Pubdate: Mon, 31 Mar 2008
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A - 12
Copyright: 2008 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: David Francis, Chronicle Foreign Service
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MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS MOVE INTO HUMAN SMUGGLING

Agua Prieta, Mexico -- At the Center to Aid Migrants in Exodus 
shelter, would-be immigrants to the United States shared stories of 
violence at the hands of human smugglers working for drug cartels.

"You used to be able to walk across" the border, said Javier Corazon, 
48, who says he lived in Tucson for decades before being deported two 
years ago. "Now you never know what's going to happen. They may leave 
you, beat you or worse."

The 30 or so beds at the shelter in this small Mexican town near the 
Arizona border were filled mostly with Mexicans and a few Central 
Americans, some of whom remain determined to cross the border.

"The only thing they have to look forward to when dealing with the 
'coyotes' is more abuse," said Rosa Soto Moreno, a shelter volunteer. 
Immigrants as commodities

As U.S. border security has tightened, Mexican drug cartels have 
moved in on coyotes, human smugglers who are paid to bring illegal 
immigrants into the United States. The traffickers now use their 
expertise in gathering intelligence on border patrols, logistics and 
communication devices to get around ever tighter controls. They are 
slowly gaining control of much of the illegal passage of immigrants 
from Mexico to the United States, U.S. border officials say.

"This used to be a family business. The coyote and the migrant were 
from the same town; they were connected," said Carlos Velez-Ibanez, 
chair of the department of transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o studies 
at Arizona State University. "Now, because of the so-called security 
needs of the border, what's been created is this structure of 
smuggling in the hands of really nasty people who only treat the 
migrant as a commodity."

U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Special Agent Joe Romero and other law 
enforcement officials say the Mexican drug cartels have even merged 
human smuggling with drug trafficking, forcing immigrants to act as 
"mules" in transporting drugs as the price of passage.

"The drug cartels have determined this is big business," Romero said 
as he overlooked a narrow strip of desert between El Paso, Texas, and 
the nearby Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez. Drug cartels "control these 
corridors. Just like we're watching them here, they're watching us. 
. It used to be, 'Get across the fence and run.' Now it's a lot more 
organized."

Moreover, crimes committed by drug gangs that have become common in 
Mexico are now crossing the border, police officials say. Phoenix 
Police Cmdr. Joe Klima notes that 350 kidnappings were recorded in 
the city last year, a crime he describes as previously nonexistent.

Another cartel novelty is the numbers of "drop houses" - homes on the 
U.S. side where illegal immigrants take refuge after crossing the 
border. Last year, Phoenix authorities discovered a record amount - 
163 such sites - according to Alonzo Pena, special agent-in-charge of 
the Phoenix Office of Investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Not surprisingly, Arizona police say there have been numerous reports 
of violence committed at drop houses, usually when immigrants fail to 
pay the entire fee. Pena says many typically pay half in Mexico and 
half after they cross the border. Phoenix tries new strategy

Klima and Pena say tighter border controls in Texas have made Arizona 
a more popular spot for crossing the border, forcing them to change 
tactics. In the past, officials mainly targeted illegal immigrants 
for deportation. Now Klima says Phoenix police are relying on a new 
strategy: reaching out to illegal residents for information on the 
infrastructure behind the human smuggling business.

Some analysts say that program may be in jeopardy after Phoenix Mayor 
Phil Gordon's recent decision to allow police to ask a suspect his or 
her immigration status - a reversal of a 10-year-old policy - which 
may make many illegal immigrants reluctant to talk to police. Phoenix 
is the only major U.S. city that allows its police to ask criminal 
suspects for residency status.

Meanwhile, drug cartel coyotes from Texas to California are playing 
an increasingly sophisticated game of cat-and-mouse, of surveillance 
and countersurveillance, with U.S. authorities, border agents say. 
When coyotes are caught, violence against U.S. officials is becoming 
more common. Romero says that even though illegal immigration and 
crime has decreased in the El Paso area, attacks on U.S. agents have 
increased by 150 percent.

The rampant violence on both sides of the border has not gone 
unnoticed by the governments of both nations.

Just last week, Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent 2,500 soldiers 
and federal agents to Ciudad Juarez to tamp down a bloody drug war. 
In October, Calderon and President Bush announced the Merida 
Initiative, a $550 million aid program to help fight transnational 
crime and drug cartels, and to improve border security. The White 
House calls the plan a "new paradigm for security" between the two countries.

But some Democrats have not embraced the initiative. They are upset 
that they were not consulted and that Mexico receives financial aid 
while funding for the federal Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, 
which provides money for local drug task forces in the United States, 
has been cut from $520 million to $170 million.

"As long as there is demand for illegal narcotics in the United 
States, suppliers will sell their cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin 
on our streets," Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said at a February 
congressional subcommittee hearing on the plan. "So we have to fight 
the scourge here at home just as we help our partners to the south 
address the problem in their countries." Coyote abandon immigrants

Back at the Agua Prieta shelter, some would-be immigrants to the 
United States complained that coyote fees had increased dramatically, 
from $500 in 1993 to $2,500. Others said the coyotes left them at the 
first sign of the U.S. Border Patrol or when weather conditions 
worsened. With most of their money in the hands of the coyotes, they 
had little choice but to return to Mexico.

Gabriel Clemente, 34, said he is looking for work on the Mexican side 
because of high coyote fees and the increased difficulty in getting 
across the border without assistance.

Corazon, the migrant worker who lived for years in Arizona, has 
decided to stay in Agua Prieta, earning $80 a month unloading boxes 
of food. "This is home now," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake