 BORDER NEWS
A prison in Florence, Arizona, which, along with thousands of criminals, houses hundreds of INS detainees, is coming under fire because of what are described as violent and dangerous conditions. The facility is run by the Corrections Corporation of America. Two prisoners have died at the facility this year, prompting officials of the state of Hawaii, which has more than 1,000 prisoners there, to conduct an investigation. According to a report from the officials, a gang of prisoners has a huge impact on the prison, attacking inmates and guards, smuggling drugs, and allegedly sexually abusing female INS detainees.
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The Border Patrol is reporting that undocumented border crossings this year are down by about 25 percent from last year. For example, in the Laredo sector, there were 88,177 apprehensions from June 26, 1999 to June 26, 2000. From June 26, 2000 to June 26, 2001, there were only 67,968 apprehensions. Officials believe there are two primary reasons for the decrease. First is the increased effort to inform potential migrants of the extreme danger of trying to sneak across the border. Second is that the Mexican economy has continued to improve, and people may be feeling that they can find sustainable employment in Mexico.
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The Border Patrol recently announced that it is considering installing towers in the southern Arizona desert that would allow migrants to call for help. The 30-foot towers would have a call box that would alert Border Patrol agents who could then send out a rescue team. While the Border Patrol stresses that the idea is only under consideration, a number of groups are already opposed to it. Environmental groups claim that the agency is trying to fast-track the towers, which means they would no undergo a through environmental review. Human rights groups say that the towers would allow for increased surveillance of migrants.
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The US military recently completed a lighting project along a one-mile section of the Arizona border new the town of Naco. Border Patrol officials say that the lights will eliminate the protection of darkness and make the border area safer by ending the smuggling of drugs and people.
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A Mexican government official recently announced that the country would soon begin massive arrests of allegedly corrupt police who have assisted immigrant smugglers. The arrests will focus on southern Mexico, targeting police who assist in the transportation of Central American nationals who wish to come to the US. The operation is the result of testimony from Victor Manuel Romero, a smuggler who was arrested earlier this year.
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This week the Cuban government reported that Sebino Serrano Lopez, a Cuban national living in the US, had been sentenced to life in prison for his role in an immigrant smuggling effort that resulted in the death of a woman and her six-year-old child.
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At the end of June, the manager of the port of entry in Nogales ordered the INS to stop giving meals to detained border crossers, saying the budget did not allow for such expenditures. The order remained in force for five days. It is not known how many detainees went without food, but the order is a blatant contradiction of INS rules, which state that anyone held for more than six hours is to be fed. INS employees at the port were astounded by the order, and many contributed personal funds to provide food to detainees. The INS meals account for the fiscal quarter (which ended June 30) had run dry, but the INS could have transferred money from another account.
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Last week a Mexican government official announced that it would begin patrolling particularly high-risk sections of the US-Mexico border in an effort to stop Mexican nationals from crossing into the US. This week, however, another official said that no such efforts would be made, and that its work will continue to focus on encouraging people to not risk the dangerous crossing. The Mexican government maintains that it cannot prevent citizens from leaving the country without violating the Mexican Constitution’s provision on freedom of movement. The government does say that it will increase efforts to steer crossers away from the most dangerous areas.
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Border Patrol agents at an inspection station in Sarita, Texas, discovered 30 migrants hiding in a cargo of mangoes in a refrigerated truck. The migrants, who were all returned to Mexico, told agents that they paid ,000 to be smuggled to Houston. The driver of the truck, a US citizen, has been charged with immigrant smuggling.
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