Thread: Their mission: Turn back migrants, save lives

Their mission: Turn back migrants, save lives
No guns, no radios: This is Mexico's border patrol
Sean Holstege
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 29, 2008 12:00 AM

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Sonora - Mexico's unarmed border patrol faces a daunting challenge: Arrest often-dangerous smugglers and persuade people, who have invested their life's savings to cross the border illegally, to head back home.

The border agents patrol without weapons or radios in parts of the Altar Desert so remote that their cellphones don't work. Here, drug smugglers roam freely with military-style automatic rifles and satellite phones.

Called Grupos Beta, the agents are parts federal police, medic and social worker. They exist to deter hundreds of thousands of compatriots from dangerous border crossings and to rescue them when the harsh landscape and climate prove too much. Agents also arrest the coyotes who guide immigrants into the United States, violating laws of both countries. advertisement




Yet questions linger about the role and effectiveness of the Betas, who were disarmed in 2000 because of abuse allegations. Grupos Beta has fans and foes on both sides of the border.

Detractors portray the Betas as a Band-Aid against illegal immigration at best and at worst as adding to the problem. Supporters, including U.S. Border Patrol agents, point to the nearly 5,700 rescues by Betas last year along the U.S.-Mexican frontier. Human-rights groups say the Betas have overcome their image as armed thugs preying on immigrants to become respected as an elite corps of lifesavers.

"They have the power of persuasion, which is power. And they have access to the migrants, which is also a power," said Robin Hoover, who runs the Tucson-based Humane Borders, which is dedicated to saving lives in the desert.

Five agents patrol about 90 miles of border across from Arizona's Yuma County. When they encounter would-be immigrants, they hand them cartoon-style guidebooks that give advice on how to survive in the desert - assuming the people don't turn back after hearing tales of rape and seeing photos of corpses. Beta agents hand out water, food and clothing for those who continue north.

The pamphlets and tactics have enraged immigration-control groups in the United States, who accuse the Mexican government of encouraging illegal border crossings. But there is little else the Beta agents can do: It's not illegal in Mexico to cross the border, just as it is not illegal for U.S. citizens to cross into Mexico, so they cannot arrest crossers.

Jorge Alberto Vasquez Oropeza, who leads the Beta office in San Luis Rio Colorado, is proud his team arrested 36 coyote suspects last year. It was none the year before. Coyotes can get 12 years in Mexican prison, but, Vasquez says, migrants almost never testify and judges regularly let the coyotes go.


Lonely patrols


A recent patrol began at 7:30 a.m. with a strong scent of diesel smoke as Commandante Vasquez roared his trademark orange Beta truck to life. He headed east along Mexico Highway 2, which runs parallel to and 100 yards from the new border fence. A cold wind blew sand across the two-lane artery connecting Baja California to the rest of Mexico.

The road between San Luis Rio Colorado and Los Vidrios is dominated by four features that typify today's Mexican frontier:


• Wide-open desert. For years, this openness has made Arizona the most popular entry point for illegal immigrants, but the rough terrain often turns deadly.


• A military checkpoint. Just east of San Luis Rio Colorado, two dozen Mexican army troops, shouldering vintage wood-stock rifles, stop vehicles in search of narcotics. President Felipe Calderón has deployed thousands of troops to fight Mexico's war on drugs.


• Abandoned ranch houses. Dozens dot Highway 2. All lack windows, roofs and doors. They've become staging areas for bands of border-crossers.


• A 15-foot, metal-mesh border fence. The barrier dominates the landscape. It has choked off human smuggling near Yuma.


Evidence of crossers


About 15 miles east of town, Vasquez pulled off the road into Cafe Cesar to take a second look at a van. The woman driver glanced away. Lashed to her roof were two extension ladders, a more common sight near the fence these days.

He drove away without confronting the woman because planning to cross isn't a crime.

Vasquez and his team bounced off-road along the fence for three hours, stopping at known hot spots. One was the abandoned La Paloma restaurant, now a compound of cinder-block skeletons, where the mesh fence is temporarily interrupted by rocky hills.

The compound was empty, but rusty tin cans at the foot of one hill and an ice pick at the top signaled that spotters were there.

Farther east, at another hillside break in the fence, Beta agents found a pile of clothes, including black military boots.

