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In The Press -- Scams, Abuse, Deaths of Illegal Immigrants

The Smugglers' Due
By Alex Kotlowitz, The New York Times Magazine, June 11, 2006
       Chinese human smugglers -- "snakeheads" -- are charging more for their services, exercising more violence on family members remaining in China, and smuggling more unaccompanied minors into the United States, according to this article.
       Kotlowitz found that since 1993, the fee to snakeheads for Chinese attempting to enter the United States illegally has jumped from roughly $30,000 to more than $70,000.
       Patterns of snakehead violence have changed as well. Kotlowitz writes that in the 1980's Chinese human smugglers had a Mafia-style presence in New York's Chinatown, often publicly beating and kidnapping those who fell behind in their payments. Now Chinese smugglers focus much of their violence on the family members remaining in China. Smugglers threaten and will physically punishing family members of those who have fallen behind in paying their smuggling fees.
       "Another thing that has changed," writes Kotlowitz, "is that it appears that more children -- mostly teenagers -- are coming into the U.S. by themselves, without an adult. (This seems to be true of children from other countries, too; in 2005, 7,787 unaccompanied minors trying to enter this country were detained by immigration authorities, up 26 percent from the previous year. For many, their parents have arranged for them to connect with a relative here, but sometimes it is a distant family member who often has no interest in watching after a teenager. They are sent here to work, in the hope that they will be able to send money back home or that they will find a better life."

Dollars and Dreams: Immigrants as Prey
By Gary Rivlin, The New York Times, Sunday Business Section, June 11, 2006
       The number of scam artists preying on illegal immigrants is growing as the number if illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to an estimated nine million.
       Rivlin writes: "Analysts, lawyers and immigration specialists say that the current debate over immigration reform is also providing a perfect business environment for those who prey on the undocumented in the chinatowns, barrios and other immigrant enclaves around the country."
       The most popular scam right now involves convincing -- for a large fee -- a hapless illegal immigrant that he or she qualifies for asylum. Most illegals, however, immigrated to the United States for economic opportunities, not because of persecution back home. Therefore, they do not qualify for asylum. For the unscrupulous "advisors," this is a perfect scam, because the victims are typically deported and can't complain about the people who took advantage of them. (See U.S. requirements for asylum.)

How Rapists Prey on Vulnerable Border Crossers
By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, Dateline Jacumba, California, September 21, 2005
       A growing number of women who illegally cross the southern U.S. border with Mexico are being raped by the same human smugglers who charge them $1,500 to $2,000 for safe passage. They find they have no legal recourse because they themselves seek to enter the United States illegally.
       Seper writes: "U.S. authorities said some Mexican border police have taken part in the violence, often targeting migrants headed to the United States from central and South America."
       The rapes are part of a growing pattern of violence on the U.S. southern border. There are more assaults and robberies of illegals, and there has been a fivefold increase in attacks on Border Patrol agents and other law-enforcement personnel.

Dying To Reach Europe
By Christa Hager, Sign and Sight, October 13, 2005
       In this interview, award winning Portuguese journalist Paulo Moura describes his three years of investigations into the plight of African illegal immigrants who attempt to reach the European Union via Morocco.
       According to Moura, there is a fifty-fifty chance of an African reaching Europe alive; thousands die each year in the attempt. Many of the illegals spend years in hiding, often in remote forest areas.
       "Most of the migrants are from Nigeria," Moura told Hager. "In countries like that there's no hope, not only because of poverty," Moura said. "Nigeria is a very rich country, but there's no way to rise in the social hierarchy, to find work or earn enough money. The only way out is escape. The people who try to come to Europe are not the poorest. They have some money, in contrast to the very poor, those who stay put. Some families sell their houses to pay the Mafia to bring one of their children to Europe."

Border States Paying Toll of Fatal Crossings
By Darryl Fears, The Washington Post, September 7, 2005
       U.S. states with borders with Mexico have spent millions of dollars in the past five years to examine and dispose of the remains of immigrants who died trying to cross the border illegally, according to this report.
       But the financial burdens the states bear also include hospitalizations of illegals and paying overtime to law enforcement officials.

Record Deaths of Illegal Immigrants Trying To Cross U.S.-Mexican Border
By Arthur H. Rotstein, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, September 2, 2005
       Deaths of illegal immigrants have reached an all-time high -- more than 400 died during the past 11 months trying to enter the United States in states from Texas to California.
       In Arizona alone, 228 died crossing the border illegally so far this year. A hotter than normal summer is blamed for the increase of deaths -- most illegals die of heat-related causes attempting to cross remote desert areas. In June and July, Southern Arizona experienced 39 days straight of temperatures above 100 degrees (38 Celsius).
       Mario Villarreal, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington, D.C., is quoted as saying: "The smugglers are moving groups laterally in Mexico and then crossing them in very desolate, remote places along the Southwest border." The sick, injured and exhausted are often abandoned and many die, he said.

Born Into Bondage
By Paul Raffaele, Smithsonian Magazine, September 2005
       Illegal immigrants are part of a growing world-wide pattern of forced labor, according to this article which focuses on slavery in the African nation of Niger.
       Raffaele writes: "Disturbing as it may seem in the 21st century, there may be more forced labor in the world now than ever. About 12.3 million people toil in the global economy on every continent save Antarctica, according to the United Nations' International Labour Organization, held in various forms of captivity, including those under the rubric of human trafficking....
       "Bonded laborers are entrapped by low wages in never-ending debt; illegal immigrants are coerced by criminal syndicates to pay off their clandestine passage with work at subminimum wages; girls are kidnapped for prostitution, boys for unpaid labor."

Illegals Dying at Record Rate in Arizona Desert
By Dennis Wagner, USA Today, August 19, 2005
       Two hundred and one illegal immigrants have died along Arizona's 389-mile border with Mexico -- a new, tragic high for the state.
       This past July was the third-hottest on record for Arizona. Nonetheless, the state's brutal deserts have become more attractive to human smugglers since border controls got tougher in California and Texas.
       Wagner writes: "Many from Mexico's interior cannot comprehend the desert, where summer temperatures reach 115 or higher. Despite Spanish-language media campaigns warning of death, they are spurred by dreams of employment -- and by the knowledge that millions have made it before them."
       Since October 1, 2004, U.S. Border Patrol agents have caught more than 500,000 illegal border crossers in Arizona. No one knows how many successfully evaded detection.
       Of the bodies found in the desert, about 30 percent are never identified, even though U.S. police and medical examiners take pains to identify them using clothing, fingerprints and DNA samples.

At Least 2,500 Africans Die in Illegal Desert Migration
Agence France Presse, Dateline Bamako, July 18, 2005
       More than 2,500 illegal immigrants have died in the last five years attempting to reach Europe from Africa via the Sahara desert, according to study recently released by the Association of Development Initiatives, a rights group in Mali.
       See the full story.

Migrant Deaths Mount Along Border, With Heat Major Factor
By Arthur H. Rotstein, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, July 15, 2005
       As of July 14 for fiscal year 2005, 165 illegal immigrants died in Arizona attempting to cross the border. Most died of the heat in desert areas. Over 700 illegals, however, were rescued.

Border Patrol Agents Recover Bodies of 10 Illegal Immigrants
Associated Press, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, July 6, 2005
       Over the Fourth of July holiday, U.S. Border Patrol agents recovered the bodies of 10 immigrants who apparently had been attempting to illegally enter the United States via southern Arizona.
       So far this year, 140 illegal immigrants have been found dead in Arizona. High summer heat and dry desert conditions are the most common causes of death for illegal border crossers.

Professor and His Six "Wives"
By Richard Spencer, The Daily Telegraph, Dateline Beijing, June 28, 2005
       Professor Zheng Jiadong, head of Chinese philosophy at the Academy of Social Sciences, has been arrested by U.S. authorities for people smuggling.
       The scholar on the history of Confucian thought is accused of taking six different "wives" on American study tours. None returned with him to China.

Neighbors "Happy It's Over"
By Leah Messinger, Newsday (Nassau and Suffolk), June 21, 2005
       This article discusses the neighborhood reaction to the shut down of an illegal boardinghouse for illegal immigrants in a Farmingville neighborhood.
       Many of the neighbors were reported to be happy that authorities finally closed down the operation for the following reasons: excessive noise; garbage; bad smells; haphazardly parked trucks; men sleeping on couches on the lawn; men urinating in the street; men intimidating passers-by; and, fear the boardinghouse would bring down property values.
       Not so happy was Rosalina Dias, the owner of the illegal boardinghouse, who reportedly collected as much as $9,000 in cash per month for rent. Another neighbor told the reporter that removing the illegal immigrants was racist.

