Thread: Cell Phones Sometimes Provide a Lifeline for Illegal Immigra

May 27, 2005

Cell Phones Sometimes Provide a Lifeline for Illegal Immigrants Stranded in Desert
By Arthur H. Rotstein
Associated Press Writer


TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The 23 illegal immigrants were lost in the southern Arizona desert, where the temperatures had soared to more than 100 degrees. They were running out of water, running out of time.
A cell phone proved to be their lifeline Sunday. The group called 911 and by nightfall, they had been rescued.

"Had they not had a cell phone, they would not have been found," said Ron Bellavia, commander of the Border Patrol's search, trauma and rescue operations in the agency's Tucson sector. About a dozen migrants were found dead last weekend, officials said.

Cell phones and two-way pagers have long been a part of the people-smuggling trade in the Southwest. Smugglers have been using them since the 1990s to coordinate the movement of guides, known on the border as coyotes.

More often now, it's the migrants themselves who are carrying phones, Border Patrol officials said.

Some migrants buy phones in the border community of Altar, a city 60 miles south of the Arizona border that is a popular staging area for crossing attempts, said Joe Brigman, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Yuma. Others buy them from guides on the U.S. side.

Most such phones are for emergency use only, keyed to 911 calls, and will access any cell phone relay tower, Bellavia said.

When agents get such calls, they react quickly because they know migrants often wait until the last possible minute before calling authorities.

"If they're calling via 911, we know that they're in distress," he said. "We go full bore when we get these calls."

Border Patrol operators ask how much battery life is left and tell the migrants to stay put and light a signal fire if they are in open spaces. Officials track which cell tower relayed the call and searchers home in through topographical descriptions from the migrants.

But Border Patrol officials caution that having a cell phone won't guarantee migrants safer passage through the desert. Agents can't always locate migrants in distress because the search areas are so vast.

"The fact of having a cell phone aids us in knowing that they're out there, but not necessarily in finding them," Bellavia said. "It would be way too far of a stretch to think that they have a cell phone on them and they're safe."

---

AP-ES-05-27-05 2038EDT

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBPSC7499E.html

But Border Patrol officials caution that having a cell phone won't guarantee migrants safer passage through the desert. Agents can't always locate migrants in distress because the search areas are so vast.

My heart is bleeding for illegals lost in the wilderness. If you don't want to get lost, how about staying home? Duh.