When you don't like the law … ignore it

In an ironic twist of logic so glaring that only the Bush administration would be unable to recognize its cognitive dissonance, the administration announced today that it will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border.

Unable to legally acquire the land needed to construct a border wall to prevent the influx of immigrants "ignoring" US immigration laws, the Bush administration has chosen to ignore the laws protecting the basic property rights of US citizens and opted to just seize their land

Faced with numerous legal actions on the behalf of the land owners and communities along the southern border who object to the government's confiscation of their property, the administration has chosen instead to use its power to simply waive its legal responsibilities.

I guess "respect for the law" only applies to those trying to enter the country …not those trying to keep them out.

Feds: Administration will use waivers of regulations to build more of border fence

The Bush administration plans to use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.

Invoking the legal waivers — which Congress authorized — would cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the waivers had not yet been announced.

The move would be the biggest use of legal waivers since the administration started building the fence. Previously, the department has used its waiver authority for two portions of fence in Arizona and one portion in San Diego.

As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be completed by the end of the year. Of those, 267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and regulations.

The waivers would address the construction of a 22-mile levee barrier in Hidalgo County, Texas; 30 miles of fencing and technology deployment on environmentally sensitive ground in San Diego, Tucson and the Rio Grande; and 215 miles in California, Arizona and Texas that face other legal impediments due to administrative processes. For instance, building in some areas requires assessments and studies that — if conducted — could not be completed in time to finish the fence by the end of the year.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had said using the waivers would be a last resort. The department has held more than 100 meetings with lawmakers, environmental groups and residents in an effort to work out obstacles and objections to fence construction. The department will conduct environmental assessments when necessary, one of the officials said. But the waivers allow the department to start building before completing the assessments.

The department was expected to announce the plans later Tuesday.

Residents and property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border have complained about the construction of fencing. In South Texas, where opposition has been widespread, land owners refused to give the government access to property along the fence route.

The government has since sued more than 50 property owners to gain access to the land.

Environmentalists have also complained about the fence because they say it puts already endangered species such as two types of wild cats — the ocelot and the jaguarundi — in even more danger of extinction. They say the fence would prevent them from swimming across the water to mate.

Chertoff has said the fence is good for the environment because immigrants degrade the land with trash and human waste when they sneak illegally into the country.

AP, Star Tribune

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Will it ever end?

Homeland Security preparing to seize Apache lands

Margo Tamez recently sent out the following urgent call for support, explaining that since July, her Mother and Elders of el Calaboz, Texas, have been the targets of numerous threats and harassments by the Border Patrol, Army Corps of Engineers, and The National Security Agency related to the proposed building of a border fence on their lands

The NSA, for one, has been specifically demanding that Elders give up their lands, telling them that they will have to travel a distance of 3 miles to go through checkpoints, to walk, recreate, and to farm and herd goats and cattle ON THEIR OWN LANDS.

Margo’s mother just informed her that since Monday, November 13th, the Army Corps of Engineers, Border Patrol and National Security Agency teams have been tracking down and confronting people; telling them that they have no choice: “the wall is going on these lands whether you like it or not, and you have to sell your land to the U.S.”

Margo asks that you Please help the elders and indigenous women land title holders resist forced occupation in their own lands!

Subject: Emergency in el Calaboz, Lipan Apache & Basque-Indigena North American Land Title Holders!!!

My mother and elders of El Calaboz, since July have been the targets of numerous threats and harassments by the Border Patrol, Army Corps of Engineers, NSA, and the U.S. related to the proposed building of a fence on their levee.

Since July, they have been the targets of numerous telephone calls, unexpected and uninvited visits on their lands, informing them that they will have to relinquish parts of their land grant holdings to the border fence buildup. The NSA demands that elders give up their lands to build the levee, and further, that they travel a distance of 3 miles, to go through checkpoints, to walk, recreate, and to farm and herd goats and cattle, ON THEIR OWN LANDS.

This threat against indigenous people, life ways and lands has been very very serious and stress inducing to local leaders, such as Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez, who has been in isolation from the larger indigenous rights community due to the invisibility of indigenous people of South Texas and Northern Tamaulipas to the larger social justice conversation regarding the border issues.
However recent events, … cause us to feel that we are in urgent need of immediate human rights observers in the area, deployed by all who can help as soon as possible–immediate relief.

My mother informed me, as I got back into cell range out of Redford, TX, on Monday, November 13, that Army Corps of Engineers, Border Patrol and National Security Agency teams have been going house to house, and calling on her personal office phone, her cell phone and in other venues, tracking down and enclosing upon the people and telling them that they have no other choice in this matter. They are telling elders and other vulnerable people that “the wall is going on these lands whether you like it or not, and you have to sell your land to the U.S.”

My mother, Eloisa Garcia Tamez, Lipan Apache (descendant of Mexican Chiricahua descent elder, Aniceto Garcia, who gave her traditional indigenous birth welcoming ceremony and lightning ceremony), is resisting the forced occupation with firm resistance. She has already had two major confrontations with NSA since July–one in her office at the University of Texas at Brownsville, where she is the Director of a Nursing Program and where she conducts research on diabetes among indigenous people of the MX-US binational region of South Texas and Tamaulipas.

She reports that some land owners in the rancheria area of El Calaboz, La Paloma and El Ranchito, under pressure to sell to the U.S. without prior and informed consent, have already signed over their lands, due to their ongoing state of impoverishment and exploitation in the area under colonization, corporatism, NAFTA and militarization.

This is an outrage, but more, this is a significant violation of United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People, recently ratified and accepted by all UN nations, except the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Furthermore, it is a violation of the United Nations CERD, Committee on Elimination of Racism and Racial Discrimination.

My mother is under great stress and crisis, unknowing if the Army soldiers and the NSA agents will be forcibly demanding that she sign documents. She reports that they are calling her at all hours, seven days a week. She has firmly told them not to call her anymore, nor to call her at all hours of the night and day, nor to call on the weekends any further.She asked them to meet with her in a public space and to tell their supervisors to come.They refuse to do so. Instead, they continue to harass and intimidate.

At this time, due to the great stress the elders are currently under, communicated to me, because they are being demanded under covert tactics, to relinquish indigenous lands, I feel that I MUST call upon my relatives, friends, colleagues, especially associates in Texas within driving distance to the Rio Grande valley region, and involved in indigenous rights issues, to come forth and aid us.

Please! Please help indigenous women land title holders resisting forced occupation in their own lands! Please do not hesitate to forward this to people in your own networks in media, journalism, social and environmental justice, human rights, indigenous rights advocacy and public health watch groups!

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Burma?, Pakistan? ... no, Calexico Calif.

On Sunday, participants in a week-long protest against further militarization of the southern border and further construction of the border wall came under attack from US Border Patrol officers at the Calexico/Mexicali port of entry. The protest, which took place on both sides of the border simultaneously, appeared to have been proceeding peacefully until a symbolic "cross-border kissing booth", which involved making a hole in the border fence approximately four inches in diameter, was installed along the barrier. With that, approximately 100 Border Patrol officers descended upon the 30 demonstrators of "No Borders Camp" with pepper gas pellets, tazers, and batons. In the ensuing melee, three were arrested; many more were injured or suffered from the effects pepper gas.

One witness said, "I think that people should really understand that the border is a totally militarized zone and that this isn't your normal police repression at a demonstration. This is an occupation force … And that is the real context of what happened today, rather than simple policing"

As people attempted to disperse, the border patrol chased and detained groups of them, forcing them to their knees with their hands on their heads. In one case, a person badly injured by pepper pellets shot at close range was pursued away from the conflict, pulled away from a companion wanting to treat his wounds, surrounded and beaten in the head with batons by up to 15 border patrol agents
IndyMedia

The video tells the whole story. It doesn't look all that dissimilar from what we've seen coming out of police states like Burma or Pakistan recently.

More than 500 people participated in the No Borders Camp during the week of November 7-11. The bi-national camp out was billed as a networking forum for activists opposed to the militarization of the border. Previous No Borders Camps have taken place in Europe and Australia.

Activities during the camp included a rally and march on November 9 at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in El Centro, CA and a memorial service on November 10 at a cemetery in Holtville, CA where the remains of migrants who've died crossing the border are buried. All activities during the camp were peaceful and intended to build connections across borders. Sunday's march was meant to culminate the border camp.

The following interview with an eyewitness gives a detailed account of the confrontation:

Q: This is a quick report back from what happened at the border, go ahead and give us your version of what happened, what you saw.

A: The cops really didn't like the bi-national kissing booth, thats for sure. The holes that were put in the wall to set up the kissing booth were in my view the instigation of the actual initial push to separate us from the wall.

The cops formed a line on the Calexico side which separated us from that wall. At that point there was a quick rally and a lot more border patrol showed up.

Two things happened:
One, an officer claimed that he was pushed or in some way "assaulted." I didn't see what happened.
And bottles started to come over the wall from the Mexicali side.

But pretty suddenly and a pretty unprovoked attack followed from there in which a lot of border patrol made a huge push forward to push us out of the entire square.

People who fell down were mostly hit; some were beaten quite badly.

A group of us were surrounded on one side and detained, told to sit down and put our hands on our heads.
We were detained for a brief period of time and eventually released in fives.

That's pretty much what happened.

Q: When did you hear the order to disperse? When did they give that order?

A: There was never any order to disperse. It was totally a surprise when the attack came.

Q: How many people did you see were arrested, did you see anybody get arrested?

A: I saw three people who looked like they were being taken into custody and those people seemed to me to be the ones that had fallen down.

Q: You were saying earlier before we started the recording that you saw one person who was pushed over when the line came in and they were just beaten. I hate to ask you but can you kind of describe that scene?

A: One of the people on the Calexico side was pushed over and he was on the ground, he was covering his head,as he tried to stand up, the border patrol kept hitting him in the knees with batons, repeatedly in the knees. I saw one blow to the face. He looked completely passive, he was not resisting and he has been taken into custody.

Q: Anything else you can recall from that, did you have any chance to interact with the border patrol officers,
was there any communication between the people there and them?

A: The communication was extremely limited. There was a real unwillingness on the part of the border patrol to work with our legal observers. it was actually quite a while before our legal observers were given the time of day.

It was quite a while before our legal observers were given the time of day. Basically the orders seemed to be coming from this one officer who claimed he was pushed or "assaulted." I don't believe that at all, i think it was a totally premeditated attack, but that's just me.

Q: How does this compare to other things you have experienced, how does this compare to your past experience?

A: The thing about the border patrol, we were in a zone that is completely militarized. The border patrol are not cops, they are essentially a military, and an occupation force, so they don't actually even really know or understand protocols for police interactions with mass movements.

There was actually an extreme ignorance on the part of the border patrol for even basic issues of protocol for how to deal with the situation and a lot of the border patrol were acting like this was their first time. They didn't form straight lines when they lined up, when they started pushing they didn't push in a straight lineup, they just went into the crowd fists swinging. It was very undisciplined and it was very emotional and then when we were all sitting down they would yell things at us and talk to us in the most bizarre way.

Q: As an example?
A: As an example, one of the border patrol came over to one of the groups and started saying like how something about how we were... The border patrol agent was basically just trying to explain to us how what we were doing was wrong. That was just a really strange thing for a cop to do. We were all on our knees with our hands behind our heads. Now he is going to come over to us and lecture us about our politics, which he doesn't even understand, and he did it in a very bizarre way which I can't even recall right now.

Q: I recall that the border patrol had some sort of special training session right before this. Maybe that was to make them have some sort of policing skills.

A: I think it was probably more how to learn how to use the paint ball pepper spray pellet guns the people who were armed with those did seem they did have training in how to use them, the paint ball pepper spray pellets normally should hit the ground so that the gas would rise. It seemed that they were trained in crowd dispersal techniques with that particular weapon.

Q: But in one case we've seen photos on the website now with at least one person was shot several times in the body?

A: Yeah, three or four times to the chest that is another bizarre exception to the kinds of things we've been seeing.

