A back-and-forth cat-and-mouse game is played along border fence each night
 Fence jumpers have an advantage that Border Patrol agents don't have: patience |
The Arizona Daily Star
DOUGLAS - The sight of illegal entrants hopping the border fence is as much a part of a downtown Douglas evening as starry skies and barking dogs.
About 11 p.m. one recent night, two young men, perhaps guides or scouts, wandered up and down a city block in Agua Prieta. Several others walked up and hid behind bushes.
Fifteen minutes later, a Border Patrol van drove past them on the Douglas side and continued down International Avenue, prompting two young men to sprint from their hiding place, and in a few seconds, climb over the fence.
They disappeared down a 10-foot-deep ditch inside the United States that parallels the border. Two Border Patrol vehicles converged on the area and shined spotlights on the ditch and fence, but didn't spy the two crossers.
After another 15 minutes, two more men dashed from their hiding places, clambered over the fence and crouched at the base of it on the American side. Someone whistled, and two more jumped the fence and crouched. Another whistle, and three more came.
Finally a Border Patrol vehicle drove along International and shined a light on the spot. Although the group wasn't clearly visible at the base of the fence, four climbed back over to the Mexican side.
The Border Patrol vehicle then drove on, and in a couple of minutes another agency vehicle passed. As soon as they saw the taillights, the four who had returned to Mexico jumped back over the fence, then rolled sideways into the ditch.
One made a final return jump to Mexico, then shouted ``How you doing?'' to an arriving agent. Once the agent left, the returnee gave instructions to the six people left on the American side.
With the ditch as a hiding place, the group members could travel east or west for five blocks, then dash north into the neighborhood. Or they could travel up sewer pipes that pour into the ditch and emerge from a manhole several blocks inside Douglas.
Border Patrol agents know all this, and they sometimes police the manholes. But the border crossers retain one distinct advantage, said International resident Leticia Luna.
``They got more patience than the Border Patrol does. They'll sit here for hours, and if the Mexican police don't get them down (from the fence), they'll stay there,'' Luna said.