Mexico says smugglers abandon migrants at sea
Mexico says smugglers abandon migrants at sea
The Associated Press
Posted: Monday, Apr. 29, 2013
Modified: Monday, Apr. 29, 2013
MEXICO CITY The Mexican navy said Monday it has detected a disturbing trend of migrant smugglers abandoning boatloads of people at sea off the coast of Baja California.
The Navy said that each month it has been finding an average of 10 to 12 boats, with a total of about out 150 migrants. It did not say when the discoveries began, or why the smugglers might have adopted the tactic. However, smugglers sometimes demand payment for such trips up front, leaving them little incentive to get passengers all the way to the United States.
The Navy said the boats' captains abandoned the vessels aboard other craft, telling migrants the motors or other equipment had broken down and they would be back.
The smugglers then left the migrants adrift, often in overcrowded boats without food or radios, putting their lives at risk.
A video released by the navy shows sailors approaching several vessels, some in choppy waters, to rescue ragged-looking passengers.
"This could lead to a lamentable loss of human life," the navy said.
As the United States tightens security across land borders with Mexico, smugglers are increasingly turning to the California coast to bring people and drugs to the United States from Mexico
The number of Border Patrol agents on land has doubled in the past eight years, and hundreds of miles (kilometers) of fences and other barriers have been erected, driving smugglers to the Pacific Ocean.
U.S. authorities spotted 210 suspected smuggling vessels along California shores during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up 15 percent from 183 incidents the previous year and more than quadruple the 45 incidents in 2008.
Migrants pay thousands of dollars to launch from beaches and small fishing villages south of Tijuana, Mexico. They typically use old, single-engine wooden fishing skiffs known as pangas.
In October, a Mexican woman told authorities she agreed to pay $12,000 to be smuggled by boat into the U.S. A criminal complaint says she was among 16 people - all but one a suspected illegal immigrant from Mexico - found in a 31-foot vessel that appeared to be taking in water in the Newport Beach harbor.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/29/4010870/mexico-says-smugglers-abandon.html
Mexico: Traffickers abandoning immigrants at sea
Immigrants? If they were simply 'immigrants' they wouldn't need the aid of 'traffickers' (as in human traffickers or????) Talk about vague. The press can't say much anymore can they?
And notice the above article calls them 'migrants.' This is getting entertaining in a way, watching the press dance around words.
~~~
By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
April 30, 2013 -- Updated 0029 GMT (0829 HKT)
(CNN) -- Mexican authorities said Monday that they've spotted a troubling immigration trend: large numbers of migrants abandoned at sea by traffickers.
Every month, Mexico's navy says it rescues about 150 stranded migrants, left adrift in overloaded boats off the country's Pacific coast.
As part of the scam, officials said in a statement, traffickers tell the migrants that there has been an equipment failure and promise to return but never do.
The immigration and maritime authorities said the frequency of that approach -- about 10 or 12 times per month -- inspired them to issue a warning on Monday: "Do not allow yourself to be fooled and put your life at risk by leaving it in the hands of people without scruples whose only goal is obtaining money without caring about the lives of other human beings."
Authorities have long warned of the dangers of illegal border crossings, often focusing on perilous desert treks by land.
And in the past five years, maritime border crossings into the United States have become a "new frontier," said David Shirk, a professor of political science at San Diego State University and an expert on Mexico and border security.
"It's a reflection of the fact that is has become significantly more difficult to cross the border by land," he said.
That means the Border Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard will likely need more resources, he said, "to address not only the illegal activity, but also the different kinds of risks that implies for people who are putting themselves in that situation."
"We're likely to see a dramatic increase now in drownings and other kinds of water fatalities and other kinds of danger associated with crossing in the water," he said.
The statement from Mexican authorities on Monday suggests that attempted border crossings by boat are drawing increasing concern. But it isn't a new phenomenon.
In 2009, U.S. officials said Mexicans smuggling drugs and migrants into the United States were increasingly turning to the Pacific Ocean for a short sail to the California coast.
"We've seen a huge spike in smuggling by water," Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Diego, said in 2009.
Despite the dangers of border crossings, new figures released by the Pew Research Center on Monday indicate that more than a third of Mexicans surveyed say they would move to the United States if they could.
In a national opinion survey of 1,000 Mexicans conducted last month, more than 60% said they would not move to the United States even if they had the means and opportunity to do so, but a "a sizable minority" of 35% said they would move to the United States if they could. And 20% said they would emigrate without authorization, according to Pew.
Immigration is expected to be one of the topics on the table when U.S. President Barack Obama travels to Mexico this week.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/29/wo...ats/?hpt=hp_t2