Q: Do you think it would be fair to say that they might have been itching for a chance to actually do some damage after the actual camp which was more or less peaceful?

A: I think the officer in charge [Mario Lacuesta], absolutely, this is really what I think that was about. Because the officer in charge, he was the last officer to come in on the shift change and when he came in for the shift change at the no borders camp, he immediately started causing problems at the camp, he immediately reversed decisions that previous officers had made in terms of camp protocol, and was really provocatory even during the No Borders Camp itself.

And then for him to come at us and to try to say that he was attacked it was definitely like he was trying to affirm relationship that he had established and initiated in the No Borders Camp.

If he's right, if he wasn't lying, if he really was the instigator of this total violent act of oppression, then this is totally continuous. Yeah, it's payback.

Q: Is there anything else that you think is important?

A: I think that people should really understand that the border is a totally militarized zone and that this isn't your normal police repression at a demonstration.

This is an occupation force protecting its institutional apparatus of occupation. And that is the real context of what happened today, rather than simple policing tactics.

Courtesy of IndyMedia

This is not the first time that law enforcement personnel have overstepped their authority while dealing with demonstrators protesting aspects of US immigration policy. This past May, during a national day of protest for immigrants rights, police in riot gear, armed with batons and guns loaded with no-lethal ammunition entered LA's MacArthur Park and began firing upon the crowd.

When seeing video like the one shot at Calexico, it only confirms just how much our current leadership has in common with the dictatorial police states they support around the world.

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New report from CRS casts doubts on immigration restrictionists claims.

One often wonders when listening to various politicians pontificate about immigration reform, exactly what information they are basing their policies and positions on. Given the conflicting information coming from both partisan and academic sources, it would appear a daunting task to get reliable, non-biased information about the issue. A recently released report from the Congressional Research Service provides a unique glimpse into what our legislators are reading about the issue. "Unauthorized Aliens in the United States: Estimates Since 1986", compiled by the legislative branch's own research agency, not only looks at the increase in unauthorized migration during the period between 1986 and 2004, but analyzes some of the reasons for it.

Additionally, the report critiques some immigration policies, past, present and proposed, to determine their effectiveness. Not surprisingly, some of the most often advocated policies have failed in the past and show no sign of succeeding in the future.

So why do certain politicians continue to advocate for them?

In recent months, at the urging of immigration restrictionists, the administration has launched a series of workplace raids leading to numerous arrests and deportations. The rationale behind the crack-down being that the ready availability of jobs and employers willing to skirt the law, are major factors in drawing undocumented immigrants to the US. But the CRS finds that this theory is hard to backup with any hard empirical data.

The research points to a constellation of factors that have contributed to the increase in unauthorized resident aliens. Historically, unauthorized migration is generally attributed to the “push-pull” of prosperity-fueled job opportunities in the United States in contrast to limited or nonexistent job opportunities in the sending countries. Some observers maintain that lax enforcement of employer sanctions for hiring unauthorized aliens has facilitated this “push-pull,” but it is difficult to empirically demonstrate this element. Political instability or civil unrest at home is another element that traditionally has induced people to risk unauthorized migration, but the motives for such migrations are sometimes mixed with the economic hardships that are often correlated with political upheaval.

CRS also looks at the cornerstone of immigration restrictionist policy; tighter border control. With constant calls for increased spending on enforcement, the building of walls, and militarization of the border, the CRS found that contrary to stemming the tide of undocumented migrants, these policies have in fact increased the population of unauthorized residents.

Although most policy makers have assumed that tighter border enforcement would reduce unauthorized migration, some researchers are now suggesting that the strengthening of the immigration enforcement provisions, most notably by the enactment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), may have inadvertently increased the population of unauthorized resident aliens. This perspective argues that IIRIRA’s increased penalties for illegal entry coupled with increased resources for border enforcement stymied what had been a rather fluid movement of migratory workers along the southern border; this in turn raised the stakes in crossing the border illegally and created an incentive for those who succeed in entering the United States to stay.

The report notes that the number of unauthorized residents remained relatively flat during the first ten years following the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. Except for a dip to 1.9 million immediately following IRCA's legalization program, the number hovered at a little under 3.5 million until the stricter enforcement measures of the IIRIRA were implemented in 1996. Since then the numbers have only continued to climb.

(Editors note: It's interesting to note that although not mentioned in the report, the increase also coincides with the enactment of NAFTA)



Many of the restrictionists other assertions, mainly those revolving around a lack of enforcement, often claimed to be contributing factors to increased numbers of unauthorized residents are deemed "elusive factors" that are difficult to measure and prove.

Some observers point to more elusive factors — such as shifts in immigration enforcement priorities away from illegal entry to removing suspected terrorists and criminal aliens or discussions of possible “amnesty” legislation — when they assess the increase of unauthorized resident aliens. Others argue that border security measures enacted in recent years have not received adequate funding to be effective against unauthorized migration, and some maintain that state and local law enforcement officers have not been sufficiently involved in apprehending illegal aliens. Some would make illegal presence an aggravated felony. Still others assert that there has not been sufficient funding and staffing for enforcement of immigration laws in the interior of the country. It is difficult to measure whether, or to what extent, these other phenomena have contributed to the increase in unauthorized resident aliens

The report also examines a factor that has led to increasing numbers of unauthorized residents that's rarely discussed by politicians and pundits: The glaring flaws in the way the immigration system is administered.

Another contributing factor — best represented by the “quasi-legal” aliens discussed above — is the wait-times for immigrant petitions to be processed and visas to become available to legally come to the United States. There are statutory ceilings that limit the number of immigrant visas issued each year. There are also significant backlogs in processing petitions due to the high volume of aliens eligible to immigrate to the United States and the large number eligible to become U.S. citizens. Of the pending cases, reportedly almost 2 million are immediate relative and family preference petitions. Many observe that these family members sometimes risk residing without legal status with their family in the United States while they wait for the petitions to be processed or visas to become available.

These findings come not from a partisan think tank or advocacy group, but rather the agency tasked by congress to gather unbiased information for the purpose of enacting informed legislation. The CRS website explains their mission:

The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis.

History and Mission

Congress created CRS in order to have its own source of nonpartisan, objective analysis and research on all legislative issues. Indeed, the sole mission of CRS is to serve the United States Congress. CRS has been carrying out this mission since 1914, when it was first established as the Legislative Reference Service. Renamed the Congressional Research Service by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, CRS is committed to providing the Congress, throughout the legislative process, comprehensive and reliable analysis, research and information services that are timely, objective, nonpartisan, and confidential, thereby contributing to an informed national legislature.
CRS

Given that tax payers dollars are spent to provide Congress with reliable and non-partisan information on the pressing issues of the day in hopes that legislators make informed and knowledgeable decisions regarding public policy, why is it that so many of our current legislators chose to ignore their own research in favor of flawed and biased information that will certainly lead to unsound policies doomed to fail before even enacted? Mr. Tancredo…are you listening?

tags: immigration, CRS , reports, effects of immigration

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Immigration News Roundup: Feb 26 – Mar 4

This week brings us a varied set of stories. Mexican President Felipe Calderón announced a new comprehensive immigration policy coupled with reform of its policies towards the treatment of undocumented Central and South American migrants in Mexico. An organic farmer and author from Fresno, Ca. makes some suggestions on immigration policy while the Senate begins working on a new reform package. New enforcement policies make a small Arizona airport the nation's deportation capital and the Denver Post examines some of the costs of increased enforcement to the US justice system. Additionally, a new section has been added to the round-up with miscellaneous stories not widely covered by the MSM

• Mexican President Announces New Comprehensive Immigration Policy


• Farmer Explains Concerns for Immigration Reform


• Arizona Airport Becomes Nations Busiest Deportation Hub


• Senate Poised to Start Immigration Reform


• True Costs of Enforcement-Only Examined

Mexican President Announces New Comprehensive Immigration Policy

Felipe Calderón hopes to show visiting fellow president George W. Bush that he can accomplish the sweeping immigration reform Washington has failed to adopt - not just cracking down on the southern border but also creating a guest-worker program and improving conditions for illegal Central American migrants.

Proving that controlled, regulated migration is possible is the immediate political goal of Calderón, who is unveiling the ambitious reforms shortly before Bush´s March 13-14 visit.

Calderón´s migration agency announced the first phase late Tuesday, pledging improvements to 48 detention centers in response to criticism that illegal Central American migrants are denied the same respect Mexico demands for its citizens in the United States.

…snip…

Calderón also will push Congress to make being undocumented a civil violation, rather than a crime, Salazar said. Republicans in the U.S. Congress have gone in the opposite direction, seeking to treat undocumented migrants as felons.

Meanwhile, Calderón has promised a new, more formal guest-worker program for Central American workers in Mexico.

"Just as we demand respect for the human rights of our countrymen, we have the ethical and legal responsibility to respect the human rights and the dignity of those who come from Central and South America and who cross our southern border," Calderón said shortly after taking office.

Details have not been released but migration experts expect an expansion of Mexico´s long-standing seasonal farm worker program, which issues at least 40,000 temporary visas a year, mostly to Guatemalans. Most work in coffee plantations in southern Chiapas state, and many often face problems getting payment, medical care and housing.

Migration experts say Calderón wants to stop those abuses while also allowing Central Americans to work in construction and service industries along the southern border.
El UNIVERSAL

Related:
Washington Post


Farmer Explains Concerns for Immigration Reform

For the sake of peaches, pass immigration reform

But whether I can grow a better peach depends on whether I have enough field workers, and that's where immigration reform comes in. In recent years, farm labor has been tight, with some workers lost to construction jobs and others because of increased border security. Some farmers have responded by increasing wages, yet there were still not enough people willing to work the harvests. Last year, pears in California rotted on trees; two years ago, my raisin harvest was endangered, and for the last three years, I've struggled with peach harvests, terrified that just as the fruit was at the peak of perfection, I wouldn't have enough workers. Some of my best fruit has fallen from my trees.

The agricultural industry supports federal legislation for a guest-worker program that would bring in temporary farm laborers when shortages arise. This remedy would fix short-term problems. However, a long-term solution lies in immigration reform that could change the nature of farming, especially when it comes to specialty crops and small-scale operations like mine.

..snip…

Agriculture makes a mistake, though, if our sole goal in immigration reform is to seek an abundant supply of cheap labor. Farmers must acknowledge the human capital in our fields. Investments in workers, such as training, can benefit all parties. Skilled positions can then be created for a more willing and able labor pool. With the right kind of reform, workers' worth would be redefined; they would no longer be invisible.

…snip…

As we once again debate immigration reform, agriculture has an opportunity to educate the public about the role farmers and workers have in growing food, in satisfying our hunger. We're all part of a food system at the dinner table, and the policy we create will affect the nature of each bite.
Washington Post

Arizona Airport Becomes Nations Busiest Deportation Hub

Bush policy turns Mesa airport into deportation hub

One by one the immigration detainees stepped off buses onto the tarmac as dawn broke one recent chilly morning. After deputy U.S. marshals pat searched each one, the detainees climbed single file aboard a large unmarked jetliner waiting nearby…

The scene is repeated almost daily at Williams Gateway Airport, the busiest air deportation hub in the nation, as the federal government ramps up efforts to quickly deport record numbers of non-Mexican undocumented immigrants to their home countries.

The taxpayer-funded flights have helped cut deportation times by months, removing about 51,300 non-Mexicans from Oct. 1, 2005 to Sept. 30, 2006, mostly to countries in Central and South America, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

The flights, part of the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System, have been key to ending the government's long-standing policy of releasing thousands of non-Mexicans into the U.S. pending immigration hearings and serve as a deterrent to illegal immigration, officials say.

Analysts say the flights are also central to President Bush's political efforts to curry favor with hard- liners in hopes of coaxing a comprehensive immigration bill out of Congress. The flights are expected to increase as the administration pushes for stronger enforcement.

