Mexico-US Border // Current

Mexican Army soldiers captured in Yuma, Arizona

"Border Patrol agents went to check it out and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine sent a helicopter, Lowrie said. ... more

necrotized
added this

The REAL American Dream

Illegal Immigration. What is it? The term wasn't necessarily heard of before this century, or at least it wasn't... more

alexi_parker
added this

Mexicans deported from US face shattered lives

The towering black gate opens silently to an alley with walls of corrugated metal. Scrawled in large white letters on one wall is: "The End."

For those deported from the United States, the words are an unnecessary reminder. Nearly every hour of the day, guards unlock this gate that leads back into Mexico, clicking open the padlocks hung on each side, in each nation.

Every time the gate slams shut, it wipes out a dream, divides a family, ends a life lived in the shadows of the law.

On average, 700 Mexicans expelled from the United States walk through this gate daily, according to Mexican government figures. They include farmers, construction workers, prisoners, nannies, children, entire families.

U.S. deportations have jumped by more than 60 percent over the past five years. Mexicans accounted for nearly two-thirds of those deportees, helping to roll back one of the biggest migrations of recent history. All along the border, shelters once full of people trying to cross into the United States are now home to thousands of deportees who sleep on mattresses strewn inches apart on cement floors.

In a week spent at the Tijuana gate, The Associated Press watched busload after busload of deportees arrive, some in a daze, still stunned over their sudden expulsion. Many stumbled over the Mexican official's question, "Where are you from?" after spending decades in the United States.

The faces of those who stream through reflect how tough and far-reaching the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration has become.

Among them are young people. There were more than 18,000 repatriations of children under 18 to Mexico this year, and in more than 10,000 cases they were alone, according to the Mexican government.

There are also criminals. The U.S. does not break down figures by country, but it has deported about 55,000 prisoners so far this year. One man walked through the gate in slippers with 80 cents in his pocket, after being picked up by police during a violent fight with his wife in their backyard.

And there are women, with more than 40,000 repatriations since January — about 13 percent of all cases, according to the Mexican government. Sometimes the women are dropped off alone, at night. The U.S. Border Patrol in Washington says the safe repatriation of women is a major concern, but acknowledges there is no overall policy along the 2,000-mile border.

Mexico must now deal with a population that it has long ignored. And those returning must deal with Mexico, a land that for many now seems foreign. The challenge starts the day they walk through the gate the U.S. Border Patrol calls Whiskey II, military code for west of the port of entry.The towering black gate opens silently to an alley with walls of corrugated metal. Scrawled in large white letters on one wall is:... more

TravG73
added this

65 responses

3 months ago

Legal crosser of US border tracked for 15 years

The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations.
Officials say the Border Crossing Information system, disclosed late last month by the Department of Homeland Security in a Federal Register notice, is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats. It also reflects the growing number of government systems containing personal information on Americans that can be shared for a broad range of law enforcement and intelligence purposes, some of which are exempt from Privacy Act protections.
While international air passenger data has long been captured this way, Customs and Border Protection agents only this year began to log the arrivals of all U.S. citizens across land borders, through which about three-quarters of border crossings occur.
The volume of people entering the country by land had prevented compiling such a database until recently. But the advent of machine-readable identification documents, which the government now mandates for everyone crossing the border, has made gathering the information more feasible. By June, all travelers crossing land borders will need to present a machine-readable document.
In January, border agents began manually entering into the database the personal information of travelers who did not have such documents.
The disclosure of the database is among a series of notices, officials say, to make Homeland Security's data gathering more transparent. Critics say the moves exemplify efforts by the Bush administration in its final months to cement an unprecedented expansion of data gathering for national security and intelligence purposes.
The data could be used beyond determining whether a person may enter the United States. For instance, information may be shared with foreign agencies when relevant to their hiring or contracting decisions.
Public comments are being taken until Monday, when the database is scheduled to take effect.
"People expect to be checked when they enter the country and for the government to determine if they're admissible or not," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology. "What they don't expect is for the government to keep a record for 15 years of their comings into the country."
But DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said the retention period is justified.
"History has shown, whether you are talking about criminal or terrorist activity, that plotting, planning or even relationships among conspirators can go on for years," he said. "Basic travel records can, quite literally, help frontline officers to connect the dots."
The government states in its notice that the system was authorized by post-Sept. 11 laws, including the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act of 2002, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.
The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the... more

ivxx
added this

0 responses

3 months ago

The border fence – a complete waste?

In 2006, Congress authorized the Secure Fence Act - a multi-billion dollar plan to build hundreds of miles of fencing along the... more

dkincheloe
added this

11 responses

3 months ago

Proof of citizenship now mandatory to enter the US

"It looks like any Southern California traffic jam — except you can buy a cappuccino and a 4-foot statue of Jesus from... more

jade_azul16
added this

85 responses

4 months ago

Instead of securing the southern US border, Congress gives Mexico $1.6 billion for drug war

In a country where drug-related violence has killed nearly 2,000 people this year, including four police commanders, a beleaguered Mexico cheered U.S. congressional approval of a record $400 million to help it battle narcotics gangs.

