Thread: Over river, through woods, nabbed at the border

Over river, through woods, nabbed at the border
By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune

September 1, 2008

GRAND PORTAGE, MINN. - The Middle Falls trail near the Canadian border in Grand Portage State Park is an ankle-twisting web of roots, boulders and fallen trees that winds downward for 300 feet over two miles.

So it was no surprise that Jan Matoniak and Milosz Osika took their first chance to exit the trail, a half-mile shy of their rendezvous with Marek Struzik, the guide they paid to slip them into the United States.

In the parking lot of Ryden's Border Store, Border Patrol officers tipped off by agents at Grand Portage were waiting for Struzik's SUV to zip past. Then two men, wet and bedraggled, stumbled past wearing clothes the agents later said "looked like they were from a foreign country."

The rugged terrain of northern Minnesota had foiled an elaborate plan to smuggle aliens into the country. Matoniak, from Poland, and Osika, from Slovakia, had waded the Pigeon River and endured their grueling hike for nothing. Struzik, also from Poland, faces a prison term.

Alien smuggling cases are rare in northern Minnesota, officials say. Even with beefed-up border security since 9/11 and an expanded U.S. Customs and Border Patrol presence at Grand Portage, patrolling the Minnesota-Canadian border seldom yields arrests.

All of which made the serendipity of Matoniak's and Osika's early forest exit even more delicious for the Border Patrol officers idling their car in that parking lot.

"These two just fell into their lap," said Lori Ryden-Boomer, co-owner for Ryden's Border Store who saw the men arrested. "How easy was that?"

Border tension

The arrests played out quietly near the border. Until newspapers published a story last week about Struzik being indicted for alien smuggling, few people around here had heard about it.

But the Border Patrol itself has been a topic of conversation. In fact, there's been some tension between the Border Patrol's desire to tighten security here and area residents' laid-back attitude toward the Canadian crossing. Two years ago, the Border Patrol planned to expand its Grand Marais office -- which covers the Grand Portage crossing -- employing as many as 50 agents. Plans included building a new headquarters in Grand Marais.

But some in the community feared that an expanded Border Patrol would infringe on the idyllic nature of the area, said Mark Sandbo, a Grand Marais resort owner and former mayor. Meetings were held. Folks organized.

Sandbo said some in town don't believe the 3,987-mile northern border needs extra protection. When people heard the Border Patrol expansion plans, he said, "They said, 'Whoa, let's take a step back here. We are not the southern border of the United States.' "

Even the folks at Ryden's, who saw the two guys arrested in their parking lot, say they doubt it was a portent of infiltrations to come.

"Once or twice a year, you'll hear something," said Shannon Hicks, one of the store's co-owners. "When I was a kid, Border Patrol only had two officers here. I'm not sure that they need many more."

The Border Patrol has dialed back on its plans. An official confirmed that the Grand Marais office is bigger than before -- up from a few agents to 14 -- and could eventually grow to 20. Instead of a new building, it has moved into shared space in Coast Guard headquarters.

Border Patrol officials acknowledge that the northern border is quieter than the Mexico border, despite being three times as long. A little more than 1,300 agents are assigned to northern border sectors, compared with almost 15,000 agents at the southern border. The arrest totals also differ -- 611,721 in the south for 2007-08 compared with 4,499 in the north.

Still, the need to expand is there, said Border Patrol spokesman Jason Cilberti. Plans are to continue increasing staffing, while also using cameras, infrared sensors and other tools to make the Canadian border safer.

Sandbo, the resort owner, said he's not surprised Matoniak and Osika tried to get into the U.S. illegally. Hundreds of college students from Moldova, the Czech Republic and Russia come to the North Shore on work/travel visas for jobs that resort owners cannot fill with local people. But many other workers are turned away because of a limited number of seasonal worker visas.

"It's important that we protect the border, but not to the standpoint that we close the border," Sandbo said. "What is their reason for coming? If your reason is you want to come here to work, you should be able to come here to work."

Bad luck

The alleged plan to get Matoniak and Osika into the United States reads like something from a Robert Ludlum novel.

According to federal documents, Struzik was contacted in Poland by a man identified only as Robert. Robert offered Struzik money to smuggle two people into the United States. So Struzik obtained a visitor's visa and, on July 22, flew into New York City. From there, he took a flight to Duluth and, three days later, boarded the Happy Times Bus to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

While in Thunder Bay, Struzik met two men who spoke Polish. They instructed Struzik to fly to Toronto and pick up Matoniak and Osika at the airport. He was then supposed to rent a car and drive Matoniak and Osika to Thunder Bay. Struzik was paid $1,500 in Canadian currency, according to court documents. Matoniak and Osika paid him another $1,000.

While waiting in Thunder Bay, Struzik contacted a Grand Portage man, who told him to cross the Pigeon River at the Middle Falls. The spot is close to Canadian Hwy. 593 and an easy drop-off point.

As it turned out, the seemingly easiest part of the plan -- the walk through the woods -- was the toughest to pull off.

On the morning of Aug. 1, Struzik drove Matoniak and Osika from Thunder Bay to the Canadian border at Grand Portage. There, Struzik and the men crossed the Pigeon River and found the trail. Struzik then doubled back and crossed the border legally in his rented SUV. He was arrested by the Border Patrol as he waited in the Grand Portage State Park parking lot -- for the two men who had already been picked up. If convicted, Struzik faces 10 years in federal prison. Osika and Matoniak likely will be deported.

"Bad luck for them," said Hicks of Ryden's Border Store. "The park was only a half-mile away."

James Walsh • 612-673-7428

© 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
http://www.startribune.com/local/27747664.html

Love this. I don't care what country you come from. If you aren't invited to come in STAY OUT.

Jason Ciliberti is one of my contacts at DHS.

Border Patrol officials acknowledge that the northern border is quieter than the Mexico border, despite being three times as long. A little more than 1,300 agents are assigned to northern border sectors, compared with almost 15,000 agents at the southern border. The arrest totals also differ -- 611,721 in the south for 2007-08 compared with 4,499 in the north.

Still, the need to expand is there, said Border Patrol spokesman Jason Cilberti. Plans are to continue increasing staffing, while also using cameras, infrared sensors and other tools to make the Canadian border safer.

http://www.startribune.com/local/27747664.html