The flights already have increased fivefold since 2001. They carried more than 116,000 passengers last fiscal year, enough to rival some small U.S. airlines. That total consists of the 51,300 non-Mexican deportations and 64,700 undocumented immigrants flown from the interior of the U.S. to centers like the one in Mesa to be deported.

The program is costly. In fiscal year 2006, ICE officials say the agency spent more than $70 million flying undocumented immigrants home or to the border. In addition, an October inspector general's report sampling flights from Mesa and other air deportation hubs found planes that frequently flew less than half full.
Arizona Republic

Senate Poised to Start Immigration Reform

Kennedy, McCain try again on immigration

Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John McCain are set to introduce a revised version of their sweeping plan to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, in a bill that's likely to restart a tense debate in Congress.

The measure, which is being drafted in consultation with the White House, will largely mirror the immigration bill that stalled last year, according to lawmakers and aides involved in the process. That measure was blocked primarily because House Republican leaders were adamantly opposed to provisions that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to become US citizens.

Though negotiations are still ongoing, this year's bill will most likely leave in place the 700-mile border fence, the creation of which was signed into law last year. It would also double the size of the US Border Patrol and add new means to crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants, a further attempt to assuage concerns about the nation's porous borders.

But the bill is likely to enrage advocates of a get-tough approach to immigration by allowing most of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants already in this country to earn legalized status. Early drafts of the bill would allow them to become citizens after about 12 years if they meet requirements such as learning English, passing a criminal background check, and paying back taxes and a $2,000 fine….

The bill, set to be introduced in the House and Senate as soon as next week, will also include a "guest worker" program for immigrants to work in the United States under temporary visas -- an oft-stated goal of President Bush.
Boston Globe

Related Opinion:
LA Times
Contra Costa Times

True Costs of Enforcement-Only Examined

Fortress America: Part 1
As the U.S. builds walls and trains agents to bar its southern door from the rush of illegal immigrants, some see only a policy of prison shackles and razor wire.

Five days a week, Arce-Flores' courtroom witnesses a steady march of men and women in orange jumpsuits, the vast majority of whom are Spanish-speaking immigrants caught near the border.

During a pretrial hearing before another of Laredo's magistrate judges in early December, the judge dispatched 22 cases in four hours. Nearly all the immigrants were charged with a felony - illegal re-entry after a previous deportation or removal. And because all pleaded guilty, exchanges in court were mostly limited to how defendants were detained and a few questions by the judge about their education level and occupation.

…snip…

But it's not so much that the court is spending time jailing gardeners and construction workers, said Arce-Flores, who is one of the busiest federal judges in the country. It's that the enormous immigration caseload is like a large fire that sucks oxygen from a closed room.

Clerks are tired. U.S. marshals are overworked. While the average federal judge has 87 open felony cases at any one time on the docket, that average for each of the two full judgeships in Laredo is 1,400.

"Do you go after the mob or these guys on the border? Do you go after the Ecstasy distribution rings or these guys on the border?" said Charles L. Lindner, a California lawyer and past president of the Los Angeles Criminal Bar Association, explaining how the focus on federal immigration prosecutions is rippling through the system.

"We're short on (assistant U.S. attorneys) in the office here in Los Angeles because they're doing immigration in Laredo," Lindner said.

…snip…

Sitting in her court offices in Laredo, Arce-Flores pulls out a calculator from a large desk and begins tapping buttons - performing a quick estimate of what it costs taxpayers to jail the immigrants passing through her courtroom.

"If I have 30 people a day times five days a week, that's 150 people," she said.

Each costs about $90 a day to keep in jail, the judge said, and the maximum sentence for a misdemeanor offender is six months.

That's nearly $2.5 million, "for just for one week's work," according to Arce-Flores.

"But when they are discussing this in Washington, they keep saying, 'We need to detain every one of them; we need to give every one jail time,"' Arce-Flores said. "I don't think they realize the consequences."
Denver Post

This Weeks Miscellaneous Bits and Pieces

3 Honduran Kids in L.I. Face Deportation Forbes

Latinos: Councilman's online remarks "bigoted" Asbury park News

(Houston) Immigration raid nets 67 suspects Houston Chronicle

Bush talks trade, immigration with president of El Salvador North County Times

Napolitano: Congress must fix broken immigration system this year Arizona Daily Star

tags: immigration, news , immigration reform, Immigration studies

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US border policy increases migrant deaths 20-fold in Arizona desert

In the mid-nineties US policy towards Mexico changed in two significant ways that eventually set the stage for the current "immigration crisis." In January 1994, NAFTA went into effect and a new era of prosperity and progress was to begin in Mexico. At the same time, a new strategy was enacted along the southern border intended to stem the flow of unauthorized migrants. The policy of “prevention through deterrence” involved quintupling border-enforcement expenditures, building new fortified checkpoints, high-tech surveillance, and deploying thousands of additional Border Patrol Agents. Additionally, border barriers were built along portions of the California and Texas border to prevent migrants from entering through the most highly trafficked urban areas.

More than a decade later it's become evident that the promises of these two policies, rather than bringing economic change to Mexico and decreasing unauthorized migration to the US, have led to conditions that more than doubled the flow of immigration….and brought added death to the border.

NAFTA, while bringing trade and investment to Mexico, has had unintended negative consequences on both sides of the border for working people and the poor. Whole segments of the US manufacturing sector have been relocated to Mexico resulting in job loss for US workers. At the same time, the lifting for trade restrictions in Mexico have allowed cheaper US commodities to enter the country, decimating Mexican agricultural markets and throwing millions of small farmers out of business. Additionally, the availability of even cheaper labor sources in places like China has forced manufacturing wages to go down.

As for the policy of "prevention through deterrence", all it has really accomplished in the past thirteen years is a movement of the routes of migration from relatively safe urban areas like San Diego and El Paso to the hostile desert and mountainous regions where enforcement is difficult. This "funneling effect" of forcing migrants into least hospitable areas has had devastating effects for those on both sides of the border. A new study just released by the University Of Arizona examined the consequences of shifting migration patterns from California and Texas to Arizona and found it had increased migrants deaths by 20-fold.

The failures of NAFTA to bring prosperity to Mexico are well documented. It's moved 19 million more Mexicans into poverty, forced more than a million small farmers off the land due to the lifting of restrictions on cheaper US subsidized agricultural products, lowered real wages, and in the end forced "millions …to abandon their native homelands. Entire indigenous nations -- the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs, the Tzotzil Maya -- have moved by the tens of thousands, creating the largest migration of Native American peoples in North America since the Trail of Tears in the late 19th century."

While trade policies have brought suffering to the poor of Mexico, border policies have brought death.

Migrant Deaths Increase

Since 1994, between 2000 and 3000 migrants have died trying to cross the inhospitable regions left unsecured after numerous security measures like "Operation Hold the Line", "Operation Safeguard", and "Operation Gatekeeper" were put in place - 1000 of those in Arizona.

A study just released by the Binational Migration Institute (BMI) of the University of Arizona’s Mexican American Studies and Research Center looks at the effects of the "funneling effect" by compiling data on those who perished trying to cross the Arizona desert in the Tucson Sector.

A national border enforcement strategy that funneled illegal immigrants through Southern Arizona from Texas and California led to a dramatic increase in illegal-entrant deaths in Southern Arizona, according to a University of Arizona study released Wednesday.

The study by the Binational Migration Institute — paid for by in part by the Pima County Board of Supervisors — is not the first to reach that conclusion. Last year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that Arizona accounted for at least 78 percent of the increased Southwestern border deaths between 1990 and 2003.

But the UA study is the most detailed examination of known border deaths in Southern Arizona to date, said Melissa McCormick, a senior research specialist with the institute, which studies issues related to human rights and immigration as part of the university's Mexican American Studies and Research Center.

Among the unusual aspects of this latest study is that it is based on a detailed examination of more than 900 autopsy reports from the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office from 1990 to 2005. Previous studies had based their research on vital statistics from death certificates, which don't account for all illegal-entrant deaths since unidentified deaths are assumed to be U.S. citizens, McCormick said.

Arizona Star

(BMI) has undertaken a unique and scientifically rigorous study of all unauthorized border-crosser (UBC) deaths examined by the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office (PCMEO) from 1990-2005

…snip…

Because the PCMEO has handled approximately 90 percent of all UBC recovered bodies in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, an analysis of such deaths serves as an accurate reflection of the major characteristics of all known unauthorized border-crosser deaths that have occurred in this sector since 1990.

…snip…

The BMI study was designed specifically to measure this “funnel effect” created by U.S. immigration-control policies. The BMI study found that there has been an exponential increase in the number of UBC recovered bodies handled by the PCMEO from 1990 to 2005.

BMI’s findings unambiguously confirm previous evidence that U.S. border-enforcement policies did create the funnel effect and that it is indeed the primary structural cause of death for thousands of unauthorized men, women, and children from Mexico, Central America, and South America who have tried to enter the United States. During the “pre-funnel effect” years (1990-1999), the PCMEO handled, on average, approximately 14 UBC recovered bodies per year. In stark contrast, during the funnel effect years (2000-2005), on average, 160 UBC recovered bodies were sent to the PCMEO each year. Over 80 percent of the unauthorized border-crosser bodies handled by the PCMEO have been under the age of 40, and there is a discernable, upward trend in the number of dead youth under the age of 18. There also has been a statistically significant decrease in the number of recovered bodies of unauthorized border-crossers from northern Mexico and a significant increase in the number of such decedents from central and southern Mexico.

American Immigration Law Institute

Yet, despite the obvious failures of these two policies, policymakers insist on using them as a model for future programs. NAFTA has been replicated in the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) passed by Congress in 2005 and similar trade agreements with Panama, Columbia and Peru, based on the NAFTA model are now pending in Congress.

As for relying on increased border security measures as a deterrent to unauthorized migration – it's become the cornerstone of Republican immigration reform policy.


The Human Cost

Lost in all the discussion of "unauthorized border crossers" and the death in the desert are the stories of those who never completed their journeys only to become statistics in any of the myriad of studies and reports on the topic.

For instance there is the story of Antonio Torres Jimenez, a long-time Tucson resident, whose body was found in the desert in May of 2006:

Antonio Torres Jimenez perished while coming back into Tucson from Mexico. After the Border Patrol ended their search, Torres’ friends continued to look for him (24 people fanned out across the desert to find their friend). They found him in less than 24 hours

The reason Torres went back and forth across the border illegally?

“A couple of years after Torres earned permanent residency, his eldest daughter died in Mexico…. Torres returned to La Loma [Mexico] to be with his wife and remaining children. When he came back to his construction job in Tucson, he learned that he’d violated the terms of his green card because he stayed in Mexico too long. He lost his legal status…. With few jobs back home, Torres continued living and working in Tucson. Torres’ wife and children stayed behind and he would travel to see them” (LoMonaco 6/3/06).

Binational Migration Institute

Or the story of Lucrecia Dominguez Luna:

Fifteen-year-old Jesus Abran Buenrostro Dominguez memorized the silhouette of Baboquivari Peak as his mother lay dying on the desert floor.

If he could remember where they were, maybe he could get help. His mother, 35-year-old Lecrecia Luna Dominguez, died before he had the chance.

Now all he wants is the chance to find her body and bring her home.

Home is the small village of San Martin Sombrerete in Zacatecas. Jesus' father works in Texas, and it was hoped the family could reunite. They crossed with Jesus' 7-year-old sister Nora. When Luna Dominguez fell ill on the third day of the journey, the group of village friends they were traveling with continued on with Nora. Jesus stayed behind to be with his mother.

"She kept begging me to go on without her, but I couldn't leave her," Jesus said.

Tucson Citizen

When she lost consciousness, Jesus struck out alone to try to find emergency help. Three days later, Border Patrol agents found him lost, wandering and disoriented in the desert. Although Jesus was dehydrated, in shock, suffering from heat exhaustion and terrified about his mother's status, the agents gave him a little water and then left him at the federal line in Nogales, a practice known as "expedited removal." Once there, Jesus placed a frantic call to his grandfather for help.

ePluribus Media

Cesario Dominguez, Lucrecia’s father, spent weeks searching the Altar Valley for her remains. The humanitarian-aid group No More Deaths assisted him; Border Patrol officials helped for only one day. Miraculously, Cesario eventually came upon his daughter’s skeletal remains, recognizing her three rings. “What was left was that hand with those rings, there in the sand,” said her father.