In a 92-6 vote late Thursday, the U.S. Senate authorized a three-year, $1.6-billion package to combat drug trafficking in Mexico and Central America. The bill includes $65 million in anti-narcotics assistance for Central America this year.

President Bush, who originally proposed $1.5 billion in aid for Mexico and Central America under the provisions of the Merida Initiative, is expected to sign the measure into law.

"The United States is finally recognizing that this is a joint problem, a bilateral problem, and that it has a responsibility in this fight to work with the Mexican government," said Juan Camilo Mouriño, Mexico's interior minister, who oversees internal security.

The news came as another top police official was gunned down in the capital Thursday night. Igor Labastida, a federal police commander who was investigating corruption within the force, was eating tacos when a hit man opened fire with an Uzi submachine gun. Labastida and one of his bodyguards were killed and another one was wounded.

Labastida was the fourth top police commander killed in the capital in just two months. The most senior was Edgar Millan, who coordinated the civilian wing of the anti-narcotics effort. He was shot to death in May at the door to a Mexico City condo where he sometimes stayed.

"It's part of the battle that the Mexican state is waging against organized crime and it's their way of responding," said Mouriño.

However, he and other top officials have conceded that Mexico's security forces are outmatched. Of the more than 4,000 slain since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug gangs in January 2007, some 450 are police, soldiers or government officials.

The new anti-narcotics aid package — which is more than 10 times the $37 million disbursed to Mexico last year — is in the form of equipment, not cash. It would enable Mexico to buy more military transport planes, beef up border security to stem the flow of illegal weapons, and equip its inspectors with high-tech computer detection equipment.

However, about $57 million is contingent upon the government meeting human rights conditions.

"The United States wants to work with Mexico on these issues, including the need to hold accountable members of the military and the police who violate human rights," said a U.S. Senate aide who helped draft the bill. "This is not a blank check."

The plan calls for $73.5 million to be spent on judicial reform, institution-building and other activities aimed at strengthening the rule of law and combating corruption in Mexico. It also allocates $3 million to help Mexico create a national police registry.

However, some human rights activists said the $116 million earmarked for buying military equipment and technology was excessive.In a country where drug-related violence has killed nearly 2,000 people this year, including four police commanders, a beleaguered... more

maasanova
added this

10 responses

5 months ago

The Great Wall of America: the Mexican-U.S. border

"The smuggler was surprised to see us. It's his business to monitor traffic along his stretch of the border, and he had just watched from his hiding place as a white-and-green patrol truck rolled slowly past on the U.S. side. The day shift was ending for "la migra," the border patrol, so it was time for him to move.

He urged his clients--11 illegal aliens--to get over the fence quickly. Within minutes, all were safely across the border about five miles (8 km) west of Naco, Ariz.--roughly the same spot where Coronado and his conquistadores made the first recorded crossing in 1540. The smuggler was brushing their footprints from the border road when our four-wheel-drive rental appeared unexpectedly over the hill.

He did what smugglers always do when spotted: he bolted. In an instant he was safely back on the other side, leaving his customers to their fate. They followed him, bewildered, only gradually realizing that we were journalists, not federal agents. In this way, we had a chance to see how a group of ordinary Mexicans--one a grandmotherly woman, another a 10-year-old boy--cope with the U.S. government's new $1 million-per-mile border-security fence.

Passions don't shake out neatly along party lines. Republican John McCain wove frantically through last winter's debates trying to avoid the scarlet A-for-amnesty. His sin was promoting a "pathway to citizenship" for undocumented workers. Democrat Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, tripped on a debate question about driver's licenses for illegal aliens. Senator Barack Obama has stepped carefully with the issue, voting for the fence and for more agents on the border while saying that this covers "only one side of the equation."

In this cloud of intangibles, the fence is something solid. After years of talking about it, Congress last year put $1.2 billion into the project, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) promptly started hiring posthole diggers. DHS aims to complete more than 650 miles (roughly 1,000 km) of barrier by the end of the year, built in sections by National Guard units and private contractors. That represents only about one-third of the U.S.-Mexico border; on the other hand, the fence clearly delineates, for the first time, a frontier that was previously just a four-strand cattle fence at best.

New fence goes up every week in Arizona and California, mile after mile of posts and plates and screens and rails marching across sun-blasted deserts and up rugged, rock-strewn hillsides. No one seems able to keep track of it all. Even agents of the newly reorganized Customs and Border Protection (CBP) department find themselves coming upon sections they've never seen before. The work is less advanced in New Mexico and stalled in Texas, where fierce local opposition has delayed construction--a coalition of border-town mayors and chambers of commerce has sued DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, alleging he is trying to seize land at inadequate prices. But Texas already has more than 1,200 miles (almost 2,000 km) of well-marked border in the form of the Rio Grande."

End of Excerpt
Source: Time Magazine"The smuggler was surprised to see us. It's his business to monitor traffic along his stretch of the border, and he had... more