Border News

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-immigration group, has released a report titled "State of Insecurity: How State and Local Immigration Policies are Undermining Homeland Security," saying that state and local governments are adopting policies that conflict with national border security measures and providing a "safe haven to illegal aliens."

"While the federal government has not yet slammed shut the doors to illegal immigration it is the states and local governments that are rolling out the welcome mat for illegal aliens once they are here," said FAIR Executive Director Dan Stein.

FAIR's study cites a variety of factors that led to its criticisms, including local governments instructing police not to question or arrest suspected illegal aliens, communities publicly condemning the USA Patriot Act, states granting driver's licenses to undocumented aliens, and local governments formally accepting matricula consular cards as identification.

The report is available online at http://www.fairus.org/html/911report_2003.html.

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Mexican officials have begun posting information on the windows of border cities as part of a new campaign warning immigrants of the dangers the desert will bring them if they try to cross into the U.S.

Officials said August was a good time to reinforce the information campaign started in April, which at the time was meant to warn immigrants of the coming summer months and to deter them from crossing illegally.

Fueling the campaign is the tragedy that more illegal immigrants have died so far this year in the Yuma sector of the U.S. Border Patrol than did in all of 2002.

US Border Patrol Spokesman William Robbins said the number of apprehensions so far this year is up 33 percent from this time in 2002, totaling 51,384. According to a report in the Yuma Sun, "the Tucson sector has seen 123 illegal immigrants die so far this year, but has also apprehended more than 300,000 attempting to cross."

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The Mexican government is demanding a probe into recent incidents in which vigilantes on the U.S. side of the border detained illegal immigrants at gunpoint. Mexican Consul Miguel Escobar said his office received complaints from 47 migrants who said they were detained at gunpoint or assaulted by civil militia groups in southern Arizona.

"One of the main concerns of the Mexican consulate and of the government of Mexico is that there is always the possibility of this growing out of proportion into a bloodletting that everyone would lament. There have already been migrants wounded by people who fire shots," Escobar said.

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Last Friday was the grand opening of the newest and largest US Border Patrol station, in Douglas, Arizona, but officials said it wasn't the brick and mortar that is important, but rather the 500 agents working out of the facility. Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent David Aguilar said the new station was needed as Southeastern Arizona has become an "avenue for massive amounts for illegal immigrants crossing the border," and the smaller and older station in Douglas could not handle the influx of new agents or the number of people apprehended. The Border Patrol's Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Randy Gallegos said the station's original plan was designed for 100 agents, but it had to be redesigned to handle a large increase in the number of immigrants coming across the border. So far this fiscal year, Douglas Station agents have apprehended 63,857 illegal immigrants of the 303,336 taken into custody in the Tuscon Sector.

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According to a report in Fort Worth's Star-Telegram, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is cracking down on illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a crime in the United States and have returned to the United States after being deported. The immigrants will face prison sentences if they return to the US and are caught. Nuria Prendes, the interim field director who launched the effort last year, said, "it is important to prosecute because it's a deterrent."

The punishments have ranged from six months to 15 years in federal prison, but in one case a 20-year sentence was handed down to an immigrant who returned to the United States after being deported for theft, resisting arrest, burglary and forgery.