Smuggling by Car Accelerates
By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times, Dateline San Ysidro, April 24, 2005
       Tougher border controls in Arizona may be pushing illegal immigrants to seek entry into the United States via automobile at the San Ysidro port, the busiest and largest of California's five land crossings.
       About 45,000 to 60,000 cars cross the border each day at San Ysidro. Officials estimate that about 1 percent, or as many as 600 cars each day, are transporting drugs or illegal immigrants.
       In 2004, nearly 50,000 illegal immigrants -- most concealed in trunks or compartments -- were caught in vehicles driving from Mexico to California -- that's double the apprehensions of 2003.
       Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, an immigrant rights group, is quoted as saying: "People are hearing about the deaths in the desert, and they seem to think they'll be in the trunk (of a car) for only 15 minutes. But it's still very dangerous to be hiding in the back of a car."
       Although there have been no deaths in recent years, many immigrants -- those who have been stuffed into dashboards, fake gas tanks, or "coffin compartments" near engines and drive shafts -- often must be treated for respiratory distress or serious burns.
       Marosi writes: "Smuggling networks range from sophisticated operators who charge as much as $2,000 a head to be brought in by an American citizen in a late-model car (some smugglers have used Hummers) to discount groups that charge $300 to be transported in the trunk of an old junk car driven by an illegal immigrant.
       "Finding drivers, authorities say, isn't a problem. Smuggling rings, dangling the prospect of easy money, recruit homeless people and down-on-their-luck gamblers at casinos. So many San Diego-area teenagers are involved -- they make as much as $500 per crossing -- that federal agents give talks at high schools warning student of the risks."
       Convicted noncitizen smuggler can face prison terms from 1 1/2 years to 10 years.

Border Patrol Rescues 77 Illegal Immigrants in Desert
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, April 20, 2005
       U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued 77 illegal immigrants who became sick and unable to travel after five days of crossing the desert north of the Village of San Pedro on the Tohono O'odham reservation.
       Their smuggler was about to abandon them, but some of the immigrants were able to overpower him, take his cell phone and call the 911 emergency number.
       A search helicopter located the illegals, but the smuggler escaped.

Migrant Smugglers Get Creative in Face of Increased Border Enforcement
By Ananda Shorey, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Phoenix, Arizona, April 4, 2005
       People smugglers and individual illegal immigrants have gotten more creative as border controls have become tighter, this article says.
       For example, there has been an increase in California in cases where women and children are stuffed into small compartments in vehicles, including secondary gasoline tanks, to drive them across the border. Illegals have been found inside washing machines and sewn into car seats or even bogus Border Patrol vehicles.
       El Paso, Texas is home to the National Border Patrol Museum, which displays artifacts from foiled crossing attempts; among them are shoes with cow hoofs attached to disguise footprints and a boat made from truck hoods.
       Museum curator Brenda Tisdale is quoted as saying: "Sometimes my heart is broken because they (illegal immigrants) resort to things that lead them to be injured, stranded or dead by the smugglers. You have to feel compassion for people who are driven to these measures."

State Intercepts Wire Payments to Coyotes from Illegal Immigrants Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Mesa, Arizona, March 27, 2005
       In the last two years Arizona officials have intercepted some $7 million in funds intended for people smugglers in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
       According to a report in the East Valley Tribune, that amount is just a fraction of the estimated $320 million wired each year to pay for people smuggling services. Smugglers, known as "coyotes" in Mexico, charge about $1,600 for each illegal immigrant they smuggle across the Mexican border.
       The money was transmitted through Western Union because this service provides security, anonymity, speed and convenience. Western Union is located in 220,000 locations worldwide and can be found in grocery stores, convenience stores, post offices and check-cashing stores.

Six Chinese Migrants Die, Thrown Off Boat Off Italy
Reuters News, Dateline Rome, March 24, 2005
       Rescue teams found the bodies of six Chinese illegal immigrants who drowned about 14 miles south of Sicily. They rescued six survivors; three more are missing.
       The survivors said they boarded a boat in Malta but were thrown overboard by their smugglers, possibly to evade capture by the police.
       Italy is a target destination for many illegal immigrants hoping to enter Europe via a sea route. Italy's Interior Ministry says 13,634 illegal immigrants reach Italy's shores by boat in 2004. Many others, however, die in the process.

Mexico Alerts to Internet Fraud Targeting Undocumented Immigrants
EFE News Service, Dateline Mexico City, March 17, 2005
       The Mexican government is warning people about an Internet page bearing a fake seal of the Foreign Ministry which seeks to defraud undocumented immigrants in the United States by offering to legalize their status for a fee of $520.
       The Web page www.sre-empleos-gob.mx.gs falsely claims that Mexico and the United States have agreed to award work permits and other documents to illegal immigrants.

Authorities Probing Driver's License Scam
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Detroit, January 12, 2005
       Federal authorities are investigating groups that may have brought, for a fee, thousands of people to Michigan to fraudulently obtain driver's licenses.
       Brian Moscowitz, special agent in charge of the Detroit office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is quoted as saying: "We saw an alarming amount of ... cases where groups were bringing criminals or illegal aliens to Michigan for the sole purpose of obtaining a Michigan driver's license. I don't think it is out of the question to say that there are thousands of them out there."
       Until last month, when more stringent residency requirements took effect, Michigan was one of the more lenient states for granting driver's licenses.

A Harsh Price To Pay in Pursuit of a Dream: For Central American Women, Sexual Coercion Is Hazard on Route to U.S.
By Mary Jordan, The Washington Post, Dateline Tucun Uman, Guatemala, December 6, 2004
Government and church officials are reporting that many women trying to enter the United States illegally end up being coerced into sex by smugglers, border officials, street gang members and others who control the underground route to the United States.
       Jordan writes: "The problem is particularly acute for Central American women without skills or legal documents, who must navigate 1,500 miles of Mexican territory to reach the U.S. border. Those who fall short of their destination, yet feel too ashamed to go home, often end up stranded in brothels along the way."
       Rene Leyva, a public health researcher in Mexico, is quoted as saying: "Sex has become a negotiation mechanism. Many times it is the only way women can cross."
       Illegal women immigrants are increasingly joining the men in trying to find what they consider to be good-paying jobs in the United States. Since 2000, more than 800,000 women have been caught and deported by U.S. border officials. Most of the women were Mexicans and Central Americans. Many end up in re-light towns along Mexico's southern border, where they try to earn enough money via prostitution to pay for still another attempt at entering the United States.
       In Tucun Uman, Guatemala, customers are charged $6 for a prostitute, half of which goes to the girl and half to the bar or brothel owners. The down payment to a people smuggler is around $2,000.

26 Charged in Virginia in Document Fraud
By Jerry Markon, The Washington Post, November 23, 2004
and
Dozens Charged in Aliens Scam
By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, November 23, 2004
       Two years of investigations resulted in the apprehension of 26 people involved in a document fraud ring that had operated out of Northern Virginia. U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty, whose territory includes about half of Virginia, is quoted as saying: "This is the largest case of this kind we've every had in this office."
       Indonesian immigration brokers and consultants issued thousands of fake green cards, drivers's licenses, passports, Social Security cards and other identification papers to Indonesian immigrants who each paid fees averaging about $2,000. The Indonesian immigration broker businesses were identified as: the Chinese Indonesian American Society in Fairfax Station; Asian American Placement Services in Springfield; Kumala Nusantara in Burke; and, Chinese Indonesian Pribumi Community Services in Manassas.

Illegal Immigrant Gets His Wish of Jail, Three Meals a Day and $400 a Month
By Ravina Shamdasani, South China Post, October 27, 2004
       A Hong Kong court recently granted a Vietnamese illegal immigrant his wish by putting him in jail. It is the fourth such case in less than two months.
       The jailed man had bought the "Two-Bullet Tour," writes Shamdasani; that is, a travel package arranged in Vietnam for young men to illegally enter Hong Kong through the mainland carrying two bullets and a knife. By carrying these weapons, the illegals are ensured that if they are caught in Hong Kong, they will serve prison sentences, thereby obtaining free food and shelter and earning wages for prison labor.
       Since most of the Vietnamese illegal immigrants who sneak into Hong Kong are looking for work anyway, carrying weapons of some sort guarantees they will earn money even if they are caught by authorities.
       In this most recent case, the Vietnamese man -- Nguyen Van Hien, 21 -- paid a snakehead U.S. $193 and was arrested clinging to the underside of a truck at a Hong Kong checkpoint. He told the Hong Kong judge it would be unfair to send him home while other Vietnamese illegal immigrants were sent to jail.

