Art from a St. Michael's church bulletin
Here are several recent news items related to the problem of illegal immigrants in the Arizona desert. Yes, I'm ranting about that again.
1. "Coyote" caught posing as a No More Deaths Samaritan. A smuggler of illegal aliens was arraigned today after being caught driving with his human cargo in a van marked to look like a No More Deaths organization van. The smuggler (they're called coyotes) was also dressed like a member of this Samaritan group, which often ferries victims of heat stroke and dehydration to hospitals. No More Borders has announced that they willl start changing their logo frequently (and let the Border Patrol know what the current genuine vans look like) to prevent a reoccurrence.
Arizona Daily Star article
2. Death toll rises as migrants die en route to California farm country. Ten people started from the Arizona-Sonora border, and tried to cross what is reputed to be one of the deadliest stretches of desert in the U.S. The goal: farming jobs in Fresno. Of the ten, at least six are dead (including the coyote), and two more are in the hospital. The estimated death count since 10/1/03 is up over 170 now.
Arizona Daily Star (autopsies, 5 deaths)
3. Concern rises that some of the illegal border crossers are terrorists. The ease of getting into Mexico from other countries has resulted in worries that not everyone sneaking in from Sonora is from Mexico or other Latin American countries. The relatively porous border into Arizona is in some ways an easier entry point than, for example, a U.S. airport. However, I've yet to see any evidence that there are any al Qaeda agents out there. The closest I saw to that was a mention that home countries of some of the thousands of non-Mexicans caught included India, South Korea and Poland. Gee, I'm scared. There are certainly drug smugglers out there among the coyotes and people looking for a better life. But terrorists? Maybe, but it doesn't sound very likely. Sure, go ahead and watch for them, though--along with all those other people.
Arizona Daily Star
There are other sources to check, but these were the easiest to get to.
Karen
Previous entries on this subject:
Ordinary Heroism
Let 'Em In
Arizona, Rain and Those Hazy-Crazy Memories of Summer
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