Binational Migration Institute

These stories and thousands more just like them are the reality behind the statistics. Lucrecia Dominguez Luna is but one of the women whose death accounts for the two-thirds increase in female migrant deaths in recent years. She is one of the 61% of all migrants who die of exposure; up from 39% from the period before the funnel policies went into effect. … But she was also someone's wife, daughter, and mother. How did Lucrecia's last moments pass?

Luis Urrea in his book Devil’s Highway describes what death from “exposure” really entails:

Your heart pumps harder and harder to get fluid and oxygen to your organs. Empty vessels within you collapse. Your sweat runs out....Your temperature redlines ---you hit 105, 106, 108 degrees. Your body panics and dilated all blood capillaries near the surface, hoping to flood your skin with blood to cool it off. You blush. Your eyes turn red: blood vessels burst, and later, the tissue of the whites literally cooks until it goes pink, then a well-done crimson. Your skin gets terribly sensitive. It hurts, it burns. Your nerves flame. Your blood heats under your skin. Clothing feels like sandpaper. Some walkers at this point strip nude. Originally, BORSTAR rescuers thought this stripping was a delirious panic, an attempt to cool off at the last minute. But often, the clothing was eerily neat, carefully folded and left in nice little piles beside the corpses. They realized the walkers couldn't stand their nerve endings being chafed by their clothes.

Once they're naked, they're surely hallucinating. They dig burrows in the soil, apparently thinking they'll escape the sun. Once underground, of course, they bake like a pig at a luau. Some dive into sand, thinking it's water, and they swim in it until they pass out. They choke to death, their throats filled with rocks and dirt. Cutters can only assume they think they're drinking water. Your muscles, lacking water, feed on themselves. They break down and start to rot. Once rotting in you, they dump rafts of dying cells into your already sludgy bloodstream. Proteins are peeling off your dying muscles. Chunks of cooked meat are falling out of your organs, to clog your other organs. They system closes down in a series. Your kidneys, your bladder, your heart. They jam shut. Stop. Your brains sparks. Out. You're gone. [3]

ePuribus Media

As policymakers in Washington mull over the newest proposals for increasing foreign markets for US products, discuss the merits of the global economy and the free movement of capital, or the need to build more walls and barriers along the southern border to prevent the flow of the economic migrants caused by these policies ….do they think of Antonio Torres Jimenez or Lucrecia Dominguez Luna dying terrible deaths in the desert? Do they think of the thousands of others who have come before them or the thousands more to come in the future?

We will never know the stories behind each an every one of the 3000 migrant deaths that have occurred along the border. No one will tell us about their individual decisions to make the arduous journey, or the grief of family and friends when they didn't survive. In fact, for many migrants, the details of their deaths will always remain nameless, faceless statistics.

But thanks to the work done by the University of Arizona we can at least attach names to roughly one thousand of those who never completed the journey to el Norte.

Perhaps they should be read aloud in the halls of Congress each time a new trade or immigration policy is debated ….maybe then policymakers might think about the human cost of their actions.

**WARNING WHAT FOLLOWS CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF MIGRANT DEATHS…NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL READERS**

Deceased Unauthorized Border Crossers
Processed & Identified by the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office, 1990-2005

(A “Doe” designation following a name means that the decedent was initially unidentified)

1990
Date Found Name Age
5/1/1990 Martinez, Carlos 52
5/7/1990 Carrillo, Miguel Angel/ Doe #20 29
6/71990 Guerrero-Chavez, Juan/ Doe #31 30
7/7/1990 Cardena, Luis Gonzalez 40
7/21/1990 Ortiz, Ruben Corona UNKNOWN
10/18/1990 Coronel-Zazueta, Jose 26

1991
Date Found Name Age
7/15/1991 Hernandez-Morales/ Doe #43 52
8/16/1991 Martinez, Juan C. UNKNOWN

1992
Date Found Name Age
7/2/1992 De Leon, Faustino N. Gomez 17
11/14/1992 Zavala, Raul Reyes 29

1993
Date Found Name Age
1/12/1993 Lopez-Ibarra, Juan Andres 33
6/18/1993 Ayala-Ventura, Juana Elena 25
8/2/1993 Hernandez, Odilon Lopez/ Doe #34 22
8/5/1993 Perez, Adan Rublero 31
10/14/1993 Cardoza-Lopez, Jesus Antonio UNKNOWN
11/19/1993 Rodriguez-Ramirez, Jesus Eberto 18
11/26/1993 Salcido, Gilberto Urquijo 19
12/2/1993 Rodriguez, Antonio Infante 23

1994
Date Found Name Age
7/26/1994 Martinez-Garcia, Alfonso 44

1995
Date Found Name Age
1/17/1995 Alvarez-Guadarrama, Rodolfo 48
3/9/1995 Lugo-Castro, Luis Enrique 24
5/20/1995 Martinez-Ibarra, Alejandro 27
11/4/1995 Alvarez-Salcedo, Rafaeal 38
12/21/1995 Cortez, Carmen Aguilar 45

1996
Date Found Name Age
2/9/1996 Padilla-Ortiz, Jose Humberto 59
6/15/1996 Olivas-Cebreros,Gonzalo 34
6/15/1996 Olivas-Cebreros, Arcenio 29
6/15/1996 Soto-Munoz, Antonio 20
6/16/1996 Guicho-Almeida, Sergio 31
6/16/1996 Mazoraqui-Lopez, Jose 32
6/21/1996 RAMIREZ-TAPIA, DAVID 27
6/25/1996 Cardenas-Salazar, Jesus 35
7/3/1996 Montero-Torres, Enrique 19
10/18/1996 Acosta-Franco, Jorge Arturo 27

1997
Date Found Name Age
3/4/1997 Celso Mendoza Rodriguez 32
3/19/1997 Melvin Osorio 21
3/20/1997 Isaias Marcilino Ordones-Vasquez 24
3/24/1997 Juan Jose UNKNOWN
3/27/1997 Pedro Sandoval Estrada 32
7/1/1997 Roberto Urbano Torres 54
7/11/1997 Jose Nava UNKNOWN
8/17/1997 Paola N Salazar 12
8/17/1997 Antonia C Garcia 35
8/17/1997 Nadia Ahumada 12
8/17/1997 Everardo G Ahumada 10
8/17/1997 Marcela G. Mendez 23
9/21/1997 Jose Luis Cano-Velasquez 36
9/21/1997 Juan Robles-Palencia 25
9/21/1997 Teresa Arreola Raya 28
12/14/1997 Oscar Pena Moreno 32

1998
Date Found Name Age
5/3/1998 Joel Orlando Ibarra Lugo 21
6/28/1998 Rosa Cardenas 23
7/13/1998 Juvenal Silva-Ramirez UNKNOWN
7/14/1998 Rene Hernandez 18
7/25/1998 Sonja Soto-Escalante 17
7/28/1998 Ana Claudia Villa Herrera 17
7/29/1998 Miguel Angel Vasquez Godinez 23
8/20/1998 Elidia Martinez-Macario 27
8/23/1998 Rolando Morales Solano 28
9/2/1998 Arturo Acosta Soto 27
9/9/1998 Antonio Renteria Martinez 26
9/20/1998 Jose Martin Molina Panuco 23

1999
Date Found Name Age
2/14/1999 Telesforo 42
4/4/1999 Hector Lopez Carrizoza 30
4/5/1999 Cesar Ramos Fernandez 44
5/15/1999 Martin Ortega-Campos 33
6/15/1999 Ramon J Gonzalez Salazar 51
6/17/1999 Cuahtemoc Lavin Valentin 45
6/17/1999 Hector Lavin Martinez 25
6/24/1999 Jose Guadalupe Llaninto-Villalobobs 35
7/4/1999 Aaron Moises Delgado Lopez 18
7/7/1999 Alejandro Felix Barraza 19
7/21/1999 Roberto Ramirez-Ramirez 47
7/24/1999 Manuel Artalejo 19
8/1/1999 Carmen Margarita Martinez 19
9/19/1999 Veronica Nadia Lopez Munoz 21
10/26/1999 Olivio Claudio Velazquez-Perez 53
11/11/1999 Modesto Santos-Flores 20
11/23/1999 David Maldonado Quijada 29




2000
Date Found Name Age
1/22/2000 Tomas Mateo Nicolas 17
2/5/2000 Maria Del Rocio Candia-Bravo UNKNOWN
2/5/2000 Natali Enriquez-Hipolito UNKNOWN
2/5/2000 Luis Roberto Morales Avenado UNKNOWN
2/5/2000 Emma Montecarlo Castillo 40
2/14/2000 Isidro Digno Gamez 40
2/29/2000 Delia Moreno Perez 24
3/6/2000 Vicente Gonzalez-Ramirez 46
3/6/2000 Alfredo Uvieta Dominguez 34
3/7/2000 Jose Ines Diaz Gonzalez 18
3/20/2000 Gerardo Nevarez Gallegos 26
3/23/2000 Jose Luis Rojas Inigo 30
3/30/2000 Carlos Miguel Gonzalez Corona 17
4/5/2000 Angel Selvas Ruiz 34
4/14/2000 Zenon Resendiz Nieto 27
4/16/2000 Herlindo Martinez-De Jesus 28
4/27/2000 Eusebio Garcia-Perez 33
5/9/2000 Marina Montano Mercado 26
5/18/2000 Jose Angel Adrian Mendoza Mendoza 40
5/21/2000 Hector Guadalupe Sanchez-Murrieta 22
5/23/2000 Fermin Aguilar Rabadan 34
5/29/2000 Yolanda Gonzalez Galindo 19
5/30/2000 Maria Cruz-Ruiz 45
5/30/2000 Maura Zacarias Sanchez 31
5/31/2000 Juana Medina Butanda 41
5/31/2000 Juan Manuel Acosta Rojas 28
6/1/2000 Enrique Soto Pacheco 19
6/3/2000 Oscar Cervantes-Melquiadez 19
6/3/2000 Froylan Flores-Hernandez 32
6/3/2000 Hugo Sanchez Acevedo 18
6/5/2000 Jose Guadalupe Rico-Sanchez 35
6/5/2000 Guillermina Herrera Guzman 26
6/6/2000 Mainor Gerardo 23
6/7/2000 Enedina Torralba-Martinez 26
6/14/2000 Mario Calderon Jimenez 10
6/14/2000 Eutiquio Dorentes Marin 45
6/15/2000 Laura Vargas Ortiz 22
6/19/2000 Pedro Basulto Neri 20
6/26/2000 Jose Manuel Leos 36
6/28/2000 Antonia Mendez Mendez 16
7/7/2000 Modesta Perez-Pacheco 45
7/24/2000 Victor Manuel Blas-Vargas 29
7/24/2000 Mauro Garcia Martinez 31
7/27/2000 Raul Lopez-Sachez 25
8/9/2000 Demetrio Velez Garcia 25
8/15/2000 Amador Cazares-Sanchez 22
8/23/2000 Miguel Angel Chiguil-Arres. 14
8/29/2000 Rigoberto Alvarado Garcia 24
8/29/2000 Omar Alfredo Cerna-Giraldo 20
8/29/2000 Herlinda Infantes-Mejia 28
9/3/2000 Paula Isela Romero-Palacios 23
9/5/2000 Isaura Bibiana Medina Paredes 25
9/12/2000 Fortino Herrera-Gervasio 24
9/12/2000 Juventino Merida-Fuentes 52
9/21/2000 Norma Leticia Herrera-Navarro 21
9/29/2000 Olivia Vallarta-Coronado 32
10/28/2000 Angel Ledesma-Raya 43
10/31/2000 Jose Luis Lopez-Martinez UNKNOWN
11/12/2000 Juan Pinacho-Rodriguez 26

