Frontera NorteSur June 2000

Anne Marie Mackler, FNS Editor

Polleros Abandon their Clients in the "Promised Land"

Polleros, or hired guides who promise they can get undocumented immigrants across the U.S. México border, often abandon their clients after getting their money and before the trip is complete.

Salvador Retamosa, 71, from Zacatecas México, had mentioned to a few friends that he wanted to go north to the state of Kansas, so when he was approached by two men offering the trip and the promise of a legal crossing and a laser visa, Retamosa agreed.

Retamosa gave the men all of his money, $200, and they did bring him north, but only to a commercial center in Cd. Juárez, where they dropped him off and told him to wait for them. They never returned.

"They've been doing this a lot in the last year," said a business person in the area who has helped the older man. "Sometimes they abandon entire families after taking all of their money."

Source: El Diario

Governor Promises to Investigate Immigration Corruption

Chihuahua State Governor Patricia Martínez announced on April 17 that an investigation would begin into the business of trafficking immigrants and the cover-up by officials at all three levels of the government. Anyone found involved in these illegal activities will be punished or sanctioned as dictated by law.

Assistant Attorney General Alejandro Astudillo Sánchez said that the department of internal affairs (CAI) in the state attorney general's office initiated an investigation of the police agents in Palomas, Chihuahua on the New Mexico border.

However, the attorney general explained that it is not just the local personnel that need to be investigated; the illegal trafficking has a national route, from the very south of the country to the very north. Sometimes immigrants arrive by plane to Cd. Chihuahua, and sometimes they have arrived there by helicopter from their countries of origin. The corruption, he believes, is on a very grand scale.

Source: El Diario

U.S. Border Patrol Invades México and Shoots a National

On May 14, U.S. Border Patrol Agents crossed into México near Tijuana and shot at a Mexican immigrant. R.L. Burgess was identified by witnesses as the agent that shot the gun and he was accompanied by six other agents. José Vega Bastida, 37, was shot in the left leg on Sunday night after he had attempted crossing the river, but turned around and sat on the river's edge to put on his shoes when the agents came after him.

Polleros Named "Public Enemy Number One"

In Tucson, Arizona on May 13 officials from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service declared that the "polleros," or guides who take money to bring illegal immigrants across the U.S.-México border, are "public enemy number one." The representatives demanded that the polleros receive the death penalty if convicted in the U.S. Now they can receive anywhere from five to 15 years.

Because of the lack of consideration for the health and welfare of the people that the polleros promise to bring into the country, they should be punished severely, said Johnny Williams, representative of the regional INS.

Reports are numerous of immigrants who are abandoned and mistreated by the polleros after paying sometimes high fees to make the trip to the U.S.

Source: El Diario

New Immigration Center Planned for Chihuahua

In order to control the increasing number of undocumented people who are travelling north through the state of Chihuahua, the Mexican National Institute of Migration (INM) has announced the plan to construct a new center in the southern part of the state.

Ricardo Martínez Dozal, regional INS spokesperson, says that the inspection station project is being managed carefully with the intention of improving security in the state. The project will move along as quickly as it gets the support from the state and federal government that it needs.

Source: El Diario