Posted on 03/15/2008 1:34:52 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
EL CENIZO — Fearing something was wrong as he arrived Wednesday after a long day's work, gardener Salvador García shouted to the police officers by his driveway that he was the homeowner.
He later wondered if he should have kept his mouth shut.
The officers, who swarmed García before he could get out of his beat-up white pickup, actually were federal immigration agents. They were looking for him.
A dozen years ago, García had admitted in immigration court that he was in the country illegally and agreed to go back to Mexico. He never did.
Unable to catch the day's other "targets," the agents had staked out the house for about 30 minutes but were about to pull out of this small town on the Rio Grande near Laredo.
"Well, that's the way it goes," shrugged David Treviño, a supervisory agent.
Then García drove up. All he could do was smile nervously as agents confirmed his identity, handcuffed him and put him in an unmarked blue van. His wife stared silently as an agent handed her the keys to the pickup.
More coverage Slide show: ICE
"So many years had gone by — I never thought they would come for me," García, 43, said after being photographed and fingerprinted at a Laredo detention center.
Hours later, still in his work clothes and allowed to keep the wad of $160 in cash in his pockets, he was deported to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
Traditionally seen as an afterthought in the eyes of the U.S. government, arresting immigrants who ignored court deportation orders became a priority — especially for those with criminal records — with the national security increase following the 9-11 attacks.
As of October 2007, about 595,000 still were uncaught and presumed still in the country.
Tasked with finding them are the growing number of "fugitive operations teams" under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency of the Homeland Security Department. The teams, now numbering 75 across the country, deported more than 30,000 people last year.
When the program began, in fiscal year 2003, it was 1,901 people.
South-Central Texas has four of the eight-member roving squads — two based in San Antonio, one in Harlingen and one in Waco. The region went from 176 arrests in 2006 to 1,326 last year.
A three-day operation by the San Antonio teams in the Laredo area this week showed the hit-or-miss essence of their mission. They had identified 26 "targets." They captured three.
Besides García, agents surprised a man from El Salvador wanted for overstaying his welcome. The third case involved a Mexican national convicted of dealing drugs 19 years ago.
The agents assigned to fugitive operations combine traditional detective work with SWAT team skills. The process starts with heavy research, developing "target lists" of immigrants who have exhausted their legal options in immigration court and given final deportation orders.
The address listed on that order is just the beginning. Agents often comb through property titles, tax filings, Social Security records and various undisclosed government databases to try to locate where the fugitives live and work.
Then come the stakeouts. Agents watch targets' homes for days, confirm their identities and follow them to learn where they work.
The actual busts occur only when team leaders believe enough research has been done to prevent mishaps. Approach tactics depend on whether people live alone or if they have families. If children are home, agents prefer to make arrests at workplaces.
Priority goes to those who have criminal pasts.
"We're about making communities safer by taking out criminals," said Rudy Rodríguez, a soft-spoken 31-year immigration agent who currently directs ICE fugitive operations in South Texas.
"You can go in there and try to do the Hollywood thing and possibly get somebody hurt, or you can do it smartly," added Rodríguez, whose own U.S. story began when he and his parents illegally waded the Rio Grande.
Unlike other federal agencies such as the U.S. Marshals Service or FBI, which can crash through doors armed with criminal warrants, ICE agents have no such power — they're enforcing immigration law, a civil matter.
That's why most arrests come through "knock-and-talks," identifying suspects once they open their doors. Entering and searching homes can be done only if residents allow it.
If the arrest is planned at a work site, agents still prefer in-and-out, low-key affairs. Wearing street clothes, they quietly chat up managers, informing them who they are and who they're after. Managers then call the worker in and the agents make the arrest.
Agents pride themselves on stealth, foregoing flashy for nondescript efficiency. Though they understand their work typically draws fierce political opposition, they insist they're respectful with targets as long as they cooperate.
But, bottom line, they have a mission to accomplish.
"Sometimes you feel bad about splitting up families," said Keith Everett, one of the team leaders. "But we've got a job to do. If my mother were a target, I'd tell her it's time to go. And if she struggled, I'd have to take her down."
Her name wasn't on the list. But Mario Cruz was on it.
Cruz, 60, had worked for 16 years in sales at Joe Brand, an upscale men's clothing store at the Mall Del Norte in Laredo. A man inquiring about suit prices this week was Rodríguez, confirming Cruz's identity.
Still in a crisp black suit with matching peach-colored shirt and tie, a shocked Cruz fidgeted with his cell phone, shook his legs and let out loud sighs as an ICE agent readied him for deportation.
He begged the officer for a chance to clarify his situation — to no avail. An immigration judge had ordered him deported in 2005 at a hearing he missed because his lawyer never informed him about it, Cruz said.
"I need to talk to my lawyer. You can't just kick me out like this," Cruz said in Spanish to the agent, who ignored him, tapping away on a computer.
Cruz's past was also tainted with a drug conviction in 1989 after being caught with 180 pounds of marijuana.
About two hours after the arrest, agents drove him to an international bridge and watched him walk to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. As he faded into the distance, an agent with binoculars made sure he had crossed.
Gabriel Hernández would have to wait longer to be returned home to El Salvador.
Hernández, a janitor at the Flying J Truck Plaza on Interstate 35 in Laredo for two years, was surprised when his boss told him Tuesday that immigration agents were there to pick him up.
The manager, who declined to be identified, said he could hardly believe what was happening. Hernández was a hard worker whose paperwork appeared to be in order when he hired him, he said.
Hernández was handcuffed in a car on his way to the detention center when he realized he had not said goodbye to his wife of nine years, a waitress at the truck stop's restaurant.
He thought he was in the clear because he had applied for legal status. But agents said his application was rejected and he didn't voluntarily leave the country in December 2005 — as he had agreed to do.
"I didn't know anything was wrong," said Hernández, 48, who had lived in Laredo for 15 years. "I was still waiting for an answer on the paperwork."
By the end of the Laredo operation, García, Cruz and Hernández had lost their roll of the dice. But 23 others survived, most without even knowing how close they might have come to being shipped out.
They included José Guzmán, a 26-year-old Salvadoran wanted for murder back home; Nora Arteaga, 31, of Mexico, a convicted human smuggler; and José Jiménez, who will turn 84 next month and whose rap sheet includes several convictions ranging from voluntary manslaughter to theft and forged checks.
But ICE will be back in town, so their luck is bound to run out, agents predicted. The agents acknowledged theirs is an uphill climb since many of the ones they catch and deport come swiftly back.
Undeterred, they vowed to stay busy. They're not going to run out of work anytime soon.
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hrozemberg@express-news.net
Me neither, Salvador.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
#1-— How many anchor babies are we left to contend with?
#2— Will he get a felony prosecution when he returns because we all know he will return. Return after deportation is a felony worth two years in prison
One down..................................
20,000,000,000 left to go.
If the actual number was known most people would be shocked.
fifty at least.
Don’t count on it. My money is on him being back within 72 hours and spending the rest of his life living here without another encounter with immigration officials.
That's just wrong. They need to fly them to Mexico city at least. Cancun would be better.
I’ll bet Garcia was back home that night before the ICE agents were!
I’ll bet Garcia was back home that night before the ICE agents were!
I’ll bet Garcia was back home that night before the ICE agents were!
20,000,000,000? Dang that is more than all the world’s Human population....have the Space Illegal Aliens also been bustin’ the borders! Are McCain, Graham & Kennedy actually Space Aliens? Would certainly seem so.
Got a little happy with the 000s didn’t I. lol
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