"Narcotraficantes," said Beta Agent Ricardo Ramirez Piñal, noting that the dark clothes and small size of the group indicate drug smugglers. Footprints led around the fence, into Arizona.

www.azcentral.com

How do they "Arrest often-dangerous smugglers" if they are unarmed?

The border agents patrol without weapons or radios in parts of the Altar Desert so remote that their cellphones don't work. Here, drug smugglers roam freely with military-style automatic rifles and satellite phones.

No weapons, no radios and cells phones don't work(?)

No wonder the Mexican border patrol don't respond when our border agents are attacked and call for the Mexican border patrols' assistance--the Mexican agents don't want to get injured.

How do they call for medical help if they find someone in need of rescue?

Lack of communication on purpose--so they 'can't' notify US border patrol when they encounter people going across the border illegally and give them the location?

Supporters, including U.S. Border Patrol agents, point to the nearly 5,700 rescues by Betas last year along the U.S.-Mexican frontier.

5,700 rescues at the BEGINNING of the journey of illegally entering the U.S.?????

When they encounter would-be immigrants, they hand them cartoon-style guidebooks that give advice on how to survive in the desert - assuming the people don't turn back after hearing tales of rape and seeing photos of corpses. Beta agents hand out water, food and clothing for those who continue north.

Enablers and accesories.

Food and clothes compliments of the Mexican government. No wonder Mexico won't allow charities to donate used clothing in Mexico--Mexican law states clothing has to be new.

But there is little else the Beta agents can do: It's not illegal in Mexico to cross the border, just as it is not illegal for U.S. citizens to cross into Mexico, so they cannot arrest crossers.

What a sorry excuse. The Mexican government, IF IT WANTED TO, could pass a law in less than a week.

Jorge Alberto Vasquez Oropeza, who leads the Beta office in San Luis Rio Colorado, is proud his team arrested 36 coyote suspects last year. It was none the year before. Coyotes can get 12 years in Mexican prison, but, Vasquez says, migrants almost never testify and judges regularly let the coyotes go.

Unarmed and they arrested 36 smugglers?????

Migrants almost never testify and judges let the coyotes go--encourage illegal immigration and yet another example of Mexican government corruption?

MEXICO DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR BORDER CO-OPERATION OR PROTECTION AND AIDS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

"The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence." Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

...and what a fine, effective job they are doing....thousands of Mexicans and others cross into the U.S. every single day. Job well done.

ONE QUESTION: WHERE'S THE FENCE?

It is not a crime in Mexico to cross the border into US or to cross into Mexico from US ????

Lets get 20 busloads of American Patriots and go have a publicized border crossing into Mexico and see what happens !!!

It's not illegal in Mexico to cross the border, just as it is not illegal for U.S. citizens to cross into Mexico, so they cannot arrest crossers.

Then why do I have to show my ID to cross in either direction? Why do we have Customs in both directions?

It's not illegal to cross at checkpoints, with proper ID. If it wasn't illegal , then why do so many risk death by swimming across or walking across the desert? Why do we have border patrol?

It appears to be like all the other laws. Only American citizens can be arrested for crossing the Mexican border.

What would happen if millions of American "mothers to be" started going to Mexico to deliver babies? It would be cheaper there, even at good hospitals. Does Mexico give instant citizen status like the US? How about we tell Mexico, our dual citizen kids will soon take control of their country?

The above mentioned group could meet us at the border with water, beans and tortillas, and provide maps and transportation.

It's not illegal in Mexico to cross the border, just as it is not illegal for U.S. citizens to cross into Mexico, so they cannot arrest crossers.

If not illegl to cross the Mexican border why does Mexico
1. Have the armed Mexican military on it's southern border?
2. Use the term illegal immigrant in its laws?
3. Arrest those illegally in Mexico?
4. Imprison those illegally in Mexico?
5. Deport more illegal immigrants annually than the U.S. does?

Mexico's Immigration Law: Let's Try It Here at Home
by J. Michael Waller

Posted: 05/08/2006

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Mexico has a radical idea for a rational immigration policy that most Americans would love. However, Mexican officials haven’t been sharing that idea with us as they press for our Congress to adopt the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill.

That's too bad, because Mexico, which annually deports more illegal aliens than the United States does, has much to teach us about how it handles the immigration issue. Under Mexican law, it is a felony to be an illegal alien in Mexico.

