a schedule to determine who gets to use it on any given day. These people have the nerve to complain because all the BP had was a body bag and no access to a funeral car? What are we now a nation of illegal alien pall bearers? Of course it never occurs to them that if it were up to their stinking government and an American had died while attempting to illegally cross the border of Mexico, they probably would have used the corpse for a soccer ball.

I'm wondering if the mexican government's 'breaking into the USA survival book' isn't poorly illustrated and possibly aided in this person's demise?

Who's paying for the funeral? The U.S. or mexico?

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

I'm wondering if the mexican government's 'breaking into the USA survival book' isn't poorly illustrated and possibly aided in this person's demise?

Who's paying for the funeral? The U.S. or mexico?

I'm sure we will. After all everything is our fault.