Posted on 07/19/2003 8:15:09 PM PDT by Spiff
By Bay Fang
U.S. News & World Report
IN THE SONORAN DESERT--It's a typical summer night in the Arizona desert, but it feels like the end of the world. Bolts of lightning flash here and there, illuminating the sky for seconds, then fading to black. Thunder crashes in surround sound. Craig Howard, a heavyset 57-year-old, packs two guns and sports a baseball cap. Sitting in a lawn chair behind a bush, he is stock-still as he listens for the sound of footsteps. Suddenly, there it is. Rustling. Then a dog barks. Howard jumps up, reaches for his high-beam flashlight, and switches it on as he runs into the road, whispering urgently into his walkie-talkie, "I got one!"
A Mexican immigrant, that is. Or, actually, four if you count the infant asleep in his mother's arms. The three others cower in a dry gully, their eyes averted from the flashlights shining in their faces. They are from Puebla, Mexico. Their destination? Tucson, 60 miles away. They have one bottle of water. Howard and his colleagues stand over the four, congratulating themselves as they call the Border Patrol. "We saved that baby's life--there's no way it would have survived the desert," says one man, adding, as the Mexican family is hauled into an official van, "Is it Miller time yet?"
The men are members of Civil Homeland Defense, a group founded in response to what its members call the "alien invasion." They are one of several civilian patrol groups that have sprung up along the Mexican border. Their mission, as they see it, is to protect the borders from the rising tide of illegal immigrants who, they say, not only overtax hospitals and schools but overrun ranches, breaking fences and leaving trash. "We don't owe them our livelihood, our country, our children's futures," says one member, "because Mexico is screwed up."
The groups have different specialties. Civil Homeland Defense patrols the border on foot; another Arizona group, American Border Patrol, develops surveillance technology, while Ranch Rescue, which has chapters throughout the border region, protects private property. All agree on one thing: Uncle Sam just isn't doing his job.
Changes. The groups have mushroomed, at least in part, as a result of a huge shift in public policy. In the mid-1990s, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol focused on tightening control of urban areas along the 2,000-mile-long border with Mexico. Washington spent $8 billion building infrastructure like high-tech concrete fences and surveillance systems near urban areas such as San Diego and El Paso--traditionally busy crossings. The assumption was that crossing through the desert was so risky that few would try it. But that assumption was wrong. Migrants are still coming at the rate of hundreds of thousands a year. But they are dying more quickly, forced to trek through forbidding mountains and deserts, where summer temperatures regularly reach 110 degrees. In the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which is largely desert, 96 migrants have died since October. As recently as 1999, the annual number of deaths for the sector was 29.
Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California-San Diego, has called the border enforcement policy "the clearest . . . and most systematic violation of human rights occurring on U.S. soil today." Many believe the policy has also made human smuggling much more lucrative. Fees for those who smuggle the migrants across the border--"coyotes"--have tripled since 1993; today, migrants pay up to $2,500 each. "All migrants needed before was assistance in evading the Border Patrol, but once they were on the other side, they were home free," Cornelius says. "Now, they need to be guided on a two-to-three-day trek."
The changing patterns have alarmed residents along the border and led to the founding of the citizens watch groups. "Ten years ago, we would put food out for the illegals," says John Petrello of Civil Homeland Defense. "Now, we've had our house and two cars broken into." Gloria Morales, 54, who lives with her family a mile north of the border, says illegal immigrants draw water from her tank all the time, and she calls the authorities as often as twice a week. "I don't mind if they want water, but I get scared because I don't know . . . what [the coyotes] are going to do," she says. Last week, she was home alone when a 15-year-old girl and her uncle approached the house; the girl's mother had just died. She fears the coyotes and sympathizes with the migrants, Morales says, but she doesn't approve of the civilian watch groups. "Can you imagine," she asks, "if we all took the law into our own hands?"
Border Patrol officials say they're doing what they can. In June, the agency launched Operation Desert Safeguard in an attempt to stem the number of migrant deaths, adding 150 agents in Arizona, specially outfitted humvees, and a horse patrol. There are now more agents than ever; 11,000 will be on board by late this year. Mario Villarreal, spokesperson for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, says the Border Patrol appreciates community support, "but we discourage private parties from taking matters into their own hands."
While there have been no official reports of mistreatment by the Arizona groups, there is a lawsuit pending against Ranch Rescue in Texas, filed in May by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of six undocumented immigrants who say they were assaulted. Ranch Rescue officials deny the allegations. Ranch Rescue has a more militant background than the others, calling themselves "soldiers" defending private property.
In the desert, Howard and the rest of his group pack up their lawn chairs and head back to base. They talk louder than usual, pumped with the excitement of the night. "You know, everyone was called upon by the president to be more vigilant," says Petrello. "We're just doing our patriotic duty."
Geez, everyone knows if you feed them once, you'll never get rid of them!
Illegal immigrants are taking the law into their own hands, but that doesn't count.
Remember, folks, if you just relax and let it happen, then technically it isn't rape.
You can get into a chase or two against these invaders. Right now, where you live, there's probably thousands of illegal aliens being illegally employed. You can find ways to route this illegal practice out, expose their employers, and get the invaders shipped back home.
We have it kind of easy down here as a border intruder looks like a border intruder. Where you're at, it may be more difficult. But, I'm sure you can find some of this going on in your area and help us send them home.
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