2001
Date Found Name Age
5/9/2001 Fernando Cruz-Mendoza-Cruz 31
5/17/2001 Alicia Adela Sotelo-Mendoza 46
5/23/2001 Felipe Sanchez-Najera 53
5/24/2001 Lorenzo Hernandez-Ortiz 34
5/24/2001 Raymundo Barreda-Landa 15
5/24/2001 Reyno Bartolo-Fernandez 37
5/24/2001 Mario Castillo-Fernandez 25
5/24/2001 Enrique Landeros-Garcia 30
5/24/2001 Raymundo Barreda-Maruri 54
5/24/2001 Julian Ambros-Malaga 24
5/24/2001 Alejandro Marin-Claudio 28
5/24/2001 Arnulfo Flores-Badillo 42
5/24/2001 Edgar Adrian Martinez-Colorado 23
5/24/2001 Sergio Ruiz-Marin 23
5/24/2001 Efrain Gonzalez-Manzano 24
5/24/2001 Heriberto Badillo-Tapia 18
6/1/2001 Daniel Beltran-Rojas 24
6/1/2001 Armando Rosales-Pacheco 25
6/3/2001 Buenaventura Ayala-Zamora 45
6/8/2001 Roberto Bautista Lopez 19
6/11/2001 Anastacio Lopez-Guerrero 38
6/16/2001 Martin Espinoza-Cruz 40
6/18/2001 Adela Salas-Perez 30
6/19/2001 Guadalupe Octaviano-Nieto 21
6/20/2001 Enrique Mendoza-Castillo 42
6/22/2001 Rosario Sanchez-Rogel 45
6/25/2001 Lauro Barrio-Dominguez 23
6/26/2001 Jose Romero-Luna 43
6/30/2001 Maria Dolores Espinoza-Morales 31
7/2/2001 Alvaro Segovia-Garcia 22
7/2/2001 Julio Cesar Garcia-Soto 23
7/2/2001 Francisco Carreles-Camacho 26
7/2/2001 Alejandro Gutierrez-Hernandez 46
7/7/2001 Alberto Maldonado-Viveros 30
7/11/2001 Esteban Duran-Aburto 31
7/12/2001 Carlos Armando Bustamonte-Garcian 22
7/13/2001 Jorge Alonso Mirelles 24
7/14/2001 Juana Martinez-Miranda 26
7/15/2001 Andrea Alcantar-Cruz 24
7/20/2001 Abel Gonzalez-Dominguez 34
7/24/2001 Hermila Romero-Carreon 29
7/30/2001 Lugarda Iracema Martinez-Jiminez 19
8/1/2001 Petra Veronica Tenorio-Soto 30
8/7/2001 Santiago Pacheco-Ramirez 43
8/22/2001 Dalvin Eugenio Urbina-Kirk 21
8/29/2001 Didier Villanueva-Garcia 27
9/2/2001 Catalina Ventura-Mendoza 43
9/2/2001 Irene Gutierrez-Hernandez 35
9/4/2001 Lizbeth Juarez Riofrio 23
9/11/2001 Mateo Gaspar-Vargas 43
9/21/2001 Lydia Dimas-Tellez 27
9/25/2001 Graciela Alvarado-Hernandez 28
11/5/2001 Heriberto Nunez-Robles 25
11/25/2001 Casimaro Torres 38
11/28/2001 Ernesto A Gutierrez-Ramirez 16
11/28/2001 Jose Garcia 24

2002
Date Found Name Age
1/6/2002 Cesar Leobardo Arguellas-Herrera 30
1/8/2002 Maria Luisa Leticia Lozano-De La Rosa 32
1/27/2002 Tomas Molina-Perez 35
2/18/2002 Martin Martinez-Grijalva 38
2/19/2002 Carlos Garcia-Aguirre 25
2/20/2002 Castulo Salazar-Ontiveros 54
2/24/2002 Domitila Mondragon Alvarado 38
3/11/2002 Miguel Fructuoso-Hernandez 44
3/15/2002 Miguel Ochoa-Gonzalez 39
3/22/2002 Arturo Heras-Espinoza 34
4/7/2002 Jesus Rojas-Villas 35
4/12/2002 Alfonso Hernandez-Hernandez 23
4/12/2002 Victor Diaz-Acevedo 29
4/12/2002 Claudio Martinez-Cortez 34
4/18/2002 Martin Moreno-Montero 45
5/7/2002 Juana Gonzalez 26
5/7/2002 Alonso Caloca-Vargas 27
5/19/2002 Jose Lara-Avila 19
5/22/2002 Simeon Diaz De La Cruz 41
5/28/2002 Rene Resendiz-Rodriguez 26
5/30/2002 Salvador De La Paz Macedo 21
5/31/2002 Francisco Javier Trujillo-Ruiz 18
5/31/2002 Rene Rodriguez-Ramirez 22
6/6/2002 Raul De Anda-Lopez 54
6/6/2002 Norma Rodriguez-Amaro 22
6/7/2002 Margarita Rio-Rodriguez 30
6/7/2002 Jaime Rodriguez Gutierrez 25
6/7/2002 Sofia Rubio-Chavez 19
6/7/2002 Antonio Vargas-Torres 24
6/8/2002 Santiago Arcos-Mota 28
6/8/2002 Jose Manuel Raygoza Gil 14
6/8/2002 Maria Guillermina Sanchez-Salto 30
6/8/2002 Alex Sosa-Coba 24
6/8/2002 Paula Hernandez-Tapia 31
6/8/2002 Rogelio Cruz-Cervantes 52
6/9/2002 Arturo Luciano Gomez-Castro 27
6/9/2002 Ricardo Pantaleon-Santiago 18
6/9/2002 Victor Galindo Torres 21
6/10/2002 Luis Fernando Us Tun 18
6/13/2002 Margarito Escoricia-Franco 26
6/14/2002 Arturo Ruiz-Gutierrez 23
6/14/2002 Maria Elena Lopez-Gomez 17
6/16/2002 Adilene Lopez-Moreno 11
6/17/2002 Rafaeal Lopez-Mendez 19
6/18/2002 Santos Fabian Gonzalez-Paredes 21
6/19/2002 Eva Hernandez-Escarcega 31
6/19/2002 Angeles Contreras-Gonzalez 22
6/23/2002 Carlos Valdez-Gortari 46
6/22/2002 Jose Luis Hernandez-Aguirre 25
6/23/2002 Jose Mendez-Gomez 26
6/23/2002 Saul Segura Oliveros 21
6/24/2002 Domingo Lopez-Lopez 20
6/26/2002 Gonzalo Gonzalez-Saldana 34
6/28/2002 Blanca Estela Garcia-Reyes 36
6/29/2002 Ramiro Garcia-Abarca 18
6/29/2002 Mauro Santos-Tolentino 55
7/3/2002 Jose Salazar-Velarde 46
7/3/2002 Blanca Reyna Salinas-Espinoza 23
7/5/2002 Ruben Gonzalez-Miranda 49
7/5/2002 Jesus Torres Santiago 20
7/5/2002 Alejandro Hernandez-Badillo 16
7/9/2002 Cristina Dominguez-Librado 35
7/9/2002 Maximo Barrera-Esquivel 35
7/11/2002 Leonel Tuxpan-Grano 33
7/12/2002 Francisco Javier Roman Olivan 18
7/12/2002 Raul Estrada-Frias 26
7/13/2002 Joel Aguila Hernandez 28
7/14/2002 Ismael Tepox-Gamboa 35
7/14/2002 Eledi Sanchez-Cirilo 41
7/18/2002 Maria Dolores Moreno-Trejo 10
7/18/2002 Dolores Trejo-Ramirez 53
7/21/2002 Alberico Cordova-Robledo 43
7/21/2002 Oscar Irineo-Santillan 18
7/21/2002 Maria De Jesus Ruiz Garcia 31
7/22/2002 Jesus Balandran-Hernandez 43
7/27/2002 Damaso Rosales-Zamudio 27
8/4/2002 Juan Manuel Dominguez Quintero 33
8/8/2002 Jorge Antonio Yin-Cervantes 28
8/8/2002 Jaime Artega-Alba 22
8/8/2002 Adalberto Lopez-Zuniga 37
8/9/2002 Panfilo Murillo Aguilar 28
8/10/2002 Mirabel Munoz-Bustos 22
8/10/2002 Claudia Patricia Oqunendo-Bedoya 40
8/10/2002 Elizabeth Hahuatzi Martinez 36
8/11/2002 Roberto Rodriguez-Rodriguez 14
8/11/2002 Francisco Tovar-Frausto 41
8/11/2002 Mari Carmen Serapio-Xaltenco 19
8/14/2002 Alejandrina De La Soledad Felix Sanchez 23
8/15/2002 Leandro Bautista Alba 58
8/15/2002 Enriqueta Martinez-Velasquez 46
8/16/2002 Jose Alonso Pulido 43
8/17/2002 Juana Santa Cruz Garcia 34
8/17/2002 Conrado Negrete-Venegas 39
8/26/2002 Eugenio Reyes-Gonzalez, Doe 94 48
8/27/2002 Alfredo Escobar-Lopez 37
8/28/2002 Alma Del Cruz-Lopez 25
8/31/2002 Jesus Humberto Ballesteros-Ortiz, Doe 98 17
8/31/2002 Pablo Hernandez-Espinoza 27
8/31/2002 Hipolito Hernandez Santiago 38
9/1/2002 Luis Bernardo Rodriguez-Tuyub 15
9/3/2002 Gilberto Menendez Gutierrez 33
9/4/2002 Alfaro Marquez-Campos 22
9/4/2002 Cecilio Cabrera-Pedro 37
9/5/2002 Maria De La Cruz Magana-Hernandez 20
9/5/2002 Maria Elena Morales-Sierra 45
9/5/2002 Jose Carlos Wicab-Chable 15
9/5/2002 Omar Sanchez Guevara 26
9/6/2002 Raquel Diaz Sarabia 34
9/9/2002 Jose Luis Rodriguez-Coronel 42
9/9/2002 Victor Manuel Talavera Figueroa 27
9/14/2002 Victor Hugo Davila-Ehuan 24
9/14/2002 Juan Rodriguez Sanchez 24
9/16/2002 Franklin Silva 30
9/16/2002 Jose Luis Vergara Flores 38
9/20/2002 Abel Martinez Faustino 17
10/11/2002 Carlos Garcia Bravo 18
10/16/2002 Jose Guadalupe Juarez Lopez 40
10/25/2002 Armando Saldivar-Flores 39
12/4/2002 Alejandro Lopez Lopez 48
12/25/2002 Rosa Mercedes Cano Dominguez 31