At a time when the Supreme Court and many politicians seek to bring American law in line with foreign legal norms, it’s noteworthy that nobody has argued that the U.S. look at how Mexico deals with immigration and what it might teach us about how best to solve our illegal immigration problem. Mexico has a single, streamlined law that ensures that foreign visitors and immigrants are:

in the country legally;
have the means to sustain themselves economically;
not destined to be burdens on society;
of economic and social benefit to society;
of good character and have no criminal records; and
contributors to the general well-being of the nation.
The law also ensures that:

immigration authorities have a record of each foreign visitor;
foreign visitors do not violate their visa status;
foreign visitors are banned from interfering in the country’s internal politics;
foreign visitors who enter under false pretenses are imprisoned or deported;
foreign visitors violating the terms of their entry are imprisoned or deported;
those who aid in illegal immigration will be sent to prison.
Who could disagree with such a law? It makes perfect sense. The Mexican constitution strictly defines the rights of citizens -- and the denial of many fundamental rights to non-citizens, illegal and illegal. Under the constitution, the Ley General de Población, or
General Law on Population, spells out specifically the country's immigration policy.
It is an interesting law -- and one that should cause us all to ask, Why is our great southern neighbor pushing us to water down our own immigration laws and policies, when its own immigration restrictions are the toughest on the continent? If a felony is a
crime punishable by more than one year in prison, then Mexican law makes it a felony to be an illegal alien in Mexico.

If the United States adopted such statutes, Mexico no doubt would denounce it as a manifestation of American racism and bigotry.

We looked at the immigration provisions of the Mexican constitution. [1] Now let's look at Mexico's main immigration law.

Mexico welcomes only foreigners who will be useful to Mexican society:

Foreigners are admitted into Mexico "according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress." (Article 32)
Immigration officials must "ensure" that "immigrants will be useful elements for the country and that they have the necessary funds for their sustenance" and for their dependents. (Article 34)
Foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets "the equilibrium of the national demographics," when foreigners are deemed detrimental to "economic or national interests," when they do not behave like good citizens in their own country, when they have broken Mexican laws, and when "they are not found to be physically or mentally healthy." (Article 37)
The Secretary of Governance may "suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest." (Article 3
Mexican authorities must keep track of every single person in the country:

Federal, local and municipal police must cooperate with federal immigration authorities upon request, i.e., to assist in the arrests of illegal immigrants. (Article 73)
A National Population Registry keeps track of "every single individual who comprises the population of the country," and verifies each individual's identity. (Articles 85 and 86)

A national Catalog of Foreigners tracks foreign tourists and immigrants (Article 87), and assigns each individual with a unique tracking number (Article 91).

Foreigners with fake papers, or who enter the country under false pretenses, may be imprisoned:

Foreigners with fake immigration papers may be fined or imprisoned. (Article 116)
Foreigners who sign government documents "with a signature that is false or different from that which he normally uses" are subject to fine and imprisonment. (Article 116)
Foreigners who fail to obey the rules will be fined, deported, and/or imprisoned as felons:

Foreigners who fail to obey a deportation order are to be punished. (Article 117)
Foreigners who are deported from Mexico and attempt to re-enter the country without authorization can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. (Article 11
Foreigners who violate the terms of their visa may be sentenced to up to six years in prison (Articles 119, 120 and 121). Foreigners who misrepresent the terms of their visa while in Mexico -- such as working with out a permit -- can also be imprisoned.

Under Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony. The General Law on Population says,

"A penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five thousand pesos will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally." (Article 123)
Foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico instead of being imprisoned. (Article 125)
Foreigners who "attempt against national sovereignty or security" will be deported. (Article 126)
Mexicans who help illegal aliens enter the country are themselves considered criminals under the law:

A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison. (Article 127)
Shipping and airline companies that bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico will be fined. (Article 132)
All of the above runs contrary to what Mexican leaders are demanding of the United States. The stark contrast between Mexico's immigration practices versus its American
immigration preachings is telling. It gives a clear picture of the Mexican government's agenda: to have a one-way immigration relationship with the United States.

Let's call Mexico's bluff on its unwarranted interference in U.S. immigration policy. Let's propose, just to make a point, that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) member nations standardize their immigration laws by using Mexico's own law as a model.

This article was first posted at CenterforSecurityPolicy.org.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=14632