Posted on 05/17/2006 10:54:03 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
YUMA, Ariz. - Over the past year, this sandy stretch of desert in southwestern Arizona has become the nation's busiest immigrant-smuggling hotspot, a place of increasing banditry, violence, desperation and death.
Border Patrol agents are seeing spikes in arrests of illegal immigrants and cases every day of criminals preying on border crossers.
President Bush will be get an up-close look on Thursday when he visits Yuma as part of his push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws and tighten the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border by sending up to 6,000 National Guardsmen in a backup role.
An eastern Arizona stretch that includes Douglas and Nogales used to be the busiest spot along the border for immigrants trying to slip across. But authorities say a buildup there of border agents and surveillance technology caused a shift last year, pushing immigrants toward the Yuma Border Patrol station.
The shift is a common pattern seen in recent years: Crackdowns in one section of the border send immigrants and smugglers flooding to other areas, creating an ever-changing front.
"Yuma is becoming the focal point," said Border Patrol spokesman Richard Hays.
At the Yuma station, which oversees 62 miles of the border, authorities said agents are catching 300 to 450 immigrants a day, which is comparable to last year's numbers, but they are seeing unusual spikes, including 840 on a single day in March.
Law enforcement authorities said the number of those who slip through is greater than the number caught, but they would not give any figures.
Along the entire 125-mile Yuma sector, of which the Yuma station is a part, Border Patrol agents have made 95,000 arrests since Oct. 1, a 13 percent increase from this time last year, authorities said. The number of Border Patrol agents assigned to the sector has double to around 700 in the past year.
An increasing number of immigrants who bypass fortified stretches of border are dying in the desert. Deaths in the Yuma sector hit a record 51 in 2005, up from 36 in 2004 and 15 in 2003.
The Yuma station relies largely on patrolling agents, radar, sensors, cameras and observation towers. It has only a few miles of fences.
Thirty minutes south of Yuma, in one of the more active parts of the region, there are two lines of defense: a 12-foot corrugated metal fence that divides the city of San Luis from Mexico, and, about 50 yards north of the border, an 8-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and towers with surveillance cameras.
Stadium lights help agents spot those who try to slip across under cover of darkness.
In the U.S. community of San Luis, a few hundred yards from the fences, farmworker Salvador Martinez said immigrants try to open his back door or car at night in hope of finding a hiding place. He complained that immigrants running past his stucco house trample the roses and cactus in his yard, where a "Beware of Dog" sign is posted.
"They don't respect anything," Martinez said, taking a break from pulling weeds.
Many homeowners in San Luis have wrought-iron fences around houses, and yet they cannot leave their garage doors open, for fear of thefts.
Roving gangs of bandits also wait in the dense scrub of the dry Colorado River bed for the right moment to hold up immigrants on their way to work in the United States.
"If you live here and your bicycle gets stolen, we might not be there for an hour or so because we have to respond to one of these robberies," said Capt. Eben Bratcher, spokesman for the Yuma County Sheriff's Department.
Illegal immigrants also face threats from the smugglers who brought them across. Smugglers assault and extort money from their customers and are more likely these days to flee from police who try to pull them over, authorities said.
Some Border Patrol vehicles in San Luis have metal cages over their windows because of an increase in rock-throwing by smugglers who lash out at agents when stepped-up patrols make it harder for them to get across, according to authorities.
A quarter of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office's work is related to immigrant and drug smuggling. The office said it spends nearly $2 million a year jailing illegal immigrants suspected of committing crimes north of the border, and only a fraction is reimbursed by Washington.
Yuma County Regional Medical Center estimates it has $2 million a year in unreimbursed costs for treating illegal immigrants.
Charles M. Davis III, who has lived in Yuma for 25 years, said "draconian" steps are needed to stop the flow of immigrants and drugs across the border. "Putting the military on the border is the only way I see to really stop it," Davis said.
Still, Davis is not entirely behind the president's plan to use National Guardsmen, saying it could be a drain on taxpayers.
Other border residents are skeptical the National Guard will make a difference, given the way immigrants keep trying to come across despite the extreme danger.
"People are still willing to defy the risk of death," said Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network, an immigrant rights group.
___
Associated Press writer Arthur H. Rotstein contributed to this report from Tucson, Ariz.
ping
Can't hurt.
JD Hayworth said yesterday he's going to be on the Air Force One flying to AZ, and looks forward to a good discussion with President Bush.
When does the bubble (Elite 2) touch down?
That's why the problem must be addressed from other angles as well. Cut off their incentives (welfare freebies, automatic citizenship for their offspring, etc) and they'd stop coming.
And then he goes back behind his White House wall while opposing building one that would protect those having to live out this nightmare.
Giving out those numbers would be embarrassing.
I suggest he just spend a weekend in San Jose Ca. Thats a much better perspective than in a blimp above the desert floor.
Are the "conservatives" going to trash Bush the way they trashed Clinton for these photo ops?
Cheap photo op.
We know he doesn't want to stop illegal immigration. He should just stop taking all of us for fools :(
Of course I won't trash President Bush for this, but I do wish he wouldn't go.
A recent immigration reform bill passed by the House in December is drawing sharp criticism for its provision mandating the construction of a fence along the nearly 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexican border. President Bush has spoken in favor of the bill authored by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), known as the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. Bush has already signed legislation appropriating more than $70 million to install new barriers and improve existing protective infrastructure along the border. This includes fencing as well as vehicle barriers and lighting to enhance border security.The arses in the Senate are the ones whining that a physical fence will cost too much and would send a "negative message" to Mexico:
Senators writing an immigration bill argued Wednesday over whether an actual or "virtual" fence should be built along parts of the nearly 2,000-mile border between the United States and Mexico.More whining at the source.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has proposed a "virtual" fence, using cameras and other technology to monitor illegal traffic, as part of an immigration bill.
But Republicans were split on his proposal, which stands in contrast to one passed by the House late last year calling for 700 miles of fencing at heavily trafficked areas on the southwestern border and study of a possible fence along the Canadian border.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, whose state shares the longest border with Mexico, said border fencing would be a "dramatically negative message" for the U.S. to send its neighbors.
"It may well cost billions of dollars to provide such a barrier or fence wall between our countries, assuming it was practically possible," Cornyn said.
On one day they had 2000 illegals get away. I don't know what the average is.
see#16
This is great article, and it acurately portrays what is happening down here in the Yuma area. But it fails to mention the fact that military training is being adversly affected also. Because of illegals the Marine Corps, Navy, and the Air Force have lost hundreds of hours of range time on the Barry M Goldwater, and Chocolate Mountain ranges. We have MPs assisting Border Patrol evry day on the ranges. Yuma Proving Grounds ahs also had problems, but they don't put out stats for this.
According to what I heard today from Limbaugh, the Senate is not going to address any of these things until they finalize the way to bring the illegals out of the shadows. In other words, no border security until amnesty is assured.
Fine but the debate on the Sessions Amendment is today. What an impact W's visit would have made today. Still, the entire debate on this immigration mess goes on Thurs. too so perhaps a Presidential comment actually noting that securing the borders first could still have some firepower to the more conserv GOPers who know that is the way to go.
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