Authorities Say Ring Was Smuggling Teachers into United States
By Liz Austin, Associated Press Worldstream, Dateline Dallas, Texas, October 23, 2004
       U.S. federal authorities have charged five people for smuggling Filipino teachers to the United States with false promises of jobs in Texas school districts.
       Florita and Nel Tolentino and their company Omni Consortium were indicted for charging 273 Filipino teachers $10,000 each in exchange for well-paying teaching jobs in the United States. Fewer than 100 ever received positions with school districts in West Texas; most were housed in substandard conditions and threatened with deportation if they complained about not having jobs or tried to find jobs on their own.
       Facing charges as well are two former West Texas public school administrators and an elementary school principal who allegedly sponsored work visas for dozens of the teachers in exchange for free trips to Asia.

How Donated Cars Wind Up Helping Mexican Smugglers
By Joel Millman, The Wall Street Journal, Dateline Otay, Mesa, California, October 4, 2004
       Vehicles purchased at charity auctions may be helping people smugglers and other types of criminals, according to this article.
       Millman writes: "Smugglers used to steal cars to ferry their goods across the border, but in the wake of a post-9/11 crackdown at border crossings, they're increasingly buying cheap charity giveaways because they arouse less suspicion."
       Each year, 750,000 U.S. taxpayers donate to charities vehicles valued at about $2.5 million. Last year, some 9,000 vehicles were seized by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the San Ysidro border crossing alone. No numbers are available as to how many of the vehicles seized were purchased through charity auctions. However, there is currently an oversupply of cars given to charity, which has driven down their prices. Albert Smith, a senior investigator for National Insurance Crime Bureau in San Diego, a private agency that tracks illegal activity along the border for insurance companies, is quoted as saying: "Smugglers seem to be taking advantage of the supply."
       Millman writes: "Smugglers often go though Mexican dealers who specialize in buying cars from auctions on the U.S. side of the border to resell in Mexico, a move that's perfectly legal. Dealers need to present papers at U.S. auctions identifying themselves as businesses licensed by U.S. or Mexican tax authorities." But Larry Latocki, a recently retired U.S. Treasury agent who has helped trace these charity auction cars, is quoted as saying: "Businesses in Mexico change documents like we change our socks." The result: Once a charity auction car has papers stamped "Export to Mexico" by the auction houses (to prevent the car from being sold in the United States), the car is almost impossible for U.S. authorities to monitor.

Arizona Border Deaths Set Record
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, October 1, 2004
       The U.S. Border Patrol released figures that show 177 illegal immigrants died crossing into Arizona in Fiscal Year 2004 -- the most ever for any U.S. state bordering Mexico.
       Nationally, the total number of deaths of illegal immigrants is 325 for Fiscal Year 2004.

50 Migrants Discovered in Sailboat
By Solomon Moore, Los Angeles Times, September 2, 2004
       The U.S. Coast Guard nabbed 50 illegal immigrants aboard a luxury sailboat headed for Angels Gate, an entrance to Los Angeles Harbor. Authorities described it as the harbor's largest maritime smuggling operation in a decade.
       The 44-foot French-built Beneteau sailboat C'est La Vie had been rented from a local charter company and skippered by Gregory Ray LaBono and Vernon Eugene Siegel, Jr., both U.S. citizens. Officials believe the pair had been ferrying illegal immigrants for at least the last few weeks.
       Several of the illegal immigrants told investigators that they had each paid $3,000 for the trip to bring them to the United States from Ensenada, Mexico.

Immigrants Exploited by "Notarios"
By Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times, August 10, 2004
       Scam artists are using the confusion over the meaning of the Spanish word "notario" to bilk illegal immigrants in the United States out of thousands of dollars.
       In some Latin American countries, a "notario" is a lawyer; in other Latin American countries, the word is a title for someone who holds public office. But in the United States, a notary is someone with legal powers limited to witnessing and certifying document and taking affidavits and depositions.
       Unscrupulous operators posing as notarios/lawyers bilk unsuspecting migrants of thousands of dollars with promises that they have the authority to arrange legal status for the illegal immigrants.
       Simmons writes: "Despite efforts to crack down, new fraudulent immigration consultant outfits are popping up on a regular basis, immigration advocacy groups said. One group estimated through extensive web site searches that there could be more than 2,000 so-called "notarios" plying their trade in predominantly Latino neighborhoods of Los Angeles."

Man Dies in Struggle with Alleged Smuggler; Apparent Fight over Fee Ends in Deadly Crash
By Mike Glenn, Nancy Martinez, Peggy O'Hare, The Houston Chronicle, July 8, 2004
       Jose Lopez, an illegal immigrant, was thrown to the pavement from a van and killed when he balked at paying an extra $300 to his smuggler and the smuggler attempted to drive off with Lopez's brother.
       Joseph Weber, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge in Houston, is quoted as saying: "People pay a fee to get smuggled here, and when they arrive, their smuggler demands more money. This is the fifth case of human smuggling in Houston in the last two months that involved hostage taking."
       Police are looking for Rafael Flores Garcia, 37, who is believed responsible for Lopez's death.

Record Number of Undocumented Immigrants Die in Arizona Desert
EFE News Service, Dateline Phoenix, June 17, 2004
       The Mexican Consulate in Phoenix, Arizona says a record 98 illegal immigrants have died in the Arizona desert this year -- up from the 60 reported deaths during the first six months of 2003.
       Dehydration and traffic accidents top the list as causes of death.

Border Desert Proves Deadly for Mexicans
By Timothy Egan, The New York Times, Dateline Covered Wells, Arizona, May 23, 2004
       The "season of death" has begun along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Robert C. Bonner, the commissioner in charge of the U.S. Border Patrol.
       About 80 percent of all the deaths on the 1,951-mile long U.S. southern border occur between May and August.
       Egan writes: "For years, deaths of people trying to cross the border usually occurred at night on highways near urban areas, killed by cars. But now, because urban entries in places like San Diego and El Paso have been nearly sealed by fences, technology and agents, illegal immigrants have been forced to try to cross here in southern Arizona, one of the most inhospitable places on earth."
       Many die in Arizona's Sonoran Desert, where ground temperatures can reach 130 degrees in the summer. Others die from the cold in the Baboquivari Mountains or from the bandits who prey on them.
       To warn would-be illegal immigrants of the dangers, the U.S. government has been running an advertising campaign in Mexico called "No mas cruces en la frontera" or "no more crosses on the border." Nonetheless, between October 1, 2003 and May of this year, border agents have caught some 300,000 trying to make the crossing. A record 154 illegal immigrants died last year in the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma sectors.
       The U.S. government has also increased staffing of the Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue Units (BORSTAR) which provides emergency medical services for illegal immigrants found in the desert.

Los Angeles Police Find 79 Suspected Illegal Immigrants in "Drop House" for Smugglers
Associated press Newswires, Dateline Los Angeles, May 18, 2004
       Police and immigration authorities detained 79 suspected illegal immigrants and three to four suspected people smugglers in a home in the middle-class Canoga Park neighborhood.
       It is believed the group was being held in the house until their smuggling debts could be paid.

Devil's Highway Tells a Tale of Death in the Desert
by Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle, May 5, 2004
       The story of "Devil's Highway" -- a section of Arizona desert commonly used by illegal immigrants to get into the United States -- has been made into a book and may even be made into a movie.
       Written by Luis Alberto Urrea, an award-winning poet and essayist, the book focuses on the trials of 26 Mexican illegal immigrants, who on May 19, 2001 were abandoned on this deadly stretch of dessert by their "coyotes," or people smugglers. The group quickly ran out of water and became lost in the desert. Fourteen men died of the heat; the others were eventually found and rescued by the U.S. Border Patrol.
       Urrea, who was born in Tijuana to an Anglo mother and Mexican father, is quoted as saying that before he wrote this book, he had "a classic Latino liberal view of those guys (U.S. Border Patrol agents) as fascists and oppressors of my people." But after spending time with them and watching them work, he changed his mind. "I understood that they were essentially beat cops on a dangerous beat: insular, very paranoid, attacked by the left but also vilified by the right," Urrea is quoted as saying.
       Guthmann writes that "Urrea was surprised when he formed a tight bond with (U.S. Border Patrol agent) Kenny Smith.... It was Smith who explained to him that border agents, rather than viewing themselves as victimizing the helpless are committed to saving lives."
       Smith was involved in the rescue of the survivors in what later was dubbed "the Yuma 14" tragedy. Urrea is quoted as saying: "Without him (Smith), it would have been the Yuma 26 (who died on the Devil's Highway) instead of the Yuma 14."

