Dressing up the chickens

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On Trips to Mexico, Some Americans Bring Back Mexicans Monday, November 17, 2003

Joel Millman Wall Street Journal

Authorities Catch and Release Many US Smugglers; No Charges for Mr. Soto
San Ysidro, California - Daniel Jon Crawford, a 35-year old store clerk who lives in a suburb of San Diego, likes to go to Tijuana to drink cheap beer and meet women. One recent Saturday night, he found himself broke and unable to resist when a man calling himself Jose offered Mr. Crawford $375 to drive a dirty white Saab to a parking lot on the U.S. side of the border.
When U.S. Customs agents stopped the car at the border, they discovered three men from sourthern Mexico in the trunk, One said they had each paid $1,500 to be smuggled into San Diego.
Mr. Crawford was held for a few hours and released. "For a first time, all you get is a slap on the wrist.", he said while waiting in the Border Patrol's spacious detention area.
At one of the busiest and most tightly controlled border crossings in the world, Mexican smuggling rings have found a way to respond to heightened security following the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks: outsourcing the operation to U.S. citizens. Although would-be immigrants still make the dangerous trek across the desert, at least as many are trying to sneak in with Americans directly under the noses of border authorities. The Americans, if caught are rarely prosecuted. That's true even of repeat offenders.
Each day, over 50,000 vehicles come into the U.S. through Sam Ysidro where check-cashing services and cut-rate motels line the main streets. Authorities can stop and search 1,000 vehicles at most, say officials from the Department of Homeland Security. The overworked U.S. attorney's office in San Diego generally recommends against prosecuting anybody caught with fewer than 12 people in tow - particularly if the human cargo has been treated humanely.
"They just take you, hold you and call your parents", says 18-year-old U.S. citizen who shares a trailer home with his girlfriend's family in nearby Imperial Beach. Mr. Soto has been caught on multiple occasions bringing people across the border, authorities say.
Smuggling has created a mini-employment boom here for single mothers, military personnel and especially teenagers who know the dance clubs where potential customers hang out. Between July 2001 and August 2002, the most recent data available, the Immigration and Naturalization Service counted nearly 400 cases at this checkpoint alone involving smugglers younger than 18 years old. Most of these juvenile smugglers were let go.
"The number of cases exceeds the available resources in the criminal justice system", says Adele Fasano, San Diego director of the Bureau of Customs and and Border Protection under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "We prioritize and prosecute the most egregious ones."
The weekend of Mr. Crawford's attempt, border officials pulled 130 people from trunks, door panels, and under the seats of various vehicles. On Friday, officials caught one U.S. driver, a 16-year old high school dropout, with two would-be immigrants hidden under the hood of his truck. On Saturday, inspectors pulled a man from a Pontiac Grand Prix in which the gas tank had been removed to create a "clavo" or secret compartment. The driver held a Florida driver's license.
All told that weekend, at least 30 of the 47 cars caught carrying people trying to sneak across were driven by Americans recruited by smuggling gangs. Only two of these Americans were prosecuted, federal authorities say.
