BORDER NEWS

Even as the number of Border Patrol agents on the US Southwestern border increases each year in an effort to combat undocumented migration, the number of immigration inspectors staffing ports of entry along the border is dropping.  The problem is especially bad at two large ports of entry in California, Otay Mesa and San Ysisdro, the busiest border crossing in the world.  The number of inspectors at the two ports has dropped from 495 in 1998 to 455.  According to a study begun by San Diego Dialogue, between 70 and 90 percent of border crossers wait more than 20 minutes.  The study was cancelled, reportedly because of a lack of interest from the INS.  More than 30 million people cross into California each year.

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Last week two Mexican migrants died in southern Texas during an attempt to enter the US.  The two, a woman and a teenage boy, were traveling in separate groups, although they died in the same area.  Temperatures reached nearly 115 degrees.  Officials believe that in these cases, unlike the recent deaths of 14 migrants in Arizona last month, smugglers were not involved. 

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INS agents in Mobile, Alabama apprehended 10 stowaways hiding on board a barge that was docked at the port there.  Officials found the nine men and one woman, from El Salvador and Honduras, during a search of the barge after the barge operators reported seeing at least two unidentified people on board. 

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The Border Patrol recently apprehended a group of 94 undocumented immigrants about six miles north of the Mexican border in New Mexico.  Agents discovered the tracks of a large group of migrants, and followed them until they apprehended the group.  Most were from Mexico, but natives of other Central American countries were also in the group.  Border Patrol agents are concerned that the large group is an indication that immigrant smugglers were involved.  Smuggling in the area has increased by 75 percent since this time last year. 

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The Mexican government has announced that the arrests of four people connected to the deaths of 14 migrants in southern Arizona last month.  The four, who were arrested shortly after the tragedy was discovered, have not been charged in connection with the 14 fatalities, but were charged with human smuggling after a group of migrants was found in their house. 

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Last weekend television cameras captured a dramatic chase through the Florida Straits, which separate Florida and Cuba, highlighting an inherent contradiction in US immigration policy toward Cubans.  Twenty-one Cubans made it to shore following a high-speed chase after a Coast Guard vessel spotted the speedboat in which they were traveling.  Under the “wet foot/dry foot” policy the US has toward Cuban migrants, they will be able to stay in the US because they made it to US soil.  If they had been apprehended at sea, they would have been returned to Cuba. 

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Eleven of the survivors of the May border crossing that resulting in the deaths of 14 people are being allowed to work in the US.  The work authorization comes as the result of their cooperation with authorities in the investigation into the incident.  Prosecutors hope that testimony from the survivors will help them successfully prosecute a twelfth survivor, who is accused of smuggling them into the US.