2003
Date Found Name Age
1/4/2003 Oscar Borbon Mendoza 34
1/25/2003 Jose Antonio Perez Rubio 16
2/11/2003 Felipe Antonio Villafana-Rosario 33
2/11/2003 Ricardo Ibarra Tellez 43
2/11/2003 Elia Perez-Ramiez 38
2/11/2003 Reyna Mercedes Peguero Sanchez 30
2/11/2003 Amalia Ortiz-Licona 22
2/14/2003 Cesario Ruiz-Cortez 54
2/15/2003 Gonzalo Gomez-Gomez 42
4/3/2003 Celso Villa Mexico 18
4/13/2003 Antonio Mora Martinez 38
4/26/2003 Pedro Bautista Stillborn
4/22/2003 Juan Jeronimo Altamirano 33
4/25/2003 Mariano Duran-Saucedo 40
5/1/2003 Gabriel Torres-Alcala 47
5/3/2003 Octavio Lopez Felix 24
5/17/2003 Jose Lopez Cardenas 35
5/21/2003 Jose Andres Aguayo Contreras 30
5/22/2003 Jose Luis Rodriguez Tavarez 38
5/23/2003 Jose Refugio Del Angel Ferral 42
5/23/2003 Francisco Chavez-Mojica 40
5/24/2003 Fidel Velasquez Perez 17
5/24/2003 Josefina Martinez Sanchez 40
5/25/2003 Jose Avila 64
5/27/2003 Martin Gallegos Perez 28
5/27/2003 Guillermo Federico Sanchez-Lomeli 27
5/29/2003 Luis Miguel Villa Castillo 20
5/29/2003 Jose Ignacio Sanchez Chaparro 43
5/29/2003 Avelino Andres Cabrera Gonzales 43
5/29/2003 Teresa Velasquez 16
5/29/2003 Jose Alberto Lozano Martinez 31
5/29/2003 Genaro Rosales-Martinez 26
6/1/2003 Matias Juan Garcia Zavaleta 29
6/2/2003 Roberto Torres Ramirez 28
6/3/2003 Rene Olvera-Medina 60
6/8/2003 Mario Gonzalez-Hernandez 45
6/12/2003 Elizabeth Sanchez Acosta 25
6/14/2003 Maria Cristina Hernandez Perez 2
6/14/2003 Clemen Aguilar-Izaguirre 24
6/16/2003 Jorge Aburto-Zamorano 38
6/17/2003 Sergio Mejia Perez 26
6/18/2003 Natividad Carlota De Leon Maldonado 37
6/29/2003 Eliseo Vargas Luna 29
7/1/2003 Keila Madai Velazquez-Gonzalez 15
7/1/2003 Adrian Diaz Dionicio 35
7/2/2003 Isabel Lucrecia Paxtor Morales 22
7/3/2003 Nivercino Rodrigues Da Silva 39
7/3/2003 Antonio Alvarez Solorzano 50
7/4/2003 Pedro Xochicale Tlapalcoyoa 21
7/7/2003 Hermina Fuentes-Sanchez 29
7/8/2003 Maria Florinda Xum Chan 30
7/9/2003 Nora Huertas-Hernandez 19
7/10/2003 Antonio Sanchez Montoya 32
7/12/2003 Antonio Rolon Hernandez 27
7/13/2003 Ermeria Jeanette Martinez Matias 31
7/13/2003 Maria Guadalupe Cayetano Cornelio 19
7/14/2003 Carlos Rojas Morales 24
7/14/2003 Maria De Los Angeles Contreras-Rojas 18
7/15/2003 Maria Guadalupe Vasquez Saavedra 21
7/15/2003 Fortino Vasquez Garcia 41
7/17/2003 Sergio Benitez Hernandez 38
7/16/2003 Esteban Salvador Sanchez Rojas (Doe #73) 29
7/16/2003 Enrique Antonio Lopez Alcantar 18
7/19/2003 Esequiel Vargas Mora 33
7/20/2003 Mauricio Salas Guerra 38
7/21/2003 Agustin Hernandez-Jimenez 23
7/21/2003 Ofelia Maria Garcia Chavaloc 33
7/21/2003 Maria Josefa Tax Hernandez 37
7/21/2003 Amado De Jesus De Jesus 28
7/22/2003 Martin De Jesus Bernabe 19
7/25/2003 Miguel Rodriguez-Marentes 56
8/7/2003 Flora Maria Reyes-Cruz 16
8/9/2003 Alfredo Gundino-Ruiz 22
8/9/2003 Cruz Fabela Munoz 44
8/10/2003 Juan Reyes Luna (Doe #94) 42
8/10/2003 Jose Fernando Martinez-Fuentes 31
8/13/2003 Wilmer Germain Quintanilla 26
8/12/2003 Manuel De Jesus Sanchez 25
8/14/2003 Ilda Roblero Roblero 23
8/15/2003 Juan Antonio Nila Valdivia 20
8/17/2003 Jose Manuel Gomez Cruz 16
8/17/2003 Nicolas De Jesus Garcia Ventura (Doe #103) 55
8/18/2003 Jaime Monroy Gamino (Doe #104) 28
8/18/2003 Victor Manuel Placencia Basilio 27
8/20/2003 Lorenzo Lopez Diaz 21
8/26/2003 Lucio Hernandez-Hernandez 25
8/27/2003 Carlos Ramon Bejarno Cruz 24
8/27/2003 Efrain Castro Ramirez (Doe#109) 50
8/30/2003 Antonio Garcia Gomez 28
8/30/2003 Ruben Garcia Gamino 21
8/30/2003 Miguel Cruz-Laurel (Doe#113) 57
9/1/2003 Miguel Diaz-Garcia 25
9/2/2003 Miguel Ernesto Guardado Flores 19
9/2/2003 Raymundo De Jesus Rodriguez Tobar 33
9/2/2003 Transito Guzman Escobar 35
9/8/2003 Ana Cruz-Garcia 31
9/9/2003 Willian Oswaldo Valle Alfaro (Doe 121) 20
9/13/2003 Juan Carlos Rico Orihuela 19
9/15/2003 Rolando Arce Valenzuela 24
9/18/2003 Nahum Martinez Solano 24
9/20/2003 Rafael Martinez Ruiz 34
9/22/2003 Jorge Rolando Cano Yeh 27
9/23/2003 Rosa Maria Arriaga Castillo 22
10/18/2003 Edgar Miguel Pucek 23
10/21/2003 Hilda Hernandez Baltazar (Doe #35) 38
10/24/2003 Faustino Berneo Rayon 31
10/25/2003 Daniel Haro (Doe 138) 21
11/4/2003 Nicholas Padilla Reyes 20
11/4/2003 Agustin Rita-Santos 40
11/4/2003 Isidro Gutierrez Reyes (Doe #144) 36
11/4/2003 Jose Manuel Alcon Villa (Doe #145) 26
11/24/2003 Valentin Estrada Bejarano (Doe#150) 38
11/30/2003 Andres Campana-Gonzalez (Doe#152) 30
12/1/2003 Altagracia Marbella Tapia-Guillen 21



2004
Date Found Name Age
1/16/2004 Jose Marco Antonio Zavala 27
2/10/2004 Adrian Garnica Altamirano 20
2/10/2004 Eleuterio Guzman Hernandez 43
2/17/2004 Sotero Gomez Viveros 25
2/21/2004 Maria Lucia Martinez-Nava 26
3/2/2004 Carlos Castro Llescas 36
3/2/2004 Rolando Perez Vazquez 37
3/17/2004 Juan Loenel Lizarraga-Vizcarra 27
3/19/2004 Leopoldo Vazquez Hernandez 19
3/20/2004 Jaime Gonzalez Pablo 17
3/21/2004 Gabriel Ortega Flores 27
3/20/2004 Antonio Tirado Rodriguez 43
3/24/2004 Diana Raquel Garcia Velasco 19
3/24/2004 Dagoberto Solis De Coss 36
3/24/2004 Margarito Aguillares Hernandez 26
3/25/2004 Maria Del Carmen Sabino Garcia (Doe #12) 30
3/25/2004 Raul Ramos Chavez 19
4/3/2004 Jesus Esquivel Santiago 26
4/3/2004 Rosario Munoz Berrelleza 36
4/3/2004 Reynael Cortinez Roblero 24
4/4/2004 Fortino Soto Armenta 28
4/4/2004 Rodrigo Miranda Rivera 35
4/9/2004 Norma Moreno Hernandez 30
4/12/2004 Francisco Javier Acosta Sandoval 37
4/20/2004 Tomas Soto Granados 43
4/20/2004 Reyes Campos Zalazar 42
4/20/2004 Carlos Molina Torres 33
4/28/2004 Fidelina Bravo De Marzan 42
5/1/2004 Mario Alberto Rodriguez Perez 25
5/3/2004 Jose Ruiz Bravo 40
5/4/2004 Alvaro Ramos De Castilla 21
5/9/2004 Maria Fabiola Paloma-Rios (Doe 15) 18
5/14/2004 Francisca Alicia Flores Guifarro 42
5/15/2004 Jose Juan Pacheco Salazar 25
5/19/2004 Carlos Caballero Gonzalez (Doe #61) 27
5/22/2004 Santos Martin Perez-Perez (Doe #59) 26
5/22/2004 Carmen Avila Vargas (Doe #17) 22
5/30/2004 Armando Mendoza 27
5/30/2004 Pascual Perez Funez (Doe #62) 38
6/2/2004 Jose Lorenzo Quintanilla 24
6/2/2004 Arnelio Serrano Portillo 39
6/2/2004 Jose Maria Aquino (Doe #65) 21
6/5/2004 Maria Cristina Salinas Gonzalez (Doe #19) 19
6/7/2004 Sofia Beltran Galicia (Doe 20) 21
6/8/2004 Carlos Alberto Argueta Lezma (Doe #71) 42
6/10/2004 Mario Soto Trejo (Doe #72) 30
6/10/2004 Emilio Leon Dominguez 24
6/11/2004 Marcelo Infante Pereyra (Doe #73) 28
6/12/2004 Jose Angel Miranda Escobar 22
6/13/2004 Julian Mayor Arbelaez (Doe #77) 20
6/13/2004 Olivo Martinez- De La Cruz 34
6/15/2004 Rosa Viviana Torres Corona (Doe #22) 26
6/16/2004 Emelia Perez Santiago 45
6/16/2004 Leopoldo Menedz Murrieta 20
6/17/2004 Leodan Vinicio Cabrera Sanchez (Doe #78) 20
6/17/2004 Manuel Luis Ramirez Herrera (Doe #67) 40
6/18/2004 Jaime Roberto Ortega Orellana (Doe #80) 26
6/18/2004 Angel Alberto Lizarraga Prado 26
6/18/2004 Isaac Melo Mejia (Doe #81) 26
6/18/2004 Adalberto Bello Encarnacion (Doe #82) 34
6/21/2004 Jovita Martinez Agudo (Doe #23) 42
6/24/2004 Raquel Hernandez-Cruz (Doe #24) 23
6/24/2004 Isaias Juan Galvez Perez (Doe #84) 28
6/29/2004 Jorge Armando Say-Pacay (Doe #86) 32
7/3/2004 Ismael Gomez Herrera (Doe #87) 22
7/3/2004 Maricruz Farias-Amador (Doe #25) 24
7/3/2004 Blanca Estela Ferreyra Vidal 34
7/7/2004 Paulina Morales-Exiquio (Doe #26) 20
7/7/2004 Nancy Navarrete Hernandez (Doe #27) 26
7/9/2004 Maria De La Luz Florez Martinez (Doe #28) 30
7/9/2004 Librado Tolentino-Velasco (Doe #89) 47
7/9/2004 Mario Alberto Diaz Ponce (Doe #88) 36
7/10/2004 Oscar Belerrabano Hidalgo 26
7/11/2004 Julio Cesar Romero-Espargo (Doe #90) 23
7/12/2004 Marcos De La Cruz Sandoval 18
7/12/2004 Luis Armando Cataldo-Escorza (Doe #92) 21
7/14/2004 Maria Raimunda Ribeiro Silva (Doe #30) 53
7/19/2004 Salvador Andres Gonzalez Leyva (Doe #96) 28
7/20/2004 Sergio Cabrera Hernandez 26
7/22/2004 Ofelia Vicente Ixmai (Doe #33) 28
7/23/2004 Omar Francisco Ortiz Camacho 18
7/26/2004 Jesus Hernandez-Lopez 23
7/26/2004 Aurelio Rios Venegas (Doe #100) 51
7/26/2004 Veronica Duenas Ramirez 33
7/29/2004 Pablo Gerardo Lazaro (Doe #102) 24
7/31/2004 Rosa Pena Ocampo (Doe #37) 38
8/3/2004 Francisco Javier Sanchez Aguilar 31
8/5/2004 Luis Cisneros Ventura (Doe #105) 63
8/7/2004 Albertano Herrera Liborio (Doe #106) 25
8/10/2004 Maria Carina Cortes Portillo 50
8/12/2004 Madilio Gutierrez-Perez 20
8/15/2004 Manuel Batalla Gonzalez (Doe #110) 35
8/20/2004 Gustavo Adolfo Gonzalez Cruz (Doe #112) 17
8/22/2004 Jesus Roman Garcia (Doe 114) 35
8/25/2004 Jose Cruz Adame Zavala (Doe #115) 38
8/29/2004 Aurora Cuamba Magallon 32
8/30/2004 Jose Alfredo Garcia Martinez 31
8/30/2004 Enrique Morales Flores 44
9/1/2004 Pedro Alejandro Valencia Pinedo (Doe #119) 24
9/2/2004 Telesforo Santos Arroyo 38
9/2/2004 Victor Manuel Coyoy Sum (Doe #120) 51
9/5/2004 Olaf Avila Gonzalez (Doe #123) 19
9/7/2004 Leonardo Plata-Escamilla 41
9/8/2004 Jose Trinidad Alcocer Martinez (Doe #124) 37
9/14/2004 Abel Salina Cortes 17
9/14/2004 Humberto Hernandez-Hernandez 35
9/14/2004 Jose Narciso Hernandez-Ledesma 13
9/14/2004 Usterlin Trancito Mazariesgos Vazquez/Doe 125 27
9/15/2004 Dante Roldan Flores (Doe #126) 18
9/25/2004 Casildo Almaraz-Hernandez (Doe #130) 41
9/28/2004 Alejandro Rangel Luna 27
9/28/2004 David Orozco Romo 20
9/28/2004 Miguel Dominguez Juarez 34
10/13/2004 Gregorio Martin Garcia-Cardenas 38
10/23/2004 Felipe Yanez Gonzalez (Doe #146) 15
10/29/2004 Octavio Ortiz Martinez (Doe #153) 44
11/2/2004 Leobardo Contreras Rodriguez (Doe #155) 33
11/12/2004 Emilio Solis Trinidad (Doe #156) 33
11/14/2004 Jose Salomon Guitierrez-Lopez (Doe #159) UNKNOWN
11/26/2004 Miguel Hernandez Hernandez 43
12/2/2004 Maria Varela Dominguez (Doe #48) 41
12/7/2004 Martin Diaz Lopez (Doe #165) 29
12/27/2004 Josefina Jimenez Jeronimo (Doe #51) 42
12/30/2004 Julio César Moreno 55

