Travelers Pick - Travel Guide: Yuma - Arizona

Question: #4: Flow of illegal immigrants to U.S. starts to slow is it about time ?
Mexico border fence and Guardsmen complicate crossings-http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/20/news/border.phpSAN LUIS RÍO COLORADO, Mexico: All along the U.S.-Mexican border, there are signs that the measures that the U.S. Border Patrol and other agencies have taken over the past year, from erecting new barriers to posting 6,000 National Guardsmen as armed sentinels, are beginning to slow the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.For 10 years, Eduardo Valenzuela has been crossing the Mexican border near Yuma, Arizona, illegally, trekking over desert scrub and hopping on a freight train to get to his job with a construction company in Phoenix, Arizona.But on a recent afternoon, Valenzuela and four travel companions from his hometown of Los Mochis plopped down on a bench in a park in the border town of San Luis Río Colorado, exhausted and dispirited. Border patrol agents had caught them two times over three days, hounding them with helicopters and four-wheel-drive trucks."It's become much more difficult," Valenzuela said, echoing the comments of dozens of other migrants.The only barometer to gauge whether migrants are being discouraged to attempt entering the United States is how many migrants are caught. In the past four months, the number has dropped 27 percent compared with the same period last year. In two sections around Yuma and near Del Rio, Texas, the numbers have fallen by nearly two- thirds, officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security say. - asked by Zoe

Answer: I hope it's slowing but, based on where I live, I doubt it. If it is slowing HOORAY!!!! ... - answered by: Dizney
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Question: #5: Here's the story this time. what do you think of it?
Posted on Sun, Aug. 27, 2006email thisprint thisPa. soldiers return from border patrolBy Barbara BarrettCDT Washington correspondentLOS ALGODONES, Mexico -- Not five minutes after the boatload of migrants slipped across the Colorado River at dusk, the "dogcatchers" arrived.First, U.S. Border Patrol trucks -- the ones migrants call dogcatchers -- tore down a dirt road and cut their headlights. Then a helicopter dipped and circled with deafening blades, its spotlights probing across the water and the mountainside, again and again and again.On the Mexican side, above the town of Los Algodones, Francisco Lopez watched and listened. For a month, he said, he has been waiting. Three times he almost crossed."They're here day and night," said Lopez, 42, who traveled from the state of Michoacán, Mexico, hoping to reach New York.The show of force now includes about 6,000 National Guard troops.Almost 70 soldiers from Pennsylvania returned this month after two weeks in the Arizona desert. There, they set up observation points on a levee within sight of the border. They used binoculars and night vision goggles to spot movement. They helped catch at least 10 migrants."It made you think, 'Yeah, you're here helping people out,'" said Capt. Brad Pierson, a State College resident and commander of the 28th Military Police Company, based in Johnstown and Greensburg.The Pennsylvanians saw tragedy among their own, too. Spc. Kirsten Fike, 36, of Warren, collapsed in her first hours working in the 104-degree heat. She died a day later at a Yuma, Ariz., hospital. An autopsy on the cause of her death was inconclusive.The deployment of guard troops is part of President Bush's Operation Jump Start, a project meant to discourage migrants from risking the dash into the United States.It's having results: The increased security is pushing migrants into the harsh desert and mountains, forcing more to use smugglers and leading those who are caught to make repeated attempts that sap their strength and savings each time. Many walk for days with little food or water.In July, an 11-year-old girl was found in cardiac arrest on a 108-degree day in the remote Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. The girl, Olivia Nogueda, wearing pink sneakers and traveling with her older sister, was declared dead at the reservation hospital. In the following week, in two counties in eastern Arizona, seven other migrants died, including two women and a 12-year-old boy.Last year, as the Border Patrol increased enforcement around urban areas, more than 460 migrants died trying to cross the border, nearly half in Arizona."The more difficult you make it for people to cross, the more people will die," said Joseph Nevins, spokesman for Tucson-based No More Deaths, a coalition of humanitarian border groups.In eastern Arizona, Pima County medical examiner Bruce Parks holds onto the bodies. He has more than 200 dating back to 2004."It's obviously a terrible tragedy for relatively young people to be dying under these circumstances," Parks said, hours after an autopsy on 11-year-old Olivia. "This may be the year we see a downturn. It would be nice."In Pennsylvania, Pierson occasionally deals with illegal immigrants in his work as a state trooper. He said he knows little about the politics of immigration, but standing guard in Arizona made him wonder what drives migrants to take such risks."Obviously they're crossing for a reason," Pierson said. "To me, it seems dangerous. They're crossing in the heat, in the desert. I think, how bad can it be in Mexico to even go through this, take these chances?"Word spread quickly throughout Mexico after Bush made his announcement this spring."I read the newspapers," said Hector Encinas, 29, who lives in the Mexican town of San Luis Rio Colorado, just south of San Luis, Ariz."It's more hard right now," said Encinas, standing near an opening in the border wall. "They got a fence, more soldiers, more Border Patrol."Guadalupe Murrieta, 45, washing dishes in her home nearby, said she never liked the migrants who wander through at night, making her fearful for her children and grandchildren. Now, she said, it's quieter.What sends migrants into the distance are the images of the National Guard standing watch.In San Luis, the Pennsylvania soldiers worked under camouflage nets, setting up observation points every half-mile on a levee near the Colorado River, above stretches of dirt and fields of tall, swaying grasses.It was maybe the third day on watch for the Pennsylvanians when, about 3 a.m., one of Pierson's soldiers spotted movement at the levee.Four people -- three women and a man -- had crawled through the grasses and were trying to dash across the levee and into a nearby neighborhood. The troops called Border Patrol. All four migrants were caught.A few nights later, another soldier spotted six more."It's nice to see the results, to see that you're making a difference," Pierson said. "It was good for morale."Mostly, Pierson thinks the Pennsylvanians were a deterrent, frightening migrants from even making the attempt.In Mexico, some residents aren't so sure.Migrants pass through the cotton and alfalfa fields around Rebeca Moreno's store near Los Algodones, a quarter-mile from the Colorado River, ignoring the signs warning "Peligroso!" -- danger.Moreno walked though the back of her store to an open window. Pointing across the cotton field, she said in Spanish: There is the river. The migrants try to swim across. They're caught, sent home and try again.She pointed to a spot in the road. A man died right there, she said.On the dirt road in San Luis Rio Colorado, behind the border wall, men were checking their chances recently as evening drew near.They lit trash fires, hoping to obscure the heat of their bodies. One man shinnied up a wire to peek above the wall toward the levee; a few others pretended to fish in the canal.Nearby stood Ricardo Mann, 47, the heat of the flames at his back, considering the soldiers standing watch."It's like another wall," Mann said. "A human wall." - asked by Renegade.