In August 2001, Celica Munoz, then a 17-year-old junior at Chula Vista's Palomar High School, accepted $300 to pose as a passenger in a car bringing in four Mexicans. She was caught at the border, questioned and fingerprinted but not charged. Both driver and passenger were released, while the human cargo was sent home.
Two months later, Ms. Munoz tried again. With the border tougher to cross after Sept 11, she was offered $1,000 to split with a driver - in this case her mother. A Tijuana smuggler they knew only as Berta gave clear instructions: Pick up a rented Chevrolet behind a supermarket in Tijuana and drive it to the Walmart on Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach. Again, she was caught and released.
Ms. Munoz, who by this time had dropped out of school, was detained again two months after that, with an undocumented Chinese man in the trunk. She says she's tried smuggling only on three other occasions, and doesn't consider it a crime. "I heard if you have one or two or three in your car, you won't get prosecuted", she says.
Mr. Soto, who dropped out of Imperial Beach's Mar Vista High last June also hasn't been charged, even though he admits to smuggling potential immigrants hundreds of times since 2001 and to being caught on six occasions. Federal officials confirm that Mr. Soto has been detained multiple times, including three times over a 48-hour period last April.
The skinny youth says smugglers recruited him at his after-school job at an Old Navy store in a border outlet mall. He says he got so good at bringing across the borders would be immigrants - known as "pollos" or chickens because of the way they are herded by smugglers across the border - that he often worked at night, earning $500 per job. Skipping morning classes, Mr. Soto would stroll onto the campus around noon, flaunting cash.
He bought support as well as popularity. He says friends at school loaned him cars for $300 and others asked him to join his crew. Mr. Soto says says he became adept at customizing cars, removing gas tanks or hollowing out rear seats.
After Sept. 11, gangs needed more recruits than ever, Mr. Soto says. Instead of one U.S. driver brining in one pollo from Tijuana, smugglers would hide their customers among groups of U.S. citizens to better disguise their intent. Mr. Soto says he concocted elaborate scenarios matching Americans posing as dates returning from Tijuana. "Dress shirts, nice skirts", Mr. Soto describes the dress code. "No baggy pants. Unless you got an old funky car, then you want to match the couples to look like the car."
Mr. Soto gave $200 to a "cover" sitting closest to the pollo (usually hidden in the seat, or under a blanket or a pile of coats), and $100 or $150 apiece to two students posing as dates.
School administrators concede that such activity takes place. "If it happens on weekends or off-campus, there's not much we can do", says Sidney Porch, coordinator of the Sweetwater Union High School district "safe schools" program, a liason between the school district and the police force.
Mr. Soto has just become a father, says he no longer crosses pollos into the U.S. Instead, he makes $8 per hour as a dishwasher in a downtown hotel. He quit in part for preparation for parenthood and also because he was warned by a friendly Border Patrol agent that he could end up in jail. There are plenty of of kids willing to take his place, Mr. Soto says, especially those who can answer the first question the Customs agent asks: "Are you a U.S. citizen?"

