BORDER NEWS

Roughly 200 migrants were apprehended by Mexican military forces after an overnight standoff in which the people sought to enter the US.  The planned entry point was through a ranch on the New Mexico border, but the owners of the ranch notified the US Border Patrol, who in turn notified Mexican authorities.  Part of the reason for the notification was the fact that the migrants had spent more than a day in the desert without water and in the heat, dehydration becomes a serious problem.  None of those apprehended were Mexican nationals, and they are thought to be from various Central American countries.

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The US Coast Guard detained several dozen undocumented Chinese immigrants in waters near the US Virgin Islands.  Because of limited resources in the US Virgin Islands, the State Department approached both the British Virgin Islands and the Dutch island of St. Maarten to process some of the immigrants.  The four crewmembers of the boat carrying the migrants will face immigrant smuggling charges.  So far this year, the Coast Guard has arrested 600 Chinese migrants near the US Virgin Islands.

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The INS has suspended a rule that would have required Chinese airline passengers going to Canada to have a US transit visa if their flight stopped in Alaska.  Officials in Alaska had protested the rule, which was created earlier this year, ending the longstanding exemption from the transit visa requirement for Chinese nationals traveling between China and Canada.  They were concerned that airlines would begin moving flights away from Alaska as a result of the new rule, a move that could have cost the state millions in revenue and jobs.

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Courts in southwestern border states are continuing to bear the brunt of stricter border enforcement.  While a few new courts have been established in the past years, resources are still so limited that one federal judge, Royal Fergeson, who hears cases in the Western District of Texas, says that “It’s a miracle that somebody’s constitutional rights aren’t obliterated in the process.”  Since 1995, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on increased border enforcement, leading to dramatic increases in the number of cases the federal courts must deal with.  In 1994 the number of cases filed in border courts was 6,460.  In 1999, the number was 14,517.  In addition to rising case loads, another factor impacting the border is that a number of judgeships are vacant because of hold-ups in the confirmation process during the Clinton administration.

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Iowa state troopers last week stopped three vans carrying a total of 44 undocumented immigrants.  Each van was stopped for erratic driving.  Officials believe that improving weather conditions have led to the number of apprehensions.  Despite the recent stops, the number of arrests has declined this fiscal year, down from 395 at this point last year to 271.

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An 18-month investigation into immigrant smuggling has resulted in charges against 21 people.  The investigation, called Operation Night Rider, focused on a ring with bases in Mexico, Houston and San Antonio.  Officials ran a safe house to be used by the smugglers, who would hold the immigrants until they paid the entire smuggling fee.  All 21 of those charged have reportedly pled guilty.  The ring is believed to have brought as many as 300 people a month into the US.

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The Coast Guard this week spent two days searching for a Cuban migrant who jumped off a Coast Guard vessel in an effort to make it to the US.  He, along with 23 other Cubans, was being returned after having been apprehended in the Florida Straits.  Officials realized the man had jumped after conducting a headcount when the vessel docked in Cuba to unload the migrants.