China's Public Security Ministry Confirms 20 Chinese Workers Drowned
BBC Monitoring International Reports, March 25, 2004
       Chinese and British police, working together since March 4, have jointly confirmed that all 20 victims of the February 5 Morecambe Bay drowning tragedy were Chinese citizens.
       The victims were picking cockles when they became trapped by rising tides in the treacherous shallows in northwest England.
       There were more than 10 survivors; all but one are suspected of being illegal immigrants.

Chinese Illegal Immigrants Tortured in Greece for Ransom Money
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Athens, Greece, March 10, 2004
       Greek police freed five Chinese illegal immigrants who had been beaten, stabbed and drugged by human smugglers demanding ransom money.
       The illegal immigrants had promised U.S. $20,940 to their smugglers and were held captive until the money was paid.
       One snakehead suspect was arrested in Athens, but Turkish and Greek police believe a smuggling ring operates in Turkey, Italy and several other countries, flying the Chinese illegal immigrants to Istanbul and then putting them on boats bound for Greece and Italy.

19 Illegal Immigrants Found in Truck on Harbor Freeway
By Arlene Martinez, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2004
       Nineteen illegal immigrants were found stuffed inside the camper shell of a Chevrolet pickup truck after a motorist heard them screaming for help and alerted authorities.
       Enduring at least 12 hours of heat and cramped conditions, six were sent to a hospital to be treated for dehydration.
       Authorities believe the group was packed into the truck in Mexicali the night of March 7 and arrived in Los Angeles the morning of March 8.

Desperation of the Workers Who Live in Constant Fear and Squalor
By Liz Lamb, The Northern Echo, March 2, 2004
       This feature story examines the situation of Chinese illegal immigrant workers in England.
       Lamb writes: "Most of the illegal workers who reach Britain are 'bought' from Snakehead gangs, part of the Chinese Triad criminal gangs, which bring them to Britain from China for anything up to (GBP) 20,000 (about U.S. $36,612) each. Most can afford to pay only a deposit, so the rest is taken from their pathetic wage packets.
       "While they are here, illegal immigrants are controlled by so-called gangmasters -- the bosses who make sure they work and, in the case of illegals, do not run away."
       Lamb writes that most illegal immigrants speak little English, are dependent on their gangmasters, and feel they have little choice but to accept long working hours and deplorable living conditions.
       Legitimate workers feel threatened by the illegal immigrants, Lamb writes, because bosses threaten to fire them if they don't accept the same long hours the illegal immigrants are working.

Fishermen Tell of Turf War that Broke Out Before 19 Chinese Died in Britain
By Thomas Wagner, The Associated Press, Dateline Morecambe, England, February 12, 2004
       Hostilities have been running high for some time between local fishermen and the Chinese immigrants who vie for the lucrative cockle trade, according to this article.
       Cockling is getting international attention since 19 Chinese immigrants -- many believed to be illegal -- were drowned this week in Morecambe Bay.
       The 210 square-mile bay is England's second largest and home to vast shellfish beds. Fishermen come from Scotland, Wales and other countries hoping to earn up to $285 per day catching cockles, most of which is exported to the Netherlands and Spain.
       Interviews with cocklefishers reveal that local fishermen, resentful of immigrant competition, had recently set fire to the nets of freshly harvested cockles the Chinese had pulled up onto the beach. Gareth Parkinson, an English cockler, reported his leg was cut in a fight between British and Chinese cocklers who fought with the metal rakes they use to dig up the cockles.
       Parkinson is quoted as saying: "I think they (the Chinese) came out cocklefishing that night because they knew the locals would fight with them or sabotage their equipment on the beaches again during the day."
       The sands at Morecambe Bay are dangerous as are the tides, which are fast and strong and can recede more than seven and a half miles.
       Cedric Robinson, the Queen's guide to the Sands, is quoted as saying: "They (the Chinese) couldn't have had a clue about the tides, or they wouldn't have been there.... I've assisted rescues over the years, but we've never had numbers like this drown before. It's terrible."

Undocumented Workers Warned to Beware of Legalization Scams
By Thomas Ginsberg, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 12, 2004
       Swindlers are taking advantage of President Bush's January 7 proposal to offer temporary work permits to an estimated 8 million to 10 million illegal immigrants working in the United States.
       Bush's plan has not been approved by the U.S. Congress and has not been made law. Nonetheless, bogus "immigration experts" are telling the unwary they can help them -- for a fee.
       Celso M. De Souza, director of the Brazilian Organization for Social Services based in Philadelphia, is quoted as saying: "People have been showing up at churches, at stores, saying they can bring relief and charging substantial sums of money -- and then never bring anything."
       Marshall Fitz, director of advocacy for the nonpartisan American Immigration Lawyers Association is quoted in the article as reporting that illegal immigrants in North Jersey have been offered green cards under the Bush plan for $3,000.
       Illegal Mexican workers in Philadelphia were released of $2,000 each for documents allegedly compliant with the new Bush plan.

Smuggled Immigrants Found in Arizona Home
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Mesa, Arizona, February 12, 2004
       More than 160 illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America were found packed into a house in an upscale neighborhood in Phoenix. Some of the illegal immigrants had not eaten in days.
       None of the bathrooms were working in the house, which is located along a golf course near the Phoenix-Scottsdale border.
       Russell L. Ahr, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is quoted as saying the illegal immigrants "were sitting shoulder to shoulder, back to back. You could not see the carpet." Ahr said the illegal immigrants had paid their smugglers anywhere from $1,200 to $6,000 to be brought across the border. Most of the victims are expected to be deported.
       About 60 of the illegal immigrants had been locked in bedrooms with deadbolts; an AK47 assault rifle and 9mm handgun were also found.

China Promises To Help Britain On Illegal Immigration
Dow Jones International News, Dateline Beijing, February 10, 2004
and
Cockle Picker Tragedy Stirs UK, China to Action
Reuters News, Dateline Beijing, February 10, 2004
       Britain and China will cooperate in dealing with the people smuggling that ultimately resulted in the drowning deaths of 19 Chinese immigrants picking shellfish in Morecambe Bay, England.
       China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue is quoted as saying: "The Chinese government attaches great importance to the incident. We are ready to work with the British side to jointly crack down on international criminal activities, like the smuggling of people."
       China's deputy consul general in Manchester, Wu Yangyu, was quoted as saying that of all the illegal immigrants involved in the Morecambe tragedy, the longest any of the group had been in England was six months. She said Chinese diplomatic staffers in Britain were assisting in identifying the drowning victims, searching for any others who may still be missing, and working with British police.

British Police Arrest 5 in Drowning Deaths of 19 Chinese Workers
By Tom Rivers, Voice of America News, Dateline London, February 9, 2004
and
British Police Detain Five Over Deaths of Chinese Shellfish Pickers
By Andrew Gully, Agence France-Presse, Dateline London, February 9, 2004
and
40 Cockle Slaves in One House
By Alastair Taylor, The Sun, February 9, 2004
       British police arrested three men and two women believed to be connected to the drowning deaths of 19 Chinese shellfish gatherers in the Morecambe Bay area of northwest England.
       Sixteen people survived the tide that swept others to their deaths. Most in the group were in their teens and early twenties.
       In their search for those responsible for the tragedy involving illegal immigrants, police raided at least nine houses, one of which had 40 Chinese living in it under dreadful conditions. Computers and others evidence were confiscated from several houses around Liverpool, about 40 miles south of Morecambe Bay.
       According to Rivers' report, the people smugglers had been raking in 20,000 pounds (U.S. $37,366) per day while paying their illegal Chinese labourers just 11 pence (less than U.S. 25 cents) per hour.
       Gully writes that British police had arrested 37 Chinese in Morecambe last August, after concerns were raised about the scale of cockle picking in the area.
       Cockles demand good prices; picking them is not illegal in the Morecambe area although conditions there can be extremely treacherous.