Answer: That's very interesting, thanks for posting it.I note, however, that everything Bush and the Senate will support is hyper technology and manpower - the exact things that can count on certain attrition ... - answered by: DAR
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Question: #6: Is it getting tougher to trespass into America?
Guard makes border breachings tougherBy BARBARA BARRETTMcClatchy NewspapersLAS CRUCES SUN-NEWS/NORM DETTLAFF VIA APArmy National Guard Spc. Gustavo Gutierrez, 23, of Las Cruces, N.M., scans the U.S./Mexico border from the top of Radar Hill, near Columbus in southwestern New Mexico. He is part of Operation Jump Start.More photosLOS ALGODONES, Mexico -- Not five minutes after the boatload of migrants slipped across the Colorado River at dusk, the "dogcatchers" arrived.First came U.S. Border Patrol trucks, tearing down a dirt road and cutting their headlights. Then the helicopter with its deafening blades, dipping and circling, casting spotlights across the water and the mountainside, again and again and again.On the Mexican side, above the town of Los Algodones, Francisco Lopez watched and listened. For a month, he said, he's been waiting. He sleeps under the shade of trees, scrounges food. Three times he almost crossed."They're here day and night," said Lopez, 42, who traveled from the state of Michoacan, hoping to reach New York. "When I got here, I was surprised to see so much force on the other side."The show of force now includes Operation Jump Start, which President Bush announced in May. About 6,000 National Guard troops are coming to the border, to reinforce the Border Patrol "perreras": dogcatchers.The deployment is meant to discourage migrants from risking the dash into the United States. The increased security is pushing them into remote areas -- including harsh desert and mountains -- forcing more to use smugglers and leading those who are caught to make repeated attempts that sap their strength and money. Many walk for days with little food or water."Short term, you might see more deaths, because they think they can beat the system," said Lt. Col. Randy Powell, the commander of the North Carolina National Guard's 252nd Combined Arms Battalion. Over time, he said, the death toll should drop.The Guard is comingWord has spread throughout Mexico: The Guard is coming."I read the newspapers," said Hector Encinas, 29, who lives in San Luis Rio Colorado, just south of San Luis, Ariz. He used to cross routinely to work in the United States, paying $300 a trip. Now the price is $1,500. He used to help others, but no more."It's more hard right now," Encinas said, standing in the shade near an opening in the border wall where three Border Patrol trucks were parked. "They got a fence, more soldiers, more Border Patrol."Of the Guard, he said, "They're cool. They're cool." He knows the troops aren't allowed to make apprehensions, just to call in border agents.Still, in the more urban Mexican crossing points south of Arizona, something has changed.In Los Algodones, tucked into the crook of the border with California and Yuma, Ariz., the travelers who hope to sneak across the border -- known as "pollos," or chickens -- gather at dusk in the park.Fabiola Salazar, 25, figures the smugglers the locals call "polleros" -- chicken herders -- make up 30 percent of the summer business at her family's grocery. Every morning, the smugglers buy water and food for the journey.Lately, she said, business is way down.Dangerous detoursWhat sends migrants farther out are the images of the National Guard standing watch. The North Carolina Guard troops are scattered in strategic spots along the western half of the Arizona border, including some posts so distant they're best reached by helicopter.Near San Luis, Ariz., the troops work under camouflage nets, setting up observation points every quarter-mile on a levee near the Colorado River, above stretches of dirt and fields of tall, swaying grasses.The scrutiny is pushing migrants toward a land so vast that travelers can walk three days before crossing a paved road. During heat like last week's, with temperatures climbing toward 115 degrees, the migrants can't carry enough water.The Sonoran Desert is littered with their castoffs: empty water bottles, shoes, jackets. The daytime heat is blistering, and only a very brave man would walk the rugged landscape at night, said the Rev. Robin Hoover, the founder of Tucson-based Humane Borders Inc.Yet people get through. About 60 miles north of the border lay evidence that Hoover thought came from a recent smugglers' pickup: Two dozen backpacks were discarded among the cactuses. Some held deodorant or unopened tuna cans; Hoover unfolded a scrap of paper with a Florida hotel phone number scrawled across it.Because more men are staying in the United States, more are sending for their families. More women and children are crossing.Migrants pass through the cotton and alfalfa fields around Rebeca Moreno's store, a quarter-mile from the Colorado River, ignoring the signs warning "Peligroso!" -- danger. Pointing across the cotton field, she said in Spanish: "There is the river. The migrants try to swim across."They're caught, sent home and try again.A man died right there, she said, pointing to a spot in the dirt road. - asked by Renegade.

Answer: We can ONLY PRAY it keeps getting tougher and tougher every day. ... - answered by: shy_angeleyes01
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Travel Guide: Yuma - Arizona - United States

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