Cell phones give lifeline for stranded illegal immigrants

TUCSON -- The 23 illegal immigrants were lost in the southern Arizona desert, where the temperatures had been soaring well above 100 degrees. They were running out of water, running out of time.

A call to 911 launched Border Patrol search-and-rescue teams. By nightfall, the group had been saved.

"Had they not had a cell phone, they would not have been found," said Ron Bellavia, commander of the Border Patrol's search, trauma and rescue operations in the agency's Tucson sector, which covers most of Arizona's border with Mexico.

Last Sunday's distress call was part of a spike in calls this week from illegal immigrants needing help while crossing into the United States through the Arizona desert. The calls coincided with a surge in triple-digit temperatures, which every year create deadly conditions for scores of migrants.

But Border Patrol officials say regardless of the weather, they have recently been seeing an increase in the number of cell phone calls by migrants in distress.

In some cases, agents are able to rescue the migrants. However, there also have been times when agents can't locate the migrants because the search areas are so vast, said Mario Villarreal, a patrol spokesman in Washington.

Cell phones and two-way pagers have long been a part of the people-smuggling trade. Smugglers were using them in the 1990s to coordinate the movement of guides, known on the border as coyotes.

More often now, it's the migrants themselves who are carrying phones, officials said.

Some migrants buy phones in the border community of Altar, a city some 60 miles south of the border that serves as a popular staging area for people planning to cross the border at Arizona, said Joe Brigman, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Yuma. Others buy them from guides on the U.S. side.

Most such phones are for emergency use only, keyed to 911 calls, and will access any cell phone relay tower, Bellavia said.

The Rev. Robin Hoover of Humane Borders, a group that leaves water in desert areas frequented by migrants, said volunteers cleaning up trash left behind by border crossers have also found phones, phone cases and chargers.

Hoover questioned whether migrants couldn't also make nonemergency phone calls. "Most of the people do want to call their ride when they get to a certain location," he said.

In isolated instances, migrants have taken phones from coyotes -- even by force.

Bellavia recalled the rescue of 77 migrants several weeks ago on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, a popular but remote crossing area. The migrants had overpowered a smuggler and taken his cell phone.

When agents get such calls, they react quickly because migrants wait for the last minute before calling authorities.

"If they're calling via 911, we know that they're in distress," he said. "We go full bore when we get these calls."

Border Patrol operators ask how much battery life is left and tell the migrants to stay put and light a signal fire if they are in open spaces.

Officials try tracking which cell tower relayed the call and searchers hone in through topographical descriptions from migrants.

But Border Patrol officials caution that having a cell phone won't guarantee migrants easier or safer passage through the desert since such factors as battery strength, cell signal -- with towers 25 to 50 miles apart -- and searchers' success are part of the equation.

"The fact of having a cell phone aids us in knowing that they're out there, but not necessarily in finding them," Bellavia said. "It would be way too far of a stretch to think that they have a cell phone on them and they're safe."

Corrected Version:

TUCSON -- The 23 illegal immigrants were lost in the southern Arizona desert, where the temperatures had been soaring well above 100 degrees. They were running out of water, running out of time.

A cell phone proved to be their lifeline.

A call to 911 launched Border Patrol search-and-rescue teams. By nightfall, the (ILLEGAL) group had been saved.

About a dozen (ILLEGAL) migrants were found dead last weekend.

But Border Patrol officials say regardless of the weather, they have recently been seeing an increase in the number of cell phone calls by (ILLEGAL) migrants in distress.

In some cases, agents are able to rescue the (ILLEGAL) migrants. However, there also have been times when agents can't locate the (ILLEGAL) migrants because the search areas are so vast, said Mario Villarreal, a patrol spokesman in Washington.

The agency doesn't track the number of calls overall.

Cell phones and two-way pagers have long been a part of the people-smuggling trade. Smugglers were using them in the 1990s to coordinate the movement of guides, known on the border as coyotes.

More often now, it's the (ILLEGAL) migrants themselves who are carrying phones, officials said.

Some (ILLEGAL) migrants buy phones in the border community of Altar, a city some 60 miles south of the border that serves as a popular staging area for people planning to cross the border (ILLEGALLY) at Arizona, said Joe Brigman, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Yuma. Others buy them from guides on the U.S. side.

Most such phones are for emergency use only, keyed to 911 calls, and will access any cell phone relay tower, Bellavia said.

The Rev. Robin Hoover of Humane Borders, a group that leaves water in desert areas frequented by (ILLEGAL) migrants, said volunteers cleaning up trash left behind by (ILLEGAL) border crossers have also found phones, phone cases and chargers.

Hoover questioned whether (ILLEGAL) migrants couldn't also make nonemergency phone calls. "Most of the people do want to call their ride when they get to a certain location," he said.

In isolated instances, (ILLEGAL) migrants have taken phones from coyotes -- even by force.

Bellavia recalled the rescue of 77 (ILLEGAL) migrants several weeks ago on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, a popular but remote crossing area. The (ILLEGAL) migrants had overpowered a smuggler and taken his cell phone.

When agents get such calls, they react quickly because (ILLEGAL) migrants wait for the last minute before calling authorities.

"If they're calling via 911, we know that they're in distress," he said. "We go full bore when we get these calls."

Border Patrol operators ask how much battery life is left and tell the (ILLEGAL) migrants to stay put and light a signal fire if they are in open spaces.

Officials try tracking which cell tower relayed the call and searchers hone in through topographical descriptions from (ILLEGAL) migrants.

But Border Patrol officials caution that having a cell phone won't guarantee (ILLEGAL) migrants easier or safer passage through the desert since such factors as battery strength, cell signal -- with towers 25 to 50 miles apart -- and searchers' success are part of the equation.

Many know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Recently there was an immigration-overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor named Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"

1. "Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.

"The historical scholar Seymour Lipset put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."

2. Lamm went on: "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

3. "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.'"

4. Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

5. "Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."

6. "My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think their lack of
success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

7. "My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other."

"A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy Persia threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to over come two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" -- >From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'unum,' we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

8. "Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits ~ make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate."

"Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturist, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

9. In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Every discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.'

American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."

Governor Lamm, walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.

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