Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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Mexico says smugglers abandon migrants at sea
From The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) — "The Mexican navy said Monday it has detected a disturbing trend of migrant smugglers abandoning boatloads of people at sea off the
coast of Baja California.
The Navy said that each month it has been finding an average of 10 to 12 boats, with a total of about out 150 migrants. It did not say when the
discoveries began, or why the smugglers might have adopted the tactic. However, smugglers sometimes demand payment for such trips up front, leaving
them little incentive to get passengers all the way to the United States.
The Navy said the boats' captains abandoned the vessels aboard other craft, telling migrants the motors or other equipment had broken down and they
would be back.
The smugglers then left the migrants adrift, often in overcrowded boats without food or radios, putting their lives at risk.
A video released by the navy shows sailors approaching several vessels, some in choppy waters, to rescue ragged-looking passengers.
"This could lead to a lamentable loss of human life," the navy said.
As the United States tightens security across land borders with Mexico, smugglers are increasingly turning to the California coast to bring people and
drugs to the United States from Mexico
The number of Border Patrol agents on land has doubled in the past eight years, and hundreds of miles (kilometers) of fences and other barriers have
been erected, driving smugglers to the Pacific Ocean.
U.S. authorities spotted 210 suspected smuggling vessels along California shores during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up 15 percent from 183
incidents the previous year and more than quadruple the 45 incidents in 2008.
Migrants pay thousands of dollars to launch from beaches and small fishing villages south of Tijuana, Mexico. They typically use old, single-engine
wooden fishing skiffs known as pangas.
In October, a Mexican woman told authorities she agreed to pay $12,000 to be smuggled by boat into the U.S. A criminal complaint says she was among 16
people — all but one a suspected illegal immigrant from Mexico — found in a 31-foot vessel that appeared to be taking in water in the Newport Beach
harbor."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21656
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Out and About
Member Is Offline
Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
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You (don't) Get What You Pay For ?
And, I suppose that Coyote Cruise Lines doesn't honor refunds ?
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
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Mexico says smugglers abandon migrants at sea
Where else would they abandon them if thy are in a panga?
Bob Durrell
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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21656
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Out and About
Member Is Offline
Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
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NOW we KNOW !
"There is NO honor among Thieves".
Feel free to use that quotation with my blessing.
No attribution required.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
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just goes to show there are less than humans walking among us.
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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21656
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Out and About
Member Is Offline
Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
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Not Only Walking
But, obviously, Floating.
However, that realization isn't new, is it ?
You wouldn't really expect humanity at the expense of their own possible loss of freedom from those in THAT trade.
WOULD YOU ?
Mother Teresa isn't the Patron Saint of Coyotes.
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