Pubdate: Mon, 15 May 2006
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)

Copyright: 2006 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Alfredo Corchado, The Dallas Morning News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

SMUGGLING GAME GETTING EVEN DEADLIER

NEELY'S CROSSING, Texas -- The contraband that crossed the Rio Grande
here was once overwhelmingly pot and cocaine. These days, the goods
smuggled across are perhaps even more profitable: human cargo.

As the U.S. government considers the use of military resources and
troops to shore up border security, drug traffickers are increasingly
building alliances -- often deadly -- with coyotes, cashing in on the
lucrative human smuggling trade, say agents patrolling the border.
That finding is widely buttressed by other U.S. intelligence agents
and human rights organizations.

"The human trade is so lucrative," said Michael Griego, Border Patrol
agent-in-charge of this region near Fort Hancock, southeast of El
Paso. "The money is there."

Ramiro Cordero, another Border Patrol agent, added, "If we seize their
drug loads, the smugglers lose the entire shipment. Humans represent
renewable resources, so that makes them more lucrative."

That is because immigrants deported to Mexico by U.S. authorities
usually cross again within hours, he said. "With renewable resources,
smugglers have nothing to lose."

While the national debate on overhauling the country's immigration
laws intensifies in Washington, the cat-and-mouse games here continue,
not with once-trusted smugglers, but with ruthless drug traffickers
who view violence as a way of life.

The risks are higher for illegal immigrants and nearly everyone else,
from local law enforcement, ranchers, armed border vigilante groups,
known as Minutemen, to Border Patrol agents. Last year, 192 agents
were assaulted with rocks, and others were fired upon, according to
the Department of Homeland Security.

With tougher enforcement expected as part of any immigration deal that
emerges from the current debate in Congress, the situation is expected
to deteriorate. One senior U.S. official warns, "The situation will
clearly become more volatile for both sides."

Last year, 463 migrants died crossing the border, according to the
Latin American Working Group, a Washington-based human rights
organization. With the peak crossing season just days away, 2006 is on
pace to reach 600 deaths, said Sean Mariano Garcia, the group's
associate director.

But the deaths aren't just heat-related, Mr. Garcia added. Deaths
increasingly reflect the presence of criminal organizations that view
human cargo as "merchandise, or cattle with no regard to human life,"
Mr. Garcia said.

"Ten years ago, human smuggling was a mom-and-pop operation, something
that neighbors did on the side," he said. "The smuggler was usually
someone you knew, someone who had perhaps been referred to you from
your hometown. Not anymore."

As the border becomes more militarized, smuggling requires increased
sophistication, such as night goggles, GPS systems and sensitive
listening devices. And as U.S. authorities crack down on drug
traffickers with the help of border sheriffs through an operation in
Texas known as Linebacker, organized crime is turning to coyotes to
make up for lost business.

Human trafficking into the U.S. through Mexico is a $10 billion annual
industry, U.S. authorities and academics say. Plans for a 700-mile,
$2.2 billion fence -- whether physical, or high-tech -- along parts of
the 2,000-mile border and the presence of U.S. troops or the National
Guard will increase business, they say.

"Mexican drug traffickers have long-standing connections in Colombia
-- now so too [do] human traffickers," said Dr. Hilary Dick, an
anthropologist and immigration scholar at the University of
Pennsylvania. "These alliances not only expose our immigrant labor
pool to a seedy and dangerous underworld of crime, they make
traffickers more powerful, thus exacerbating the chaos and corruption
that runs rife along our border with Mexico. Building a wall or
bringing in troops will not keep traffickers out. It is only going to
give them more incentive to violate our laws and charge more."

Already, the cost to smuggle Mexicans into the U.S. has quadrupled
from about $300 to more than $1,200 since September 1994, when the
U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso began the first major crackdown against
illegal immigration.

Along the El Paso sector, which encompasses the West Texas and
southern New Mexico region, agents such as Mr. Cordero see another
troubling pattern. Last year 31 migrants died trying to cross the
border. Of that number, eight bodies recovered had traces of white
powder, likely speed or cocaine.

"Smugglers are desperate, and they will push pills or any other type
of substance to force migrants to keep up with the group, without any
thought whatsoever to health consequences," Mr. Cordero said.

Near San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanajuato, 23-year-old
Saul Vazquez, a night watchman taking care of sheep, recalls crossing
the Rio Grande near Columbus, N.M., a year ago on his way to McKinney
in Collin County.

An overweight man crossing with him had trouble staying up with the
group of about six people. The smuggler gave the man an ultimatum: "
'Either swallow the pills, or we'll leave you behind in the desert,' "
recalled Mr. Vazquez, a father of two. "The man took the pills and was
so hyperactive the rest of the day that at night he couldn't sleep, or
breathe right. I was afraid he'd die. The risks are so much higher
today."

Still, the flow of humans continues. Neely's Crossing, named after a
local rancher, is seeing an increase of immigrants, perhaps as a
result of tough enforcement in Arizona pushing border-crossers
eastward toward Texas. Border Patrol agents have detained more than
1,200 illegal immigrants in the Fort Hancock area, twice the number
from a year ago in an area known mainly for drug seizures.

Across Neely's Crossing lies the Mexican border town of El Porvenir,
where U.S. authorities say the powerful Escajeda organization used to
specialize in drug smuggling. Nowadays, Mr. Gallegos said, "Until we
stop a vehicle here, we're not going to know if it's drugs or humans
anymore."

He said the $1,200 to $1,300 migrants used to pay to reach Dallas is
likely to "double, even triple," in the months to come, adding, "The
game will continue, only deadlier."

Belo TV Border Chief Angela Kocherga contributed to this report.