Agent Saves a Life, Only to Lose His on Mexico Border
By Kevin Sullivan, The Washington Post, Dateline Yuma, Arizona, February 8, 2004
       U.S. Border Agent James Epling drowned in the Colorado River after saving the life of Fan Tuan Gao, an illegal immigrant from China, who herself was drowning in the fast-moving waters. The Chinese girl had tried to cross the river and get into the United States along with four other Chinese illegal immigrants and their two Mexican smugglers.
       Epling carried the girl to safety, but drowned in his attempt to reach the others.

Two Anaheim Men Charged with Defrauding Immigrants
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Santa Ana, California, February 6, 2004
       Carlos Hernandez Cortez and his son Carlos Hernandez Lugo were charged with 17 counts of fraud for defrauding immigrants. If convicted, the two could face up to nine years in prison. They are being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
       The father-son team ran an illegal immigration business, offering their clients work permits and permanent residency for $3,000. But the unknowing victims signed political asylum requests, which, at their immigration hearings, set them up for deportation, since Mexican nationals rarely qualify for asylum in the United States.
       Those deported never got their money back.

Eighteen Dead as Chinese Shellfish Diggers Trapped by Tide Off English Coast
By Peter Kononczuk, Agence France-Press, February 6, 2004
       Eighteen people believed to be Chinese drowned while looking for cockles in England's Morecambe Bay, where full tides come in faster than a person can run.
       Authorities believe a number of the victims may have been illegal immigrants, complicating identification efforts.
       Another 14 people were rescued from the freezing waters. Three were treated at a local hospital for hypothermia; others were held at a police station.
       Kononczuk writes: "In August last year, police arrested 37 Chinese people in Morecambe after concerns were raised about the scale of cockle picking in the area. Looking for the shellfish is not illegal in the area, but local people have demanded that gangs doing it as a business should be regulated and licensed."
       Geraldine Smith, parliamentary deputy for the area, is quoted as saying: "The cockles which were on the beach were worth a great deal of money, but very tragically I would imagine that those poor people who lost their lives were making very little of that money, and were probably victims of exploitation."

Lottery Con Costs Woman $5,000; Swindlers Pose as Undocumented Immigrants With a Winning Ticket
By Akilah Johnson, South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Palm Beach) Dateline Delray Beach, January 31, 2004
       Carmen Berrios, 58, was swindled out of $5,000, another victim of a common trick in which con artists claiming to be illegal immigrants say they need help in cashing in a winning lottery ticket.
       Johnson writes: "Police commonly refer to the ruse as a 'pigeon drop' and think an organized group has been pulling it throughout the state (of Florida). With a 'pigeon drop,' two people, who act like strangers, approach their victim in public. One claims to have a winning lottery ticket that can't be claimed legitimately. One person offers to let the victim and the accomplice share the winnings if they put up their own cash first. Once they get the cash, the pair disappears."

Border Patrol Discusses Plans to Prevent Immigrant Deaths
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Yuma, Arizona, January 29, 2004
       Local offices for the Border Patrol briefed officials from federal Homeland Security as to how they intend to help prevent deaths this summer among illegal immigrants trying to cross the border.
       According to this article, during the 12-month period that ended September 30, 12 illegal immigrants died in the Yuma area and more than 150 died statewide while crossing the border between Arizona and Mexico. The desert heat killed most; some drowned; others were killed in auto accidents.

San Jose Couple Accused of Cheating Hundreds of People of $500,000
By Jessie Mangaliman, San Jose Mercury News, January 21, 2004
       Noel Ramayrat and Mercedes Alcantara plead not guilty to charges of grand theft, tax evasion, conspiracy to commit unauthorized practice of law and illegal immigration consulting. The two are accused of defrauding hundreds of illegal immigrants out of more than $500,000.
       Their case is the first major case of immigration fraud to go to trial in Santa Clara County, largely because wide-spread publicity motivated many of the victims, despite their undocumented status, to come forward to authorities.

Smugglers Mistake Families for Illegals in Abduction Attempts
By Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Phoenix, Arizona, January 17, 2004
       People smuggling has recently grown more dangerous as the kidnapping of illegal immigrants from their smugglers has risen, according to this report. And, in Arizona, increasingly the kidnappers are mistaking innocent legal citizens for illegal immigrants.
       Billeaud writes: "Smugglers accustomed to kidnapping illegal immigrants from rivals and holding them for ransom are now mistaking families -- almost always Hispanics -- for people being smuggled, police said.
       "Unlike people who pay to get brought across the Mexican border into Arizona, these families aren't willing participants in the smuggling world."
        Ken Witkowski, acting chief for the Gila River Police Department, is quoted as saying: "These people were truly innocent victims." His department investigated four such attacks in the last year.
       Arizona is now the busiest illegal entry point along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, now that California and Texas have tightened their border controls. Last year, the Arizona border patrol apprehended 403,000 illegal immigrants.

For Sale: Deathtrap Cars for Illegal Drivers
By Michael Taggart and Gordon Rayner, Daily Mail, January 12, 2004
       Thousands of wrecked cars salvaged from collisions are being sold legally in Britain at auctions to customers who are not required to produce a driver's license, according to this article.
       Taggard and Rayner write: "It is an ideal opportunity fro criminals, illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers to get behind the wheel without having to give the details that would enable them to be traced. And it also directly contributes to the army of more than a million unlicensed or uninsured rivers causing misery on the roads."

Men Charged with Allegedly Harboring Drugged Children
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Phoenix, Arizona, October 17, 2003
       Antonio Gozales-Garduno and Sergio Martinez-Ramirez of Mexico have been charged with drugging two children and smuggling them into the United States.
       U.S. authorities found the children, ages 2 and 5, in an apartment along with nine other illegal immigrants.

Immigration Officials Crack Down on Bogus Mainland Spouses
China Post, October 12, 2003
and
Taiwan: Interviews of Mainland Chinese Spouses Increased
BBC Worldwide Monitoring. Story by Sofia Wu, Taiwanese Central Agency web site, October 11, 2003
       In an effort to crack down on illegal immigration through sham marriages, Taiwanese immigration officials have begun interviewing all incoming mainland Chinese spouses of Taiwan citizens.
       In the first nine months of 2003, Taiwanese authorities investigated 1,079 cross-strait marriages and found 52 to be bogus.
       As of October 8, the number of legitimate cross-strait marriages numbered 190,000.

Project To Identify Bodies at Border; Online Database to Help Families of Immigrants
By T.A. Badger, San Jose Mercury News, Dateline Waco, Texas, October 1, 2003
       Lori Baker, a forensic scientist at Baylor University, is launching an ambitious project to identify the remains of some 600 suspected illegal immigrants who died on the U.S. southern border since 1999.
       She will be assisted by her husband, Eric, a computer-science professor at Baylor. Using DNA evidence and other physical clues, they hope to compile a searchable, online database that will bring closure to the families of the missing.
       Baylor, the world's largest Baptist University, is providing limited funding for the project. Baker hopes private foundations will provide additional contributions toward the $800,000 she estimates will be needed in the first few years of the program's operation.
       According to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, nearly 1,400 suspected illegal immigrants died on the southern border in the last four years.

Deportations Stir Controversy -- Experimental Program Saves Lives, U.S. Says
By Richard Boudreaux, South Florida Sun-Sentinal, Dateline Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, September 30, 2003
       More than 5,000 illegal immigrants have been removed from Arizona's "corridor of death" since the U.S. Border Patrol's "Lateral Repatriation Program" began on September 8 this year.
       The goal of the program is to transport the thousands of illegal immigrants caught in Arizona's deadly deserts -- in the last 12 months, 152 illegal border crossers died from dehydration or heat exposure -- to four Texas cities for deportation to Mexico.
       But border mayors in Texas and Mexico fear their communities will not be able to deal with the burdens of accommodating the deportees, and Mexican President Vicente Fox opposes the program.
       American officials, however, feel the experimental program is working. Robert Harris, deputy chief of Border Patrol, is quoted as saying: "This program is going to reduce the number of people crossing, and it's going to reduce the number of people dying in the desert."

Illegal Immigrants Killed in Greek Minefield
Reuters Limited, Dateline Athens, September 29, 2003
       Seven illegal immigrants were killed when they tried to enter Greece from Turkey via a decades-old minefield separating the two countries.
       The bodies were found on a marked and fenced-off minefield near the town of Soufli in Greece near the northeastern border with Turkey.
       The minefield is a remnant of times past when Turkey and Greece came close to war. Both countries recently signed the United Nations treaty banning anti-personnel land mines.
       Each year, thousands of illegal immigrants try to reach Greece, a member of the European Union, and dozens die each year in old minefields.

Smugglers Increasingly Urge U.S. Border Crossers To Pop Stimulants
By Ananda Shorey, The Associated Press, Dateline Phoenix, September 22, 2003
       Border Patrol officials say they are increasingly finding illegal immigrants who have ingested stimulants at the urging of their smugglers, who want them to be able to cross the U.S. southern border quickly, despite the heat and long distances.
       The pills, known as "triple stacks," contain caffeine, pain relievers, and ephedra, which contains ephedrine and is a herbal stimulant. Ephedra, used for weight loss and bodybuilding, has been linked to scores of deaths. The pills are banned in the United States but sold over the counter in Mexico.
       Raymond Woosley, vice president for health sciences at the University of Arizona, is quoted as saying: "There is no doubt that ephedrine-containing products cause sudden death, heat stroke and heart attacks."
       Woosley, who is also a Food and Drug Administration consultant on ephedrine, said that heat, exercise and lack of water exacerbate the effects of ephedra, and the pills may be contributing to the increasing number of deaths among illegal border crossers.

Illegal Immigrants in Iowa, Nebraska Complain of Abuses
By Mike Wilson, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Des Moines, Iowa, September 10, 2003
       The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other federal agencies are meeting with advocacy groups about improving conditions for illegal immigrants working in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.
       Bernard Ortiz, with the Laborers' District Council of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota is quoted as saying: "Employers bring in a crew from Mexico with a promise to pay them after the third project, then accuse them of stealing tools or something and send them away without paying them....
       "If you complain about not getting paid, or not getting a break, your name is put on a list and that list is circulated to other (meatpacking) plants in a two- or three-state area, and that person won't ever get another job in that industry again," Ortiz said.
       Wilson writes: "Jose Luis Cuevas, the Mexican consul in Omaha, Nebraska said companies frequently fire workers when they're injured on the job. 'They're using undocumented workers as disposable workers,' he said."

Crackdown Targets Immigration Fraud
By Akilah Johnson, Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2003
       Authorities in California are cracking down on scam immigration "experts" who promise to help illegal immigrants legalize their status but just steal their money instead.
       State Attorney General Bill Lockyer set up the Office of Immigrant Assistance two years ago and so far has filed charges against 14 unlawful immigration businesses.
       Legitimate immigration consultants are required to be licensed by the state and post a $50,000 bond. There are about 700 bona fide immigration consultants in California.
       Immigrants make up 25 percent of California's population and are attractive targets to criminals. In January this year, Lockyer intervened on behalf of some 300 Korean immigrants in the San Francisco Bay area who were facing deportation. They had paid up to $30,000 each to unscrupulous immigration "advisers" who gave them illegal green cards.
       Johnson writes: "According to the Federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, fraud cases of all types have jumped 27 percent nationwide this year."

Straits Deaths Condemned
By Xing Zhigang, Mei Dong and Ruo Lan, China Daily, August 28, 2003
       Beijing authorities strongly condemned the "barbarous" killing of six mainland women who drowned when their human smugglers pushed them into the sea when the ship they were in was spotted by Taiwanese patrol boats.
        According to this report, 17 other women were rescued; 3 are still missing. They had paid smugglers U.S. $5,700 each to reach Taiwan in search of jobs.

4 Nabbed for Allegedly Dumping Chinese Women Into Sea
Kyodo News, August 27, 2003
and
Taiwanese Smugglers Face Murder Charges after Chinese Immigrants Drowned
Agence France-Presse, Dateline Taipei, August 27, 2003
and
Taiwan Blames Beijing for Drownings of Six Chinese Women
Dow Jones International News, Dateline Taipei, August 27, 2003
       Taiwan police arrested four people smugglers near Penghu Island for allegedly throwing a group of Chinese women overboard in an effort to escape a Taiwanese coast guard interdiction.
       Six women drowned; 20 were rescued, some slightly injured. They are being kept at a shelter until they can be returned to the mainland. The young women had paid their smugglers NT$200,000 (U.S. $5,848) to get to Taiwan in order to find jobs.
       The four accused people smugglers -- identified as Yeh Tien-sheng, Ko Ching-sung, Tseng Tseung-ming, and Wang Chung-hsiung -- are being detained on murder charges, according to prosecutor Lu Tseng-ta.
       Taiwanese authorities have arrested 1,239 Chinese mainlanders since January for attempting to enter Taiwan illegally.
       Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian is quoted as saying: "The people smugglers bear a big responsibility, but the authorities in Beijing cannot escape bearing an even larger responsibility. These women voted with their feet to express their dissatisfaction with their homeland, with the Beijing authorities, and risked their lives to come to Taiwan."

Number of Deaths on Rise, Despite Media and Security Effort
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Phoenix, Arizona, July 30, 2003
       Despite a highly publicized campaign - "Operation Desert Safeguard" -- to inform and dissuade illegal immigrants from attempting dangerous crossings of the U.S-Mexico border, this year's death toll nearly matches that of last year.
       Fifty illegal immigrants have died along the Arizona-Mexico border so far this month. In this fiscal year (which began in October 2002), 120 illegal immigrants have died in Arizona; last fiscal year it was 145.
       Yet according to Rob Bellavia, commander of the U.S. Border Patrol's 43-member Search Trauma and Rescue Squad, for every death along the border, his squad saves at least four lives.
       In an attempt to evade the increased border patrols, illegal immigrants have been attempting ever more dangerous routes to enter the United States.

Law Enforcement: Immigrant Extortion Growing Problem
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Phoenix, Arizona, July 29, 2003
       There is a growing problem in the Phoenix area of immigrants being held against their will in "drop houses" until their families pay the smuggling fee.
       "But increasingly," according to this article, "the immigrants are being held at gunpoint by smugglers until family members come up with money beyond the agreed-upon price."
       Rudy Bustamante, a community relations officer for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is quoted as saying: "The coyotes (people smugglers) are getting greedy."
       According to U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, the lucrative crime of people smuggling is attracting narcotics traffickers and their intimidation tactics.
       Charlton is quoted as saying: "It's part of the epic of narcotics smuggling invading the world of immigrant smuggling where people are held against their will and treated as products."

One Killed, 27 Injured When Vehicles Carrying Immigrants Collide
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Blythe, California, July 28, 2003
       A van and sport utility vehicle carrying a total of 38 illegal aliens collided and killed one person and injured 27 others on Chuckwalla Valley Road, about 20 miles west of Blythe, California.
       Both had been traveling at night without their lights to avoid detection on the desert road.
       According to this article, U.S. Border Patrol statistics show that at least 147 immigrants have died in motor vehicle accidents while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since October 1997.

Death Toll for Migrants Crossing Arizona Desert on Track To Break Records
By Anabelle Garay, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Phoenix, Arizona, July 24, 2003
       The scorching temperatures in Arizona's deserts are killing more illegal immigrants this year than last, although the number of attempted border crossings remain about the same - 269,705 this year versus 269,949 during the same time period last year.
       In this fiscal year, which began October 1, 2002, at least 123 illegal immigrants have died in Arizona, compared to a total of 145 in all of the previous fiscal year.
       The U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector has added five rescue towers and increased the number of its medically trained agents. But illegal border crossers, to evade detection, appear to have shifted their routes into southeast Arizona, where water and shade are scarce.
       Garay quotes Frank Amarillas, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, as saying that people smugglers sometimes lead their clients into desolate areas on the Mexican side before crossing and require them to use caffeine-based drugs so they can walk father faster, but this further dehydrates them.

Job-Seekers Cheated Out of Their Passports; Travel Documents are Stolen in a Recruitment Scam that Promises Work as Tour Guides
By Clifford Lo, South China Morning Post, June 18, 2003
       Between 40 and 50 people in Hong Kong have fallen prey to a scam that promises them jobs as tour guides in return for their travel documents.
       Chief Inspector Chan Man-yin of the Commercial Crime Bureau is quoted as saying: "These job-seekers are asked to obtain valid travel visas to Japan and European countries as a prerequisite for their employment. They are promised that they will take tourist groups to these countries.
       "When they go to job interview, they are told to hand over their passports and then asked to wait for a phone call."
       But the phone call never comes.
       Says Chan: "It is possible the stolen passports could be sold to criminal gangs and then their original photographs are substituted with the pictures of Asian illegal immigrants who might use them to enter their destined countries like Japan."

