BORDER NEWS

During the first few weeks of 2000, the Border Patrol in Douglas, Arizona was put to the test.  According to an official, over one four-day period, 1000 people were apprehending each day attempting to make illegal entries.  Two reasons are given for the increased apprehensions.  First, there are more agents than ever before in the area, and more agents means more stops.  Second, this is the time of year when migrant workers return to their jobs in the US after visiting family in Mexico over the holidays. 

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Trends at the Southwest border show a growing number of people attempting to cross into the US by presenting false forms of identification to border inspectors.  At Nogales, Arizona, the number of people apprehended while attempting to enter using fraudulent documents has increased in each of the past two years - 2720 in 1998 to 3782 in 1999.  In the first week of 2000, 136 people were caught trying to enter the US this way.

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Residents of eastern San Diego County in southern California recently held a meeting with representatives of the Border Patrol to voice their grievances about the Border Patrol, which they claim is ignoring their rights.  According to residents, Border Patrol agents have shot livestock, left patrol cars in private driveways, delayed motorists at a local checkpoint, and have been rude to locals who question them.  The residents also complained that agents drive across their property and cut fences, which results in livestock escaping.  A spokesman for the Border Patrol acknowledged that there have been problems, but denied that the agency has caused the death of any livestock. 

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A stone quarry in Colorado has been fined 0,000 for employing undocumented workers, and has been ordered to keep its books open to federal inspectors for the next five years.  Shortly before the company was fined, its owner was fined ,000 and sentenced to four months home detention.  At the sentencing, the judge said the company had ignored many laws, especially those relating to immigration, and also noted that the use of undocumented workers was commonplace in the stone mining industry. 

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During December, a hostage crisis at a Louisiana prison alerted much of the nation to the situation faced by indefinite detainees, those people who have been ordered deported, but whose home countries will not accept their return.  One provision of the 1996 immigration law provided that the INS must keep many of these people in detention until they are deported, effectively keeping them in custody for an indeterminate period of time.  Six of the men involved in the incident in Louisiana were deported to Cuba, but once there they did not find the freedom for which they were looking.  According to State Department officials, the six men were placed in handcuffs when they got off the plane to Cuba, and have been in a Cuban prison ever since. 

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While the Elian Gonzalez story was first developing into a national story, another group of people were apprehended attempting to cross the Florida Straits.  Over 400 people, mostly Haitians, were found aboard a fishing boat on New Year’s Day.  Most of these people were returned home, except for a few people who were in need of medical treatment.  One of these people was a pregnant woman who had been making the journey with her two small children.  While she was allowed into the US, her children were returned to Haiti.  Now, after weeks of protests, the two children are being allowed to come to the US to rejoin their mother. 

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The two men recently arrested near the port in Seattle as they allegedly waited to unload from a ship people who had been smuggled from China via Hong Kong are themselves undocumented immigrants from Chia..  Both of the men are themselves undocumented immigrants from China.  They face up to 40 years in prison.  Over the past three weeks, the discovery of 136 smuggled Chinese nationals in ports in California, Washington State and British Columbia has sparked discussions on how to best address this problem.  A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at a recent press conference that people should not believe the claims of the smuggled people to be deserving of asylum.  He warned that if the recent victims are granted asylum, this would only encourage more illegal immigration.  He also stated that China has worked to prevent illegal migration by instituting stricter border controls.