2005
Date Found Name Age
1/8/2005 Raziel Elhiu Bolanos Sanchez (Doe #4) 23
1/10/2005 Rosendo Martinez Ramirez 34
1/27/2005 Antonia Andrea Moran Aviles 34
1/31/2005 Raul Soto Vidales (Doe #10) 30
2/10/2005 Michelle Acosta Gonzalez 16
2/11/2005 Roberto Viguerillas-Valenzuela 49
2/14/2005 Maurilio Piceno Garcia (Doe #14) 28
2/19/2005 Julio Cesar Yanez Ramirez (Doe #16) 31
2/28/2005 Francisco Chavarria Zamora 47
2/28/2005 Vicente Montes-Medrano 25
3/1/2005 Leonardo Ruiz Bautista 22
3/20/2005 Angel Rafael Calixtro-Celaya 26
3/21/2005 Rolando Estrada Lamas 35
3/23/2005 Rigoberto Cifuentes Arredondo 33
3/27/2005 Abel Matias-Francisco (Doe #26) 25
4/9/2005 Heriberto Echeverria Caballero (Doe # 32) 18
4/11/2005 Jose Antonio Paredes Leon (Doe #35) 46
4/13/2005 Gualberto Felix Caro (Doe #38) 26
4/13/2005 Moises Rojas Laparra (Doe #39) 20
4/14/2005 Estela Tenorio (Doe #7) 21
4/21/2005 Jose O Benavidez (Doe #46) 32
4/22/2005 Isabel Cano Galvez (Doe #8) 17
4/23/2005 Agustin Maldonado Cazarez 21
5/4/2005 Margarita Guerra-Escalera (Doe #9) 42
5/14/2005 Juan De Jesus Rivera Cota 16
5/18/2005 Mario Alberto Esquivel Lopez 21
5/21/2005 Marco Antonio Nunez Tapia 27
5/21/2005 Maria Trinidad Tamal Civil (Doe #10) 42
5/22/2005 Carlos Morales De Jesus (Doe #59) 27
5/22/2005 Luis Arturo Justo Tapia 30
5/23/2005 Dionisio Cristobal Candelario 40
5/23/2005 Melchor Barcenas Mariscal 37
5/23/2005 Jose Ramiro Nicolas Francisco 15
5/24/2005 Eduardo Zamarripa Olivas 35
5/25/2005 Sergio Martinez Ramirez (Doe #63) 37
5/26/2005 Eddie Humberto Villanueva Fuentes (Doe #65) 18
5/26/2005 Pablo Gonzalez-Villanueva (Doe #66) 20
5/27/2005 Patricia Morales Calderon 32
5/28/2005 Fernando Limas Garfias (Doe #68) 31
5/29/2005 Jose Refugio Perez Lopez (Doe #75) 53
5/29/2005 Jose Vizueth Gonzalez (Doe #69) 19
5/29/2005 Oscar Valdovinos Neri (Doe #70) 35
5/30/2005 Jorge Gomez Chacon (Doe #71) 38
5/26/2005 Manuel Perez De La Cruz 18
6/2/2005 Reynaldo Olivares Gonzalez (Doe #74) 45
6/12/2005 Jorge Carballo Orozco (Doe #77) 50
6/17/2005 Jose Luis Zacarias De La Cruz (Doe #81) 31
6/21/2005 Eugenio Rafael Cazares Aguilar (Doe #84) 38
6/22/2005 Jaime Zamora Venegas (Doe 84) 31
6/25/2005 Juan Carlos Rodriguez (Doe 87) 28
6/28/2005 Ruben Trejo Carrera 43
6/29/2005 Alejandro Palomar Campos (Doe #91) 33
6/30/2005 Rusbel Cano Lopez (Doe #92) 28
7/2/2005 Hector Carbajal Martinez 26
7/3/2005 Marco Antonio Gutierrez Roblero (Doe #94) 27
7/4/2005 Laura Rios Garcia 19
7/4/2005 Beatriz Adriana Sanchez Salazar 26
7/5/2005 Luis Miguel Morales Hernandez 24
7/6/2005 Natalia Noclas Martinez 21
7/7/2005 Julio Cesar Garcia-Ralda (Doe #96) 21
7/7/2005 Luz Maria Galindo Castrejon (Doe #17) 32
7/7/2005 Jose Eusebio Arias Arias 38
7/7/2005 Rene Mejia Andres (Doe #95) 19
7/8/2005 Ana Maria Rojas Fragoso 39
7/7/2005 Jose Gabriel Gaytan Vazquez 20
7/9/2005 Benjamin Melecio Ramirez 48
7/10/2005 Estela Bautista Vasquez 38
7/10/2005 Maria Del Carmen Martinez-Dominguez (Doe #20) 42
7/11/2005 Esteban Salazar Hernandez (Doe #103) 46
7/11/2005 Jesus Hernandez-Hernandez 23
7/12/2005 Lucia Gregorio Maldonado (Doe #22) 33
7/12/2005 Irma Epianio Pasion (Doe #21) 29
7/12/2005 Jorge Javier Roldan 50
7/12/2005 Erica Rojas Garcia 20
7/13/2005 Patricio Perez Perez 32
7/13/2005 Eunice Diaz Velazquez 17
7/13/2005 Edilberta Anzurez Rivera 21
7/13/2005 Delfina Coatl Osorio 23
7/13/2005 Gil Tovilla Morales (Doe #105) 42
7/13/2005 Moises Marquez Flores 39
7/14/2005 Rufina Antonieta Tantas Botiquin (Doe #24) 35
7/15/2005 Alejamdro Hernandez Mata 24
7/15/2005 Juan Pablo Dominguez Borgez (Doe #106) 29
7/15/2005 Maria Rudy Aguilar Santiz 22
7/16/2005 Luis Arturo Martinez Lorenzana 12
7/16/2005 Isidrio Hernandez Navarro (Doe #108) 27
7/17/2005 Josefina Cruz Aguilar (Doe #27) 31
7/17/2005 Martin Resendis Panzo (Doe #116) 24
7/18/2005 Nelson Eduardo Aguistin Raymundo (Doe #111) 15
7/18/2005 Alfanza Delfino Tapia 30
7/18/2005 Yesmin Francisca Diaz Perez 19
7/18/2005 Maria Velasco Bautista 24
7/18/2005 Jose Victor Calderon Morales 32
7/18/2005 Maximino Barriento Carajal (Doe #112) 27
7/19/2005 Rigoberto Garcia Romero 23
7/21/2005 Jose Alfredo Martinez Melendez (Doe #117) 35
7/23/2005 Lucresia Dominguez Luna 35
7/26/2005 Jessica Elizabeth Jimenez 18
7/27/2005 Ernesto Perez Sanchez (Doe #123) 27
7/30/2005 Gerardo Moreno Cisneros 25
7/30/2005 Adan Perez Lopez (Doe #124) 24
7/31/2005 Roberto Ward Valenzuela (Doe #125) 24
7/31/2005 Jose Luis Estrada Morales (Doe #126) 50
7/31/2005 Carlos Armando Pena Cortez 30
8/1/2005 Juan Manuel Echevarria Linarte (Doe #127) 35
8/1/2005 Luis Alberto Juarez Perez (Doe #129) 16
8/1/2005 Juan Perez Santiago (Doe #128) 14
8/12/2005 Justino Menedez Ramos 25
8/16/2005 Jose Guadalupe Navarro Esquivel (Doe #134) 25
8/20/2005 Nicacio Perez Lopez (Doe #140) 43
8/20/2005 Claudeth Dilean Sanchez Urbina (Doe #34) 22
8/21/2005 Pedro Gonzalez Vargas (Doe #138) 46
8/28/2005 Reginaldo Mendoza Perez (Doe #145) 36
9/2/2005 Cristhian Rene Felix Arvallo (Doe #148) 19
9/3/2005 Jose Antonio Hernandez UNKNOWN
9/6/2005 Jaime Vega Torres 54
9/10/2005 Gregorio Mariano Dolores 23
9/11/2005 Fausto Donaciano Bernal Lemus 51
9/11/2005 Martin Martinez Serrano (Doe #153) 29
9/19/2005 Baby Boy Arizaga 0
9/20/2005 Rafael Fidencio-Ortega 36
9/24/2005 Martin Garcia-Garcia 18
9/24/2005 Eduardo Corrales Vega (Doe #161) 18
9/26/2005 Ricardo Vazquez Aguilar (Doe #162) 47
9/26/2005 Luiz Carlos Barbosa (Doe #165) 36
9/30/2005 Eduardo Sanchez Gomez (Doe #159) 17
10/6/2005 Fulgencio Montalvo Mendez 28
10/13/2005 Eusebio Luna Mar (Doe #171) 37
10/18/2005 Raul Torres Flores (Doe #173) 31
11/3/2005 Constantino Vasquez Alvarez (Doe #180) 57
11/19/2005 Francisco Javier Bracamontes 32
11/21/2005 Ruben Garcia Lopez (Doe #191) 27
11/24/2005 Ismael Gamez Diaz (Doe #193) 24
12/1/2005 Jose Manuel Casimiro Juarez 37
12/4/2005 Francisca De La Cruz Lopez (Doe #45) 36
12/20/2005 Ismael R Silerio (Doe #202) 26

BMI

MORE INFORMATION

2006 Report on Migrant Deaths at theU.S.-Mexico Border: El Paso-New Mexico Border Region 2006, BNHR.org

BMI - "The 'Funnel Effect' & Recovering Bodies of Unauthorized Migrants Processed by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, 1990-2005"

GAO - "Border-Crossing Deaths Have Doubled Since 1995; Border Patrol’s Efforts to Prevent Deaths Have Not Been Fully Evaluated"

HOW YOU CAN HELP

No More Deaths

Humane Borders

Border Action Network

2007 International Conference on the Migrant

tags: immigration, migrant deaths , NAFTA, border security

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Summary only...