Immigrants Who Survived Smuggling Operation Will Remain in Federal Officials' Custody
By Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Houston, May 23, 2003
and
Survivors of Truck Smuggling Incident Freed on Bail
Agence France-Presse, May 23, 2003
       The 54 illegal immigrants who survived a botched smuggling operation that ended with the deaths of 19 in Victoria, Texas have been freed, each on a $5,000 bond, on condition they agree to return to testify on the incident.
       Those who are selected to testify in the case of human smuggling will be given temporary U.S. residency and allowed to hold jobs. The others face deportation.
       Eleven of the illegal immigrants who died in the airless truck trailer that was to deliver them to Houston have been returned to their families in Mexico. Eight bodies are still in the United State; three of these are yet to be identified.
       Tyrone Williams, the driver of the truck, was arrested on May 14 in Houston. Five more arrests have been made in connection to what has been called the "deadliest immigrant smuggling attempt" to have ever taken place in the United States.
       The Washington-based Cato Institute estimates that there are about 8 million undocumented workers living in the United States; each year another 250,000 enter the country.
       The illegal immigrants pay $1,500 to $2,000 just to get across the U.S.-Mexico border; often they are abandoned in life-threatening situations.

19th Person Dies in Botched Human Smuggle
By Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press Online, Dateline Houston, May 16, 2003
       The death toll from a botched people smuggling attempt earlier this week in Victoria, Texas reached 19 when a 29-year-old man, believed to be from Honduras, died of complications from heat stroke in a nearby hospital.
       He and 18 other illegal immigrants had been packed into a hot, airless trailer for some four hours trying to reach Houston when the driver of their truck abandoned them near Victoria.
       Sheriff's deputies found 17 bodies inside the trailer; two more illegal immigrants have died since then.
       According to Travis County medical examiner Roberto Bayardo, the victims died from dehydration, hyperthermia and suffocation.
       Federal authorities are still searching for 30 to 50 illegal immigrants believed to have fled the trailer.

E.U. Employee Raked in Cash as Slumlord in Belgium
Agence France-Presse, Dateline Brussels, May 16, 2003
       A European Union employee has been arrested and charged with renting out substandard apartments to illegal immigrants.
       Police raided six buildings belonging to a 51-year-old auditor for the European Commission's interior and justice departments. They found both illegal and legal immigrants, most from Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Somalia. Fifty-eight illegals were arrested for residing illegally in Belgium.
       Collecting an estimated 11,500 U.S. dollars each month, the E.U. employee provided apartments that lacked electricity or water; some units had no toilets, or the bathrooms were converted into bedrooms.

Holding Pens for Migrants Part of People Smuggling Scene
By Lynn Brezosky, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Harlingen, Texas, May 16, 2003
       Call them "safe houses," "stash houses," or "drop houses," they're all the same: holding pens that shelter illegal immigrants as they make their way to their final destinations.
       According to this report, property owners are paid to harbor such migrants, who end up packed into houses, apartments or motel rooms that may not have electricity, water, or proper sanitary facilities.
       Art Moreno, spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is quoted as saying: "It's not uncommon to have groups of 30 or more housed in (a) single 12-foot-square room. We've walked into rooms where they've not only urinated, but defecated, and have had to eat and sleep in the same area....
       "This is what alien smuggling is all about," Moreno is quoted as saying. "It's nothing more than a business. The concern for human life is not part of the equation."

"They were Yelling, Crying and Screaming": Details of Immigrants' Ordeal Emerge
By Lee Hockstader and Mary Jordan, The Washington Post, Dateline Victoria, Texas, May 16, 2003
       Eduardo Ibarrola, the Mexican consul general in Houston, revealed to reporters details regarding the ordeal of some 70 illegal immigrants who were packed into a tractor trailer abandoned by the driver in Victoria, Texas, where 18 died from heat and lack of air.
       Ibarrola interview some 32 of the survivors.
       The group was picked up by the truck driver at a safe house in Harlingen, Texas, just north of Brownsville. But four hours into their 300-mile trip to Houston, oxygen ran out in their dark, sealed, airless, hot trailer. Ibarrola is quoted as saying: "They were yelling, crying and screaming."
       Some of the smuggled immigrants punched holes through the taillights and stuck out their hands and scraps of clothing, trying to attract the attention of passing motorists. One called 911 from a cell phone. But his call for help in Spanish went untranslated until it was too late.
       After four excruciating hours, the driver pulled into a truck stop near the town of Victoria and opened the trailer door at 2 a.m. The horrible sight caused him to unhook the trailer and flee in his cab with a woman companion, leaving the smuggled migrants to fend for themselves.
       Among the dead was a 5-year-old boy and a man believed to be his father.
       Survivors include 32 Mexicans, 14 Hondurans, and four Salvadorans. Authorities are still searching for others who may have run away.
       Tyrone Williams, the suspected driver of the rig, was arrested at the Oaks Medical Center in Houston, three hours after abandoning his human cargo. He told police he had been promised by two Hispanic men identified only as Joe and Abel a total of $5,000 to take the illegal immigrants to Houston .
       Mexican and U.S. authorities have promised to cooperate to bring the smugglers to justice, this report says.
       According to the Mexican Foreign Minister, 2,000 illegal immigrants have died crossing the border since 1997.

Sheriff Releases Identities of Immigrants Killed in Cane Field Fire
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Raymondville, Texas, April 18, 2003
and
Lone Initial Survivor of Fire in Texas Cane Field Dies
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Raymondville, Texas, April 17, 2003
       The Willacy County Sheriff's Office released the names of six illegal immigrants who died as a result of being trapped in a burning 40-acre sugar cane field on March 24.
       Sheriff Larry Spence is reported as saying the illegal immigrants, who were hiding in the field, may have either been too frightened or slept through a warning broadcast. The broadcasts are delivered in English and Spanish over a loudspeaker system growers use before setting fires to clear their fields for harvest.
       Egar Isidro Rosas Lemus, ran out of the field screaming from his burns and saying others were in the field. Three men died in the field. Lemus and another man and woman later died from their burns at area hospitals.

Millions in Loans to Undocumented Immigrants Prompts Calls for Regulation
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Phoenix, Arizona, April 11, 2003
       Unscrupulous real estate agents and lenders are increasingly targeting illegal immigrants, according to this report.
       Illegal immigrants are being convinced by predatory brokers or loan officers that they can qualify for federally insured home loans. They charge the illegal immigrants excessive fees and counterfeit the documents needed to qualify the immigrants for loans.
       According to U.S. law, however, potential home buyers seeking federally insured home loans must be in the United States legally.

Criminals Have Stolen Identities of More Than 1,000 Dead Babies
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline London, November 29, 2002
and
Traffickers Stealing Identities, Lords Warn
By Anne Perkins, The Guardian, November 29, 2002
       In order to obtain false passports, criminals involved in people smuggling have stolen the identities of more than 1,000 babies who died before their first birthday.
       British police uncovered the scam while cross-referencing birth and death certificates with passport applications and national insurance numbers. But with a lack of resources, they've been able to follow up with only 41 investigations resulting in 39 arrests.
       In emphasizing the importance of resources for investigations, police noted that a single financial investigation into the discovery of the bodies of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants who suffocated in a truck stopped at Dover uncovered 38 million pounds (US$59,017,800) sent back to China via Hong Kong in "post-entry" payment for people-smuggling operations, Perkins writes.

Dishonest Lawyers, Businesses Team To Scam Immigrants in Chinatown
By Anthony M. DeStefano, Newsday (Queens), August 11, 2002
       Unscrupulous immigration lawyers and business people in New York's Chinatown have been teaming up to file bogus or defective asylum claims, DeStefano writes. Such parnerships are estimated to generate most of the 9,000-plus Chinese asylum claims filed each year and are a multimillion-dollar business.
       But slipshod work often means that even immigrants who might have had good asylum claims find themselves involved in fraud and facing deportation.
       Some of these businesses appear to be involved in the unauthorized practice of law, soliciting clients, giving legal advice, drawing up asylum claims that are sometimes fabricated, and securing documents that are sometimes fake. Some actually work closely with snakeheads.
       Their key attaction is their relative low cost -- $1,000 to $2,000 per asylum case, about half what a regular lawyer might charge.
       While other ethnic groups have their share of crooked immigration lawyers or non-lawyers illegally practicing law, the problem seems especially acute in New York's Chinatown.
       "Statistics from the federal Executive Office of Immigration Review show that aside from Mexicans, Chinese nationals file the most asylum applications," DeStefano writes. "In fiscal year 2001, 9,142 asylum applications were filed by Chinese, out of a total nationwide of 60,853. There were 662 claims granted, 1,966 awaiting approval and some 3,405 denied, the data shows, with other cases pending, abandoned, or withdrawn."

