Danger is part of the high cost of illegal entry

By Tim Steller
The Arizona Daily Star

There are many levels of cruelty among the cheats and thugs who prey upon migrants.

Some simply jack up prices on necessities: transportation, food, hotel rooms.

Worse are those who rob migrants of what little they have using guns or sticks.

Then there are smugglers who rip off their charges - sometimes abandoning them in the middle of the desert.

The worst of the robbers beat, rape and kill.

And some say the worst of the smugglers double as robbers, leading migrants into scheduled ambushes.

``Sometimes the `polleros' (smugglers) themselves put the bandits to work,'' Octavio Rojas Yañez said from an Agua Prieta jail. The guides ``take the people to a specific place, a place that's already known, and some people are waiting there.''

Rojas, alias El Quemado, admits playing both the smuggler and the robber, but not with the same groups of migrants.

And he vehemently denies the crimes of which he is accused: sticking up a group of migrants about to cross the border west of Agua Prieta, attempting to rape a young woman, then shooting to death the guide, who interfered with the rape.

For aspiring illegal entrants, the journey from home to an American job is fraught with dangers, said Maria de la Paz Reyes, coordinator of the Grupo Beta migrant protection force in Agua Prieta.

Just arriving at the border, they face myriad rip-offs, from expensive hotel rooms to exploitative taxi rates, she said.

``Somewhere else, the migrant would pay, say, 20 pesos for a taxi ride, and here the migrants have to pay hundreds, in addition to going uncomfortably, piled on top of each other and hidden,'' de la Paz said.

Grupo Beta is charged with policing the border to protect migrants from those who would harm them. Perhaps the biggest threat comes in the form of the smugglers the illegals hire, she said.

They can trick a group by accepting payment, then dumping the migrants in the desert and declaring their obligation fulfilled. Or they can promise a group to take the illegals across - no matter how many times it takes - accept money, then leave the illegal entrants near a Border Patrol vehicle and flee.

Would-be crossers listen as Grupo Beta members tell them of their rights in the United States and of the danger of bandits on both sides of the border. Grupo Beta's goal isn't to stop illegal crossings, but it tries to ensure the safety of those who are intent on making the attempt.

Not rare anymore

Such betrayals are not new on the border. But attacks on migrants near Douglas were rare enough before this year that the Border Patrol did not bother keeping track of them, agency spokesman Rob Daniels said.

This year the agency has been counting. Through mid-June, 24 bandit attacks had been reported along the border, mostly in Mexico. But one occurred about a mile north of the border, where a group of migrants was robbed and two women among them were raped.

There easily could be many more attacks that are going unreported. Typically, the Border Patrol only hears about the attacks if it catches the victims. Mexican police generally get reports only if someone is hurt, left behind or robbed near town.

One attack occurred May 19, a half-mile west of the Douglas port of entry. Witnesses said a group of men armed with guns stopped a group of migrants a few yards south of the border fence, according to Sonoran Judicial Police reports.

While robbing them, one bandit separated a young woman from the group, the reports said. He partially disrobed her, intending to rape her.

But the group's guide intervened, telling the bandit to stop, the reports said. The bandit grew angry, drew a gun and shot the guide. Guillermo Ramirez Zavala, 25, died of his wounds.

Police accuse Rojas, 18, of being that murderer.

He denied the charge during the jail interview but admitted both having guided groups into the United States and having robbed a group he was not guiding.

He, a cousin and another man carried sticks when they intercepted that group about five miles west of the port of entry, walking along railroad tracks toward the United States, Rojas said. It was an area where Rojas had guided groups before, he said.

Rojas' cousin ``told them to stop and give us their money,'' he said. ``They weren't carrying much. We got maybe 500 pesos (about $50) each.''

Jose Manriquez, who made the trip from central Mexico, was hospitalized after the alien-packed Ford Bronco in which he was riding blew a tire and overturned at 95 mph.

Young bandits

Mexican police say Rojas' involvement in bandit attacks goes further than that robbery, or even than the May murder.

He and another young man organized a group of boys, ages 12 to 15, into a junior bandit gang, police say. Members of that gang were arrested during a robbery on May 21.

One 14-year-old said Rojas and 27-year-old Hugo Chavez Alvarado gave two guns to the boys and sent them out to commit robberies. That boy told police they had committed nine such crimes, always leaving a day between attacks.

Another boy, 15, said they would turn over their loot to Rojas and Chavez, who would divide it among the gang.

Generally, violence does not occur during the attacks, and the migrants either return to Mexico to try again later or continue northward. Jose Manriquez, 20, of Morelia, in Michoacan state, said he was robbed during a crossing near Agua Prieta last year.

``They took our money, but that was all,'' said Manriquez, who eventually made it to Phoenix last year.

Some migrants have struck back at their attackers.

On May 23, a group of 20 was crossing near the new corrals, a couple of miles west of the port of entry in Agua Prieta, when four bandits armed with knives jumped in the migrants' path and robbed them. As the bandits left, one straggled behind.

The migrants jumped him, beat him and took back his share of loot: 520 pesos, $23 and four watches. Police responded and took the 24-year-old bandit to the hospital. None of the migrants was arrested, but the attacker was.

Overloaded vehicles

If the migrants are able to make it across the border, one of their greatest dangers may come in the ride north.

Unsafe, overloaded vehicles are a common means of transporting illegal entrants, and they create a danger both for their occupants and other motorists, said Sgt. Dan Long of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

``Many of the vehicles used to transport them north are (unsafe), and many of the drivers are inexperienced driving in the U.S.,'' Long said.

Often the guides make the illegal entrants drive the load vehicles so they can avoid arrest, said Chavez, the accused bandit, who also admitted guiding groups of illegal entrants.

The vehicles usually are heavily loaded. In sedans, the back seat may be torn out and people crammed in that space underneath blankets; other times a dozen people may be packed into the bed of a pickup.

Manriquez was jammed inside a vehicle with 12 other illegal entrants on June 16, speeding from the Douglas area at 95 mph, when a tire blew. The vehicle veered across the road and rolled 1 1/2 times, losing part of its roof and landing on its top.

``I grabbed a seat to stay inside, but everyone fell out,'' Manriquez said.

The load vehicle in which Manriquez was riding, a 1981 Ford Bronco, had new overload springs to keep it from bouncing so much and attracting Border Patrol attention, Long said. But the tires were bald, and one blew out, causing the accident. Four passengers were flown from the scene in critical condition.

Manriquez was lucky - after his treatment at Southeast Arizona Medical Center outside Douglas, he was released from the hospital and could easily have continued his illegal journey north. But he decided not to.

``I'm going to return to Morelia. It scares you,'' he said. ``I don't want to cross anymore.''

Aware of danger

Migrants attempt their journeys north well aware that there is potential danger at every turn.

``It's dangerous, but we take the risk because we have such needs,'' said Elsa Fernandez, 24, as she crouched under a tree on the eastern outskirts of Agua Prieta.

Thinking of those dangers, or those needs, or of the two young boys clutching her, Fernandez begins to cry. She walks off along the border fence, carrying her two children and following the two young adolescents who promised to guide them into Douglas.