Border fence boondoggle, it's more than just the cost

One of the top stories of the day comes from a recently released report from the Congressional Research Service that shows the "cost of building and maintaining a double set of steel fences along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border could be five to 25 times greater than congressional leaders forecast last year, or as much as $49 billion over the expected 25-year life span."

Proponents of the border security measure were quick to make the rounds of the usual cable outlets to dispute the studies findings. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), a leading advocate for the border wall, questioned the studies assertions, and brought up the success of the existing wall in San Diego to make his case. Admitting having not actually seen the study prepared by CRS, the agency responsible for public policy research for Congress, Tancredo claimed that something was "very peculiar" about the study.

Had Tom taken the time to read through the 45 page analysis, he would have seen that the costs of the fence may be the least of the problems.


tags: immigration, border fence , CRS, border security

Anti-immigration advocates like Tom Tancredo (R-CO), or Duncan Hunter (R-CA) love to point to the success of the 14 mile border wall in San Diego as their model for effective border security. In his interview on MSNB, Tancredo was quick to point out that the wall had only cost $1million a mile to build and the new report's cost estimates were "very peculiar". Hunter remarked about the dramatic changes the wall had made in the San Diego area in regards to the flow of undocumented migrants. What none of the immigration hawks mentioned was the fact that the original 14 mile wall did absolutely nothing, and that it took millions of dollars of additional resources and manpower to make it even reasonably effective.

Tancredo's $1 million dollar a mile wall…well not really

…in 1990 the USBP began erecting a physical barrier to deter illegal entries and drug smuggling. The ensuing “primary” fence covered the first 14 miles of the border, starting from the Pacific Ocean, and was constructed of 10-foot-high welded steel.

The primary fence, by itself, did not have a discernible impact on the influx of unauthorized aliens coming across the border in San Diego. As a result of this, Operation Gatekeeper was officially announced in the San Diego sector on October 1, 1994. The chief elements of the operation were large increases in the overall manpower of the sector, and the deployment of USBP personnel directly along the border to deter illegal entry.

The strategic plan called for three tiers of agent deployment. The first tier of agents was deployed to fixed positions on the border. The agents in this first tier were charged with preventing illegal entry, apprehending those who attempted to enter, and generally observing the border. A second tier of agents was deployed north of the border in the corridors that were heavily used by illegal aliens… The third tier of agents were typically assigned to man vehicle checkpoints further inland to apprehend the traffic that eluded the first two tiers.

Operation Gatekeeper resulted in significant increases in the manpower and other resources deployed to San Diego sector. Agents received additional night vision goggles, portable radios, and four-wheel drive vehicles, and light towers and seismic sensors were deployed. According to the former INS, between October 1994 and June of 1998, San Diego sector saw the following increases in resources:

• USBP agent manpower increased by 150%


• Seismic sensors deployed increased by 171%


• Vehicle fleet increased by 152%


• Infrared night-vision goggles increased from 12 to 49


• Permanent lighting increased from 1 mile to 6 miles, and 100 portable lighting platforms were deployed


• Helicopter fleet increased from 6 to 10.

Border Security: Barriers along the U.S. International Border Congressional Research Service, Updated December 12, 2006, pg 3

Even with these increased resources, the fence still did not perform up to par. The primary fence in combination with the increased manpower did cut down on immigrant incursions in the region but proved to be both fiscally and environmentally costly. A 1993 INS study recommended a three-tiered fence system with roads between

In 1996, construction began on the secondary fence that had been recommended by the Sandia(INS) study with congressional approval. The new fence was to parallel the fourteen miles of primary fence already constructed on land patrolled by the Imperial Beach Station of the San Diego sector, and included permanent lighting as well as an access road in between the two layers of fencing. Of the 14 miles of fencing authorized to be constructed by IIRIRA, nine miles of the triple fence had been completed by the end of FY2005. Two sections, including the final three mile stretch of fence that leads to the Pacific Ocean, have not been finished.

Border Security: Barriers along the U.S. International Border Congressional Research Service, Updated December 12, 2006, pg 6

As to the final cost of construction for Rep. Tancredo's "$1million a mile San Diego fence system", the DHS is currently estimating that it will cost an additional $66 million to finish the San Diego fence, bringing overall costs for this 14 mile-long project to $127 million. These numbers do not include the funding for the increased manpower and resources or the maintenance on the fence system which the Army Corp of Engineers puts as high as $7500 a year per mile.

Additionally, the Corps of Engineers study notes that the Sandia fence would possibly need to be replaced in the fifth year of operation and in every fourth year thereafter if man-made damage to the fence was “severe and ongoing.” For this reason, in the study the Corps of Engineers noted that the net present value of the fence after 25 years of operation, per mile, would range from $11.1 million to $61.6 million.

Border Security: Barriers along the U.S. International Border Congressional Research Service, Updated December 12, 2006, pg 21

If you can't go over the wall…go around it

While the San Diego fence, combined with an increase in agents and other resources in the USBP’s San Diego sector, has proven effective in reducing the number of apprehensions made in that sector, there is considerable evidence that the flow of illegal immigration has adapted to this enforcement posture and has shifted to the more remote areas of the Arizona desert. Nationally, the USBP made 1.2 million apprehensions in 1992 and again in 2004, suggesting that the increased enforcement in San Diego sector has had little impact on overall apprehensions.

Border Security: Barriers along the U.S. International Border Congressional Research Service, Updated December 12, 2006, pg 1

Statistics show that the strategy of concentrating agents, resources and barriers in urban areas that traditionally had high levels of immigrant incursion such as San Diego or El Paso has only moved the flow of migration to more remote and dangerous areas.

Since the mid-nineties the Tuscon Sector, responsible for the Arizona border, has seen an exponential growth in migrant crossings. This shift in migration patterns has had the unintended consequence of an increase in the numbers of migrant deaths per year. In the early nineties on average 200 migrants died each year trying to cross the desert. By 2005 that number more than doubled to 472.

Additionally, this shift in migration patterns has put added pressure on rural areas, both economically and environmentally. Unfortunately, this shift has also brought with it a relative increase in crime to areas least able to address the problem. Along with economic migrants looking for a better life, drug smugglers and other criminals have been driven to the desert as their new point of entry.

Another unintended consequence of this enforcement posture may have been a relative increase, compared to the national average, in crime along the border in these more remote regions. While crime rates in San Diego, CA and El Paso, TX, have declined over the past 15 years, the reduction in crime rates along the more rural areas of the border have lagged behind the national trends

Border Security: Barriers along the U.S. International Border Congressional Research Service, Updated December 12, 2006, pg 32

If you can't go over the wall…go under it

While most have chosen to go around the walls, some have chosen to tunnel their way under them. As of January 2006, twenty-one tunnels had been discovered since 9/11. One in San Diego, under Tom Tancredo's flagship wall, was over 2,400 feet long with reinforced concrete walls and interior lighting.

Yet, these smuggling tunnels represent only the tip of the iceberg in the world of subterranean international travel. In many border towns and cities the existing infrastructure of sewers, storm drains, and utility tunnels provide an easy path for those willing to brave the underground world.

One mile deep into the drafty tunnel under this hilly frontier city, a flashlight beam cuts through the pitch-black darkness and illuminates a yellow line painted on the concrete wall: the U.S.-Mexico border.
…

Inside the largest known tunnels on the border — two passages that make up an enormous drainage system linking Nogales, Mexico, with Nogales, Ariz. — migrants stumble blindly through toxic puddles and duck low-flying bats. Methamphetamine-addicted assailants lurk. And young men working as drug mules lug burlap sacks filled with contraband.
…

llegal immigrants have breached drainage systems all the way along the border, from El Paso to San Diego. Most of them are of the claustrophobic crawl-through variety that prevents large-scale incursions.

The Nogales tunnels, by comparison, are superhighways.

Once open waterways, today they stretch for miles under the traffic-clogged downtown streets of both cities, zigzagging roughly parallel to each other.

In the smaller one, called the Morley Tunnel, an ankle-high stream of raw sewage and chemical runoff from factories in Mexico usually flows. The neighboring Grand Tunnel is up to 15 feet high and wide enough to fit a Humvee. Dozens of illegal immigrants can travel through it at one time.

Above ground, fences, sensors and stadium lighting clearly separate the two cities. Underground, they remain linked of necessity by the system built decades ago to channel monsoon rains.

LA Times

Across the length of the border existing infrastructure provides a ready path of entry those willing to brave them.

And so, welcome to the brave new world of cross-border tunnel migration and militarization – and, what could be the glimpse of a future (sub)urban world as more nation states wall off their borders from the increasing flows of global migration.

Essentially, the infrastructure has been left an exhausted corpse of overgrown concrete appendages and flogged lungs that today becomes a kind of mysteriously populated anti-city lurking below the real city above. It’s partly a thriving subterranean landscape with thousands of people traversing and living and conducting their own brand of commerce, but it’s also partly a massive industrial grave stewing with noxious hazards and quiet anonymous deaths.

"Orwellian Wormholes" Subtopia

Walls don't always keep you out …sometimes they keep you in

One of the biggest unintended consequences of increased border security has been its effect on preventing undocumented migrants from leaving the country to return back to their homes in their countries of origin. At a recent immigration symposium at the University of Chicago, Belinda Reyes, an assistant professor in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State, presented a regression analysis suggesting that the more impregnable the barrier, the more unauthorized migrants wind up living in the United States. This presentation was an update to Reyes 2002 study "Holding the Line? The Effect of the Recent Border Build-up on Unauthorized Immigration" that found that with increased security between 1992 and 2000, the number of Mexican migrants returning home each year went down from 20% to 7%. It is only safe to assume that those numbers have decreased dramatically in the last six years.

There is strong evidence that unauthorized migrants are staying longer in the United States during the period of increased enforcement.

The findings based on both the national data and the Mexican Migration Project (MMP)5 sample indicate a decline in the probability of return in the 1990s. Analysis of the MMP sample shows no statistically significant
effect of the build-up on the probability of return. But the national data indicate a continuing decline in the probability of return in the latter part of the 1990s, which could be the result of an increase in border enforcement (see Figure S.2).

Data from a 1992 survey in Mexico indicate that 20 percent of the people who moved to the United States 24 months prior to the survey year returned to Mexico within six months of migration. By 1997, this portion had declined to 15 percent. By the time of the Mexican 2000 Census, only 7 percent of those who moved 24 months prior to the census returned to Mexico within the first six months and only 11 percent had returned within a year.

link "Holding the Line? The Effect of the Recent Border Build-up on Unauthorized Immigration", Belinda I. Reyes, Hans P. Johnson, Richard Van Swearingen, Public Policy Institute of California, 2002

conclusions

If Rep. Tancredo and his friends in the border security camp took the time to actually read some of the research provided for them at taxpayer's expense, they would see that their insistence on more fences and walls clearly provides neither security nor an effective means to curb undocumented migration. The walls are overly costly and are ineffective without huge amounts of added manpower and resources. The existing infrastructure in many areas makes them ineffective. Environmentally they are a disaster and have far too many unintended negative effects. Thus far they have only shifted the patterns of migration, bringing added death and crime to more rural areas and have kept immigrants from naturally returning home.

Perhaps it's possible that the Congressional Research Service, Army Corp of Engineers, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, and the Congressional Budget Office are all wrong and the San Diego border fence has been a great success as Rep. Tancredo claims….but then again …maybe not.

A possible issue for Congress to consider as it debates expanding the existing border fencing concerns what the unintended consequences of this expansion could be. Given the re-routing of migration flows that have already occurred, are DHS and the relevant border communities prepared to handle the increased flow of illegal
migration to non-reinforced areas? Is DHS prepared to deal with an increase in the phenomenon of cross-border tunnels and other attempts to defeat the purpose of the fencing? What will the impact on crime rates be along the unreinforced areas of the border? Will USBP agents be required to spend some of their patrolling time
guarding the fence?

Border Security: Barriers along the U.S. International Border Congressional Research Service, Updated December 12, 2006, pg 33

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