 BORDER NEWS
Last week the Coast Guard rescued 30 Cuban immigrants on a small island off the coast of Florida. They said they arrived on the island after the boat they were traveling in sank. According to the Border Patrol, more than 960 Cuban immigrants have arrived in Florida since October 1, 2000. During the same period in the previous year, only 807 Cubans were found in Florida.
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Last week a 19-year-old girl who had just entered the US without authorization gave birth. While the group she was with helped her through the actual birth, they left her immediately afterward. She told Border Patrol agents that she cut the umbilical cord with a tin can she found. Luckily, she was discovered by another group of migrants who gave her water. She then made her way to a hunting camp where workers called the Border Patrol. Agents say this is one of the most remarkable incidents that has happened in the area.
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According to the Border Patrol, arrests of “coyotes,” people who smuggle immigrants into the US from Mexico, are up 129 percent from last year. Many critics of the current border policy have long blamed it for the rise in the number of coyotes, and now some within the Border Patrol are saying that they agree. Undocumented crossings in urban areas have dropped sharply, forcing people to rural areas where they are dependent on the assistance of coyotes, who frequently abandon them, and sometimes rob them. Also, because most smuggled immigrants arrive in the US still owing a smuggling fee, many are held until they can work off the debt or find a family member to pay it.
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Three female INS detainees being held in Louisiana have entered the third week of a hunger strike. The women said that they were not allowed to participate in any Easter celebrations. The INS says the women are being segregated because of health concerns related to the hunger strike and that they were provided a separate Easter ceremony this week. The INS says that the conditions that prompted the strike are being investigated. The American Bar Association is working on finding a local lawyer to represent the women who all lived in the Northeast before being ordered deported and transferred to a jail in Louisiana.
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Zhang Hongbao, the founder of the Zhong Gong, a spiritual group similar to the better-known Falun Gong, was recently released from detention on Guam and paroled into the US. He arrived in Guam last year, seeking asylum on the basis of religious persecution. His request was denied and an appeal is pending. He is wanted by the Chinese government on numerous rape charges. Many observers believe his release was prompted by the of cooling US-Chinese relations in the wake of the aircraft collision off the coast of China on April 1. He also had the support of some of the most conservative members of Congress, who wrote Attorney General John Ashcroft in support of his release.
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