BajaNews
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Migrants turn to the sea at Popotla to enter US illegally
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqbWNzfU5D...
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
August 26, 2010
SAN DIEGO — The speedboat is about three miles offshore when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent cuts the engine to drift on the current in
quiet darkness, hoping for the telltale signs of immigrant smuggling — a motor's whirr or sulfur exhaust fumes.
"It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and the haystack is the Pacific Ocean," agent Tim Feige says, minutes before sunrise.
This is a new frontier for illegal immigrants entering the United States — a roughly 400-square-mile ocean expanse that stretches from a bullring on
the shores of Tijuana, Mexico, to suburban Los Angeles.
In growing numbers, migrants are gambling their lives at sea as land crossings become even more arduous and likely to end in arrest. Sea interdictions
and arrests have spiked year-over-year for three years, as enforcement efforts ramp up to meet the challenge.
While only a small fraction of border arrests are at sea, authorities say, heightened enforcement on land, and a bigger fence, is making the offshore
route more attractive.
The number of Border Patrol agents doubled to more than 20,000 since 2003, and President Barack Obama is dispatching the National Guard after clamor
for a crackdown in the desert led to Arizona's tough new immigration law.
"I think they found that going west through the ocean is probably their best bet," said Michael Carney, deputy special agent in charge of
investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego.
U.S. agents arrested 753 suspected illegal immigrants on Southern California shores and seas between October and Aug. 24, up from 400 the previous 12
months and 230 the year before. They spotted 85 watercraft since October, up from 49 during the previous 12 months and 33 the year before.
The smugglers use old, single-engine wooden vessels known in Mexico as "pangas." They're several feet wide and about 25 feet long. If they are found
on U.S. waters, they're almost invariably smuggling people or drugs.
U.S. authorities have stepped up sea patrols near the border, forcing pangas loaded with illegal immigrants and sometimes with marijuana farther
offshore with landings farther north.
An abandoned vessel was found in November in Laguna Beach, 85 miles north of Mexico. A boat with 24 people was found 43 miles off the San Diego coast
in May.
Six boats have landed at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, more than 50 miles north of the border, since November, including two that were abandoned.
The base, only a short hike to Interstate 5, has stepped up security.
Authorities believe smugglers put their passengers ashore and return to Mexico, when possible, to avoid losing their boats and leaving evidence
behind. But they also quickly abandon the boats and run for it if they sense they're about to be caught.
Smuggling on California waters dates back to the alcohol trade during Prohibition, but authorities noticed a change in late 2007 when pangas began
traveling without lights at night with up to 25 people packed on open decks.
At up to $5,000 a person — roughly twice the fee to cross illegally over land — one overnight trip can generate $100,000.
Some arrests at sea may be a result of heightened enforcement. This year, the Orange County Sheriff's Department joined in boat patrols on a 32-mile
coastal stretch south of Los Angeles.
Only two immigrants are known to have been killed crossing in U.S. waters, their boat overturning in the San Diego surf in January. Two months
earlier, eight were rescued atop an overturned boat that was adrift for a day.
Smugglers have been arrested on both sides of the border, with those in the U.S. being sentenced to a year or two in prison.
In Mexico, the boats launch from a poor fishing village named Popotla, about 15 miles south of the border. It sits between Playa de
Rosarito's high-rise hotels and condos that cater to American tourists and expatriates and next to the studio where the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" was
filmed.
Squatters live in about two dozen shanties crammed on a hillside. There is no electricity, paved road, sewage or garbage collection.
But it is easy to understand why smugglers are drawn to the village. It's out of view from the highway only 200 yards away. Its
crescent-shaped beach invites gentle waves and it is the only public boat launching spot on a 50-mile stretch south of the border.
A restaurant worker, Victor Estrada, said he saw about eight migrants being led to a boat on the beach one recent night after they waited several
hours inside a sports utility vehicle, but about a dozen other workers and residents insisted they knew nothing about smugglers.
Jose Eduardo Montero, public safety chief of Playas de Rosarito, offers a different view: "The place is invaded by criminals, drug
traffickers, undocumented immigrants, drug dealers. It's all mixed in with the fishing business."
