Human smugglers launch 'coyote express' into US

[JODO 2]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070518/ts_af...rCnWHUj_dC9IxIF

Human smugglers launch 'coyote express' into US

by Ken Dermota Fri May 18, 12:03 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US officials deploying men, money and machines on Mexico's side of the border take note: undaunted human smugglers now offer illegal immigrants an "express" service into the United States.

Thousands of people have endured the two-day, non-stop exhausting desert trek by foot around border checkpoints to reach the United States every year, according to government statistics.

But now for an extra 2,000 dollars, human smugglers dubbed "coyotes" will sneak immigrants across the border in cars and trucks right under the noses of US agents, and then put them on a plane to the most favored destination, Washington.

Despite President George W. Bush's best efforts to seal the porous frontier, with plans for a controversial two-billion-dollar, 1,100-kilometer (700-mile) border fence, the influx of immigrants has barely slowed.

"Show me a 10-foot wall," Border Patrol union vice president Rich Pierce told AFP. "And I'll show you an 11-foot ladder."

The extra security and the 6,000 National Guard troops Bush has deployed along the border has raised the cost of the trip though.

Guatemalan immigrant Maria L. was one of those who decided the higher premium was worth it to avoid having to make the hazardous trip by foot.

The coyotes gave Maria, and her cousin Marisol, who asked to remain anonymous, falsified US identification cards and settled them in a safe house in Mexico to wait several days -- for rain.

"On rainy days, immigration does not inspect every truck," Marisol said she was told by the coyotes, although Pierce denied this, saying the 11,000 members of his union inspect vehicles "every day rain or shine."

When the rains came, the cousins, both 20, were wedged into the back of a van, which had an apparently legal driver, and they slipped across the border undetected.

The cousins reached Houston, Texas, the largest city near the border, where coyotes locked them inside another safe house with bars on the windows and doors until they paid the express surcharge of 2,000 dollars, making a total of 7,500 dollars each for the trip from Guatemala.

In return, the coyotes handed over airline tickets and the two women flew comfortably aboard a domestic airliner to the US capital, Washington, 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) away.

Was it frightening? "Of course, I had never been on a plane before," Maria said.

Lieutenant Vince Piano, of the Phoenix police department's drug unit, said the coyotes had a smuggling plan to fit every wallet.

"There's all sorts of different ways (to get across the border) and depending on where you're going and how, you can pay more," he said.

"The majority walk them across the mountains and sometimes it can take a couple of nights or if they can, drive them straight across the border, but then you can't take as many at a time."

Officials in Washington have not heard of the coyote express service, said Pat Reilly, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"But they say it is not uncommon for organizations to charge more if they have a corrupt official working for them or to claim that ... in order to raise the profit margin," she wrote in an e-mail response to a question.

The two women had no qualms though about paying the extra cash after hearing another cousin's harrowing tale.

Maria G., 26, had already taken the longer, economy route, which included a gruelling 38-hour desert trek around US border checkpoints.

Coyotes gave each person in her group a water bottle, a can of tuna and a packet of crackers for the non-stop march. Those who wanted more had to pay four dollars for tuna, and three for more crackers.

Once on US soil, she ran an obstacle course of barriers and chain-link fences, all the while ducking border agents and surveillance cameras, stopping only to gulp some water from a cattle watering hole during the two-day hike.

She didn't fly to Washington, but jammed into an overloaded truck for the three-day drive to the US capital in hopes of finding work.

But for all three, the trip was worth it. Maria G. now works as a housekeeper, while Maria L. found a job at a stationery store and Marisol prepares frozen foods. Despite US plans to build a wall snaking along the border, the three cousins said they would all make the trip again if they had to.

[JohnK 0]

And people think the $5000 dollar "fee" needed to get a Z-Visa or whatever will keep people from coming here legally.

[almaty 19]

ah yes, the wall is working great

[JohnK 0]

ah yes, the wall is working great

It's only a 2 mile wall !!! Even my gimpy butt can walk that far!

[almaty 19]

ah yes, the wall is working great

It's only a 2 mile wall !!! Even my gimpy butt can walk that far!

good point

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Despite President George W. Bush's best efforts to seal the porous frontier, with plans for a controversial two-billion-dollar, 1,100-kilometer (700-mile) border fence, the influx of immigrants has barely slowed.

:lol: Bush's best efforts to seal the border? :lol:

[eric&gen 0]

Is that all they got so far a 2 mile wall lol please.

[homesick_american 1]

Ugh, #### those fence jumpers.

[reach449 2]

Put tanks and snipers on the borders.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Land mines are a viable option.