On Trips to Mexico, Some Americans Bring Back Mexicans	Monday, November 17, 2003
Joel Millman	Wall Street Journal
Authorities Catch and Release Many US Smugglers; No Charges for Mr. Soto San Ysidro, California - Daniel Jon Crawford, a 35-year old store clerk who lives in a suburb of San Diego, likes to go to Tijuana to drink cheap beer and meet women. One recent Saturday night, he found himself broke and unable to resist when a man calling himself Jose offered Mr. Crawford $375 to drive a dirty white Saab to a parking lot on the U.S. side of the border. When U.S. Customs agents stopped the car at the border, they discovered three men from sourthern Mexico in the trunk, One said they had each paid $1,500 to be smuggled into San Diego. Mr. Crawford was held for a few hours and released. "For a first time, all you get is a slap on the wrist.", he said while waiting in the Border Patrol's spacious detention area. At one of the busiest and most tightly controlled border crossings in the world, Mexican smuggling rings have found a way to respond to heightened security following the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks: outsourcing the operation to U.S. citizens. Although would-be immigrants still make the dangerous trek across the desert, at least as many are trying to sneak in with Americans directly under the noses of border authorities. The Americans, if caught are rarely prosecuted. That's true even of repeat offenders. Each day, over 50,000 vehicles come into the U.S. through Sam Ysidro where check-cashing services and cut-rate motels line the main streets. Authorities can stop and search 1,000 vehicles at most, say officials from the Department of Homeland Security. The overworked U.S. attorney's office in San Diego generally recommends against prosecuting anybody caught with fewer than 12 people in tow - particularly if the human cargo has been treated humanely. "They just take you, hold you and call your parents", says 18-year-old U.S. citizen who shares a trailer home with his girlfriend's family in nearby Imperial Beach. Mr. Soto has been caught on multiple occasions bringing people across the border, authorities say. Smuggling has created a mini-employment boom here for single mothers, military personnel and especially teenagers who know the dance clubs where potential customers hang out. Between July 2001 and August 2002, the most recent data available, the Immigration and Naturalization Service counted nearly 400 cases at this checkpoint alone involving smugglers younger than 18 years old. Most of these juvenile smugglers were let go. "The number of cases exceeds the available resources in the criminal justice system", says Adele Fasano, San Diego director of the Bureau of Customs and and Border Protection under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "We prioritize and prosecute the most egregious ones." The weekend of Mr. Crawford's attempt, border officials pulled 130 people from trunks, door panels, and under the seats of various vehicles. On Friday, officials caught one U.S. driver, a 16-year old high school dropout, with two would-be immigrants hidden under the hood of his truck. On Saturday, inspectors pulled a man from a Pontiac Grand Prix in which the gas tank had been removed to create a "clavo" or secret compartment. The driver held a Florida driver's license. All told that weekend, at least 30 of the 47 cars caught carrying people trying to sneak across were driven by Americans recruited by smuggling gangs. Only two of these Americans were prosecuted, federal authorities say. In August 2001, Celica Munoz, then a 17-year-old junior at Chula Vista's Palomar High School, accepted $300 to pose as a passenger in a car bringing in four Mexicans. She was caught at the border, questioned and fingerprinted but not charged. Both driver and passenger were released, while the human cargo was sent home. Two months later, Ms. Munoz tried again. With the border tougher to cross after Sept 11, she was offered $1,000 to split with a driver - in this case her mother. A Tijuana smuggler they knew only as Berta gave clear instructions: Pick up a rented Chevrolet behind a supermarket in Tijuana and drive it to the Walmart on Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach. Again, she was caught and released. Ms. Munoz, who by this time had dropped out of school, was detained again two months after that, with an undocumented Chinese man in the trunk. She says she's tried smuggling only on three other occasions, and doesn't consider it a crime. "I heard if you have one or two or three in your car, you won't get prosecuted", she says. Mr. Soto, who dropped out of Imperial Beach's Mar Vista High last June also hasn't been charged, even though he admits to smuggling potential immigrants hundreds of times since 2001 and to being caught on six occasions. Federal officials confirm that Mr. Soto has been detained multiple times, including three times over a 48-hour period last April. The skinny youth says smugglers recruited him at his after-school job at an Old Navy store in a border outlet mall. He says he got so good at bringing across the borders would be immigrants - known as "pollos" or chickens because of the way they are herded by smugglers across the border - that he often worked at night, earning $500 per job. Skipping morning classes, Mr. Soto would stroll onto the campus around noon, flaunting cash. He bought support as well as popularity. He says friends at school loaned him cars for $300 and others asked him to join his crew. Mr. Soto says says he became adept at customizing cars, removing gas tanks or hollowing out rear seats. After Sept. 11, gangs needed more recruits than ever, Mr. Soto says. Instead of one U.S. driver brining in one pollo from Tijuana, smugglers would hide their customers among groups of U.S. citizens to better disguise their intent. Mr. Soto says he concocted elaborate scenarios matching Americans posing as dates returning from Tijuana. "Dress shirts, nice skirts", Mr. Soto describes the dress code. "No baggy pants. Unless you got an old funky car, then you want to match the couples to look like the car." Mr. Soto gave $200 to a "cover" sitting closest to the pollo (usually hidden in the seat, or under a blanket or a pile of coats), and $100 or $150 apiece to two students posing as dates. School administrators concede that such activity takes place. "If it happens on weekends or off-campus, there's not much we can do", says Sidney Porch, coordinator of the Sweetwater Union High School district "safe schools" program, a liason between the school district and the police force. Mr. Soto has just become a father, says he no longer crosses pollos into the U.S. Instead, he makes $8 per hour as a dishwasher in a downtown hotel. He quit in part for preparation for parenthood and also because he was warned by a friendly Border Patrol agent that he could end up in jail. There are plenty of of kids willing to take his place, Mr. Soto says, especially those who can answer the first question the Customs agent asks: "Are you a U.S. citizen?"

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