One January night, Montero said, his officers detained 23 people as they were preparing for a crossing, including two alleged guides who were arrested
on smuggling charges.
Authorities have failed to pierce the top ranks of smuggling organizations. Boat drivers offer little information when captured and toss their GPS
devices and radios into the water before agents reach them.
The low-slung boats, when weighed down with people, can float only about one foot above water, making them difficult to see on radar. Night-vision
binoculars have limited reach.
"They're beating us with low-tech," said ICE's Carney. "I'm not saying they can't be detected, but I'm saying they're very hard to detect."
On a recent night off San Diego shores, two CBP speedboats prowled the coast. A CBP helicopter with infrared surveillance equipment was down for
repairs, which happens pretty often, said CBP supervisory agent Mark White, his boat idled with Tijuana's lights behind him.
"We're one step behind," he says.
White spent much of the night near two unlit beaches that are popular with smugglers. He described the positioning as educated guesswork. Just because
boats have been landing north, he can't afford to neglect beaches close to the border. Some migrants dash one mile from Tijuana on Jet Skis, hugging
the shore.
"We're trying to smell, we're trying to see, and we're waiting," White said.
Agents got lucky the following night, arresting 23 suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico on a boat about five miles offshore from San Diego's tony
La Jolla area around 3 a.m.
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Photo: In this photo taken on July 11, 2010, fishermen and visitors gather at the beach in the fishermen village of Popotla, some 15 miles south from
the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexico. Gambling their lives, illegal immigrants are increasingly looking to the ocean as they consider crossing over land
even more arduous and more likely to end by getting caught. U.S. agents have arrested 736 suspected illegal immigrants on Southern California shores
and seas since October. AP Photo by Guillermo Arias.
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DENNIS
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It's a good thing we fight our wars elsewhere. We don't have the confidence, desire or the ability to protect even a few miles of our perimeter.
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surfer jim
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Ability we have....but like you said without the desire to do something we have lost this war.
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Woooosh
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
It's a good thing we fight our wars elsewhere. We don't have the confidence, desire or the ability to protect even a few miles of our perimeter.
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"They're beating us with low-tech (pangas)," said ICE's Carney. "I'm not saying they can't be detected, but I'm saying they're very hard to detect."
now that's comforting.
[Edited on 8-28-2010 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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MrBillM
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Those Watery Sneaks
If they can get through that easily, it sounds like a good plan for the Cocaine Guys.
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Dave
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Here's the funny part
| Quote: |
But it is easy to understand why smugglers are drawn to the village. It's out of view from the highway only 200 yards away. Its
crescent-shaped beach invites gentle waves and it is the only public boat launching spot on a 50-mile stretch south of the border.
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Guess what else is located only 200 yards away from Popotla... and has been for several years?
An army checkpoint. 
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Dave
But it is easy to understand why smugglers are drawn to the village. It's out of view from the highway only 200 yards away. Its crescent-shaped beach
invites gentle waves and it is the only public boat launching spot on a 50-mile stretch south of the border.
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This sounds like it was written by a realestate company.
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Mexicorn
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Maybe a fence should be built from underwater up.
Defintely - How can one influence congress to appropriate funds for this brainstorm of a project?
My latest idea underwater fence constuction! What a hum dinger!
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MrBillM
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Underwater Deterrence ?
Mines ?
Much more cost-effective.
[Edited on 8-28-2010 by MrBillM]
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bajajurel
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It is futile, especially since the current administration has just declared open borders to millions of illegal invaders. In a recent memo, John
Morton at Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated that being in the U.S. illegally is no longer a reason to send someone home. This is just
another policy move to grant amnesty to millions of law-breakers.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/545372/2010...
bajajurel
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k-rico
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajajurel
It is futile, especially since the current administration has just declared open borders to millions of illegal invaders. In a recent memo, John
Morton at Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated that being in the U.S. illegally is no longer a reason to send someone home. This is just
another policy move to grant amnesty to millions of law-breakers.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/545372/2010... |
"the current administration has just declared open borders to millions of illegal invaders"
100% pure nonsense.
Deportations are higher under Obama than they were under Bush.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/07/26/128772646/dep...
[Edited on 8-29-2010 by k-rico]
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