Thread: A vehicle for quick crossing

A vehicle for quick crossing

Dumped border bikes show popular tactic

By Janine Zúñiga (Contact)
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. January 30, 2009

Over the years, Jesse Gomez has picked up uncounted knapsacks, jackets and water bottles left behind by people illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border onto his Tijuana River Valley farm.

But lately he's been stumbling across bikes, dozens and dozens of them. Beach cruisers, mountain bikes and roadsters. The occasional Trek or Huffy, but mostly cheaper models with rusted frames and torn seats.

So many bikes that Gomez has outfitted his extended family, neighbors and friends and donated surplus to his church. The U.S. Border Patrol, which also has noticed the increase in bike crossings, had been donating bicycles it found in the area to a local prison to refurbish.

“But in the past year, they have become such an issue,â€

oops! I just posted this I'll go remove my post so as not to have duplicte posting, sorry.