Illegal Immigrant Death Rate Rises Sharply in Barren Areas
By Evelyn Nieves, The New York Times, August 6, 2002
       Deaths are reaching "record rates" in remote and dangerous areas along the U.S.-Mexico border as illegal immigrants attempt to evade stepped-up border patrols, this article says.
       Even so, border deaths in general are down 20 percent, Nieves writes, and illegal immigration from Mexico has fallen about 29 percent, mostly because of tighter security and a faltering U.S. economy.
       The U.S. Border Patrol is mounting a public service campaign in Mexico and Central America warning would-be migrants of the dangers of illegal border crossings.
       Most illegal border crossers die of heatstroke or dehydration, but others die by drowning, being struck by lightning, experiencing vehicle crashes, or suffocating in airless trucks.
       The United States began tightening border security back in 1994 with "Operation Gatekeeper." Before that, "most of the illegal traffic from Mexico entered through cities like San Diego and El Paso, where migrants became targets for muggers and other assailants," Nieves writes.
       Unscrupulous smugglers known as "coyotes" are becoming more necessary -- and more expensive -- for the more remote illegal border crossings.
       "Possibly hundreds of migrants have died because they have been abandoned by these smugglers, or because they have been led by people who themselves could not manage a brutal landscape," Nieves writes.

Smugglers Pick Profit Over Immigrants' Lives; INS Braces for More Summer Deaths in Sweltering 18-Wheelers
By David McLemore, The Dallas Morning News, August 3, 2002
and
Police Find More Migrants in Stifling Tractor-Trailer
By Dick Stanley, The Austin American Statesman, August 1, 2002
       The 18-wheel truck appears to have become the human smuggler's vehicle of choice, according to these articles.
       "Just in the last week in Dallas and San Antonio, authorities found nearly 200 undocumented immigrants abandoned in tractor-trailer rigs. For two immigrants, the 8-foot-by-106-foot trailers had become a tomb," McLemore writes.
       Commenting on the San Antonio case, Denton Langford, INS spokesman, is quoted as saying: "You could see the blood smeared on the back doors where they clawed at the doors trying to open them. You can see the desperation of being locked in there with no light and no ventilation."
       Frank Chavarria, assistant district director for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) at San Antonio, is quoted as saying: "To the alien smuggler, it's a matter of economics. An 18-wheeler loaded with illegal immigrants is an easy $100,000 to $200,000. It's a business venture, and any death or suffering of the cargo is merely collateral. We don't see a lot of remorse on the part of the people we catch."
       The truck driver is considered by the smuggling rings to be low-echelon and expendable. Knowing only his contract, the driver is unable to reveal much, if anything, about the larger smuggling enterprise.
       Human smuggling has become a multimillion-dollar industry. Citing figures provided by the International Organization for Migration, a Belgium-based migrant watchdog group, McLemore writes that about 70 percent of migrants attempting to gain illegal entry into the United States use smugglers.
       "The smugglers may range from individuals or 'mom-and-pop' organizations along the border to highly organized rings based in Central and South America," McLemore writes. "Authorities have found evidence of smugglers in Mexico being subcontracted by Chinese criminal gangs to smuggle human cargo across the U.S. border."
       The INS arrested 8,403 smugglers along the U.S.-Mexican border in 2001; so far in fiscal year 2002, which ends in September, there have been 5,758 arrests.

Mexico Warns Crossers to Beware of Smugglers' Drug Offers
By Sheryl Kornman, The Tucson Citizen, July 2, 2002
       The Mexican consul in Nogales is warning illegal immigrants not to accept narcotics from "coyotes," or human smugglers.
       The smugglers tell their clients that the narcotics will enable them to withstand the high temperatures and dehydration they will encounter in attempting to sneak into the United States via remote areas in the desert. The claim is just one more lie the coyotes use to attract customers, the Mexican consul said.

Unreliable Immigration Assistance an Obstacle on the Road to Citizenship
By Jack Chang, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, California), July 1, 2002
       Some attorneys and "immigration advisers" are taking advantage of their clients, taking hundreds of dollars for services they never deliver, this report says.
       "The most common targets of such scams," Chang writes, "are illegal immigrants who are vulnerable to deportation and eager to win legal immigration papers. Such people often fear stepping into the spotlight to complain to authorities about misconduct; some attorneys use that fear against them."
       Such cases have grown more common as U.S. immigration laws have tightened, Chang writes.

Migrants Taking Greater Risks After September 11 Tightens Border: Crossing the Deadly Niagara River by Raft
By Adrian Humphreys, National Post, April 24, 2002
       Tighter border security in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks is forcing human smugglers to take greater risks in moving their clients from Canada to the United States, according to this report.
       A snakehead was caught recently trying to smuggle four illegal Asian immigrants across the treacherous Niagara river using an inflatable raft. The aliens had been charged $30,000 each for the trip.
       Ko-Lin Chin, a criminal justice professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey and a top expert on illegal immigration, is quoted as saying: "I talk to people here in New York City's Chinatown, and they all say that after September 11 it is much more difficult to get into the United States, all across the Mexican and Canadian borders.... The demand is still there and the snakeheads are charging more because it is becoming much more challenging for them to smuggle people in."
       Michael A. Battle, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York is quoted as saying: "We are seeing more and more attempts at illegal entry and smuggling of citizens from Asia, particularly Malaysia and the People's Republic of China, through Canada. It has become more prominent in the last few months."
       The powerful currents of the Niagara river just below the mighty falls are extremely dangerous, most especially for small boats. At least four illegal aliens are known to have drowned. Richard Dickens, a retired commissioner with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and former police advisor to the United Nations in Southeast Asia, is quoted as saying he believes other immigrants have died trying to cross, but their bodies have never been found; only purses and duffle bags that occasionally wash to shore hint at the extent of the possible death count.

Vietnam's "Dust Children" in Limbo: U.S. Law Grants Visas to Those With American Features, But Some Are Still Denied
By Bruce Knecht, The Wall Street Journal, February 28, 2002
       Vietnamese and Amerasians (children of American soldiers and Vietnamese mothers) are being exploited by traffickers, according to this article.
       The Amerasian Homecoming Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1987, allows any Vietnamese resident who has "American facial features" and who was born between 1962 and 1976 to get an U.S. immigrant visa. This law has enabled 24,000 Amerasians and 67,000 of their family members to immigrate to the United States.
       Amerasians, most of whom are indigent and uneducated, are disparaged in Vietnam as being "children of dust." But they are vulnerable to traffickers who see them as "gold children," and who promise that they can facilitate the visa application process.
       The traffickers use the Amerasians as a means to extract money from other Vietnamese who hope to immigrate to the United States by claiming to be relatives of an eligible Amerasian. These fraudulent applications are generally rejected. But the Amerasians find that once they've been rejected for claiming false relatives, their applications continue to be rejected even if they reapply on their own.

Immigrant Chinese Find New Pain in Old Ruse
By Yilu Zhao, The New York Times, June 17, 2001
       Some 539 Chinese immigrants were bilked by Kaitong, Inc. of Flushing, New York, which had promised them they would "sail through" the visa application process in less than three months. Most of the immigrants had paid between $1,000 to $2,500, but received nothing in return. The company's owner, Ding Gang Xie, has disappeared.
       Sue Rheem, director of Asian Americans for Equality, a New York-based advocacy group, is quoted as saying: "This happens in the immigrant communities all the time."
       New immigrants are often victims of such scams because they speak little English and know little about immigration laws. When they discover they've been cheated, they don't know what U.S. authorities to contact, or are afraid to contact them. As a result, the con artists get away.
       There are legitimate agencies that help immigrants through the bureaucracy of visa applications, and some do not charge a fee, Zhao writes. But only U.S. federal officials -- the Immigration and Naturalization Service or the American embassies and consulates -- have the authority to actually grant visas.

Chinese Migrants Recount Fatal Trip
AP Online, March 2, 2001
       The Chinese immigrants who suffocated in a truck smuggling them into Britain had expected to fly into the country, according to a survivor.
       Fifty-eight people died in that accident. One of the two survivors, Ke Shi Guang, is quoted as having told authorities: "The snakeheads at home cheated us as they said they would be buying the tickets and we would be traveling by air."
       The other survivor, Su Di Ke, is quoted as saying that the migrants packed in the tomato truck "started panicking after about two to three hours because the vent was shut and there was no air....There was also a lot of shouting and screaming, but nobody came to help."