TX - Rescue beacons to offer help to immigrants in distress
Border Patrol: Rescue beacons to offer help to immigrants in distress
Comments 8
March 4, 2009 - 11:24 PM
Jared Taylor
FALFURRIAS — Federal authorities have deployed two new rescue beacons along one of the most common routes followed by illegal immigrants and drug smugglers as they head north.
The U.S. Border Patrol placed the beacons along power lines on Brooks County ranchland east of U.S. Highway 281, said John Lopez, spokesman for the agency's Rio Grande Valley Sector.
"These beacons will be a way of (immigrants) gaining immediate medical attention or assistance," he said. "They will utilize them if they are in a dire need."
Each beacon is a red steel post that stands about two stories tall and is equipped with a red button that can be pressed to summon assistance. The towers are solar-powered and are lighted at night. Mirrors around the tops of them enhance their visibility during the day, Lopez said.
Instructions to push the button for help and wait at the beacon are conveyed in English, Spanish and Mandarin - a group of closely related Chinese dialects that are spoken in about four-fifths of that country. A cartoon image of a person in distress pressing the button and activating the beacon also conveys the message.
"A lot of people wouldn't think so, but we catch a lot of Chinese nationals," said Agent Dan Doty, a local Border Patrol spokesman.
The beacons have been responsible for a "countless number" of rescues along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Arizona desert, where they were first installed in 2002, Lopez said.
Today, 18 of the posts dot the landscape along the Arizona frontier. Statistics on how many times immigrants have activated the beacons were not immediately available Wednesday.
The beacons have no markings indicating help will come in the form of Border Patrol agents - an attempt to avoid spooking illegal immigrants who may need immediate assistance, Lopez said.
"The immigrants need to know that this will be there for their safety and security, not necessarily as a ploy to apprehend anyone," he said.
Still, if someone assisted via the beacon system lacks proper immigration documents, authorities will process him for deportation after providing medical treatment, Lopez said.
Miriam Medel, spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in McAllen, applauded the new beacon system.
"We are certain that it will help to save many lives and prevent a lot of tragedies," she said.
The consulate - which tracks migrant deaths in Brooks, Hidalgo and Starr counties - handled 67 migrant bodies found by U.S. and Mexican authorities on both sides of the border last year. That was up 72 percent from 39 bodies found in 2007.
Border Patrol agents have recovered 10 bodies since October 2008 in the agency's Rio Grande Valley Sector. Agents have made 25 rescues in the same time frame, Lopez said.
Juanita Valdez-Cox, executive director of La Union del Pueblo Entero, an immigrant advocacy group based in San Juan, said she was encouraged by the beacon system.
Still, such steps would not stop migrants from coming here illegally, she said. That would require comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration law.
"All of these things are Band-Aids on a problem that has needed to be solved for way too long," she said.
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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/help ... rants.html
