With no laws broken, agent and migrant have a borderline chat

By Jeffry Scott
The Arizona Daily Star

Photos by Jeffry Scott The Arizona Daily Star Border Patrol Supervisor Fred Esquivel and Hector, who is on the Mexican side of the border, exchange pleasantries.

DOUGLAS - Hector lies on his stomach, hoping Border Patrol agents overlook him as he waits for twilight to become darkness.

When Border Patrol Supervisor Fred Esquivel stops his vehicle and approaches, Hector, a man in his mid-30s, rises like a child caught red-handed.

But Hector isn't doing anything illegal - yet.

He remains barely on the Mexican side, near the unfinished corrals where cattle eventually will be shuffled between Arizona and Sonora. So although not so much as a strand of barbed wire separates agent from migrant, this meeting will result in no apprehension.

Just a little chat.

Esquivel and Hector exchange pleasantries and small talk. Like most agents, Esquivel knows what drives people north and empathizes with their plight.

The former grocery store manager from El Paso says if he lived in Mexico, he probably would try crossing, too.

Hector has been coming north to support his wife and two children since 1985, he tells Esquivel. Back then it was easy to cross in San Diego, where he would make his way to Northern California to pick cherries and walnuts.

Hector, of Navajoa, Sonora, waits for an opportunity to slip across the border.

After those harvests, Hector said he went to Washington state to pick apples. The journey and jobs last six months. When work is done, he travels home to the southern Sonoran city of Navajoa. Six months in the United States equals at least a year of wages in Mexico.

A stepped-up Border Patrol presence in San Diego led Hector to cross in Arizona. But it's not much easier here.

He attempted at least twice to cross in Nogales earlier this year before Border Patrol agents dropped him off in Agua Prieta. It is becoming increasingly difficult to cross everywhere he goes, he said, and smugglers are charging $600 or more to get to Phoenix.

In addition to expensive smugglers, Hector says in broken English, ``There's too many immigration.''

Esquivel knows the story too well. All he can do is warn Hector of the danger ahead - bandits are especially prevalent on the west side of Douglas.