wilderone
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Immigrants on Bicycles
A vehicle for quick crossing
Dumped border bikes show popular tactic
By Janine Zúñiga (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. January 30, 2009
The Gomezes, who lease 38 acres in the Tijuana River Valley, noticed a sudden spike in abandoned bikes on the property in late 2007. Over the years,
Jesse Gomez has picked up uncounted knapsacks, jackets and water bottles left behind by people illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border onto his
Tijuana River Valley farm. But lately he's been stumbling across bikes, dozens and dozens of them. Beach cruisers, mountain bikes and roadsters. The
occasional Trek or Huffy, but mostly cheaper models with rusted frames and torn seats.
So many bikes that Gomez has outfitted his extended family, neighbors and friends and donated surplus to his church. The U.S. Border Patrol, which
also has noticed the increase in bike crossings, had been donating bicycles it found in the area to a local prison to refurbish. “But in the past
year, they have become such an issue,” Border Patrol spokesman Jerry Conlin said. “The prison was getting inundated to the point they couldn't handle
all the bikes and had to stop that program.”
Border crossers along California's rugged southwestern edge are hopping aboard the two-wheelers to evade agents and to more easily navigate the rocky
mesas that straddle the two countries. “For them, it's a quicker means of getting from Point A to Point B on that type of terrain,” Conlin said. No
one is sure exactly when the border-bike phenomenon began or why, but Gomez and his son, David, 22, said they began noticing the bikes in late 2007.
“All of a sudden, it just started,” Gomez said.
Border Patrol agents have apprehended bicyclists in Arizona and Texas, according to news reports, but not in the numbers seen in south San Diego.
Border Patrol officials say riders abandon the bikes after being apprehended or ditch them to avoid getting caught.
Rafael Hernandez, director of the Border Angels humanitarian group that searches for lost border crossers, said he also has seen more bikes lately. He
said riders hoist the bikes over the border fence using rope and try to blend in with the regular bike traffic on Hollister Street and Monument and
Dairy Mart roads in the river valley.
“They're hoping the Border Patrol thinks that because they have bikes, they're from around the neighborhood,” Hernandez said.
Biking may be quicker than walking and provide camouflage, but it's not without its dangers on the cobblestone-covered hills between the border and
the first roadways about half a mile north.
One border crosser told Hernandez that he accidentally rode off a cliff while on a bike.
“He said it was dark and he couldn't see where he was going,” said Hernandez, who took the man to a hospital after he was deported to Tijuana.
He had a concussion and bruises but no broken bones, Hernandez said.
Gomez leases about 38 acres in the river valley, much of it flat farmland. But about 8 acres are south of Monument Road, near the border. On one day
alone, the Gomezes found 14 bikes on their property. They also met a Border Patrol agent whose Jeep was parked near several abandoned bikes.
Gomez now has more than 150 bicycles of all varieties on his property – and that's after donating some to his church. Each of his family members has a
bike assembled from the best parts of recovered bicycles.
“We like those beach cruisers,” Gomez said. “We get our exercise. We ride to Border Field State Park and around the farm.”
Border Patrol spokesman Conlin said his agency checks serial numbers on all bikes that agents find and looks for evidence that they might have
transported drugs. None has been reported stolen in the United States.
In 1995, agents began sending abandoned bikes to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, where inmates restored them and donated
them as holiday gifts to the county's court school program and continuation school students.
When the prison program became overwhelmed by the large number of bikes, agents began donating them to Goodwill Industries of San Diego County. Conlin
said 256 bikes were delivered in the past year to Goodwill.
The bikes are cleaned and sold “as is,” said San Diego Goodwill Chief Executive Mike Rowan.
“Their option could have been to trash them, but instead they decided to reuse and recycle,” he said. “We get all kinds, from old, rusty, broken-down
ones to nice new ones that are fun to ride. People buy them.”
Conlin said a new secondary fence being constructed at the border should slow down the bicycle crossings. It will create a wide and better-protected
open space between the old fence and the new one.
Gomez wonders how long border biking will last. Some of his neighbors used to collect the bikes, but most don't go out of their way any more to pick
them up from the roads surrounding their properties.
“The first few bikes, that was exciting,” Gomez said. “But then, it's like, oh, we gotta go pick them up.”
Staff writer Hiram Soto contributed to this report.
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CaboRon
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Interesting story, thank's for posting .
CaboRon
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elgatoloco
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Remember when they allowed bike crossers to use the auto lanes? There was a cottage industry that developed where people provided bikes to walkers so
they could get across quicker. That program stopped and maybe the "suppliers" found another customer base?
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by elgatoloco
Remember when they allowed bike crossers to use the auto lanes? There was a cottage industry that developed where people provided bikes to walkers so
they could get across quicker. That program stopped and maybe the "suppliers" found another customer base? |
It became beyond ridiculous. People would walk through with rented bikes without tires just to get into the fast lane. There was a dedicated lane for
bicycles.
An enterprising man may have resurfaced with his inventory of new bikes which he purchased at the tail end of the bike lane. He bought a lot of them
and shortly thereafter, the program was abruptly closed down.
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Woooosh
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by elgatoloco
Remember when they allowed bike crossers to use the auto lanes? There was a cottage industry that developed where people provided bikes to walkers so
they could get across quicker. That program stopped and maybe the "suppliers" found another customer base? |
It became beyond ridiculous. People would walk through with rented bikes without tires just to get into the fast lane. There was a dedicated lane for
bicycles.
An enterprising man may have resurfaced with his inventory of new bikes which he purchased at the tail end of the bike lane. He bought a lot of them
and shortly thereafter, the program was abruptly closed down. |
A perfect unlimited source for free bikes FTD can share with the TJ kids!
\"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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elgatoloco
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I recall reading an article in the UT where they interviewed the guy who waited on the US side with a van and he would collect the "rented" bikes and
take them back across the line to be used again. He said he and his partners were doing lots of business. Sounds like he found a new market.
Found this on the google.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060429/news_1b29bi...
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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motoged
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Rumarosa route???
I doubt many will cross on the Rumarosa trails
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsDjh7oAAP0
Don't believe everything you think....
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postholedigger
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| Quote: | Originally posted by motoged
I doubt many will cross on the Rumarosa trails
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Yikes! Penalty for failure indeed...
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