[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 40 (Thursday, March 21, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E404-E407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2202, IMMIGRATION IN THE NATIONAL 
                          INTEREST ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. BRIAN P. BILBRAY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 19, 1996

  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, as the House of Representatives begins 
debate on our comprehensive immigration bill today, I would like to 
focus on the human costs of our current immigration policy to highlight 
our most compelling argument for reform.

[[Page E405]]

  I grew up in San Diego County, who can actually see our neighbors 
across our border with Mexico from his own backyard, I brought a unique 
perspective from San Diego to Washington when elected to Congress.
  Specifically, I was interested in educating Washington about its 
failed immigration policies, and the financial costs and human 
tragedies that these policies produced.
  I would like to enter into the Record the following news articles 
from my hometown paper, The San Diego Union Tribune. These are 
headlines that me and my constituents see every day. The news stories 
are a common occurrence, appearing with the same predictable regularity 
as our weather reports.
  Let me read you a few.
  From March 29, 1995: ``Fall kills border agent in foot chase.''
  From May 5, 1995: ``Alien smugglers are packing cars for perilous 
treks.''
  From January 26, 1996: ``Border crosser, told to pack no provisions, 
dies in mountains.''
  From February 22, 1996: ``31 immigrants caught in stolen vehicles.''
  And just this morning: ``Immigrant-document counterfeiting plant 
raided; 12 arrested.''
  Most illegals who enter our country are seeking a better life, 
however, this motivation leaves them vulnerable. In San Diego, illegals 
will literally risk life and limb running up I-5 during rush hour 
traffic.
  Illegals crossing the Mexico border starve before losing their way, 
or die of exposure in the mountains. We hear constant reports of the 
horrific, filthy, inhumane conditions they endure at the hands of 
smugglers, or ``coyotes.''
  Alien smugglers make money from their human cargo, and often entangle 
drug smuggling and other criminal activities in this enterprise. 
Illegal aliens are robbed and murdered; women and girls are brutally 
raped and abused by those involved in this insidious activity.
  As someone who grew up on our border with Mexico, someone who has 
pulled the corpses of illegals who drowned trying to cross the Tijuana 
River, I would like to tell you that this country's immigration system 
is broken, as these tales of tragedy and loss illustrate.
  I hope that our debate does not focus on intentions. Those who seek a 
better life in the United States should not be vilified.
  However, we must remove the attractive nuisance of public benefits 
which are available to illegal immigrants; we must give employers a way 
to verify the legal status of new employees, we must eliminate the 
backlog of legal immigrants waiting to be granted access--those who 
wish to abide by our laws but are frustrated by the pace of 
assimilation, and thus inclined to break the law to enter the United 
States.
  These are the distorted set of incentives that current immigration 
law has created.
  These distorted incentives reward those who break our laws, and 
frustrate those who wish to abide by them.
  Our current immigration system antagonizes and is contradictory to 
the very basis of the American dream. The American dream is based upon 
freedom and hard work.
  However, if those who wish to be American citizens enter our country 
illegally, they cannot expect to enjoy the benefits of our freedom; 
they cannot legally work to support themselves and their families; 
therefore they cannot hope to leave a better future for their children.
  I hope that my colleagues will join with me to reform our immigration 
laws to create a more compassionate system, and eliminate the 
incentives in our current laws which cause so much suffering.

      Immigrant-Document Counterfeiting Plant Raided; 12 Arrested

                          (By Leonel Sanchez)

       San Ysidro.--U.S. Border Patrol agents brought down a one-
     stop illegal immigration service operating out of an 
     apartment here yesterday, confiscating more than 3,000 fake 
     documents.
       Agents arrested 12 people at the apartment and seized 
     material used to make phony immigration documents, including 
     ``several official Mexican and United States immigration 
     seals and stamps,'' a Border Patrol spokesman said.
       The noontime raid came as illegal border crossings in the 
     San Diego area were on the increase. A phony legal U.S. 
     residence card, also known as a ``green card,'' can cost up 
     to $500, Border Patrol spokesman Jim Pilkington said.
       ``Our agents disrupted a substantial and sophisticated 
     false-document ring and dealt a serious blow to a very 
     sophisticated organization,'' Pilkington said.
       He said the investigation continues and more arrests are 
     expected.
       The raid followed a two-month investigation by agents 
     assigned to ``Operation Wildcat,'' which targets smugglers in 
     San Ysidro.
       Agents hit pay dirt when they executed a search warrant at 
     an unidentified apartment near Interstate 5. They found eight 
     men and women who had recently crossed the border illegally 
     and were waiting to be transported north. Pilkington said 
     they were to be deported.
       The four others arrested at the apartment were U.S. 
     citizens-and legal U.S. residents. At least three of them are 
     facing felony charges of immigrant smuggling and 
     counterfeiting.
       Agents initially reported finding only 200 phony documents 
     in the apartment but later said they found many more in 
     different places.
       In all, they found 2,000 immigration documents, including 
     Mexican passports; travel permits; border crossing, legal 
     residency and work authorization cards; and California driver 
     licenses.
       Agents also seized $5,000, four cellular phones and special 
     scissors, glue, ``and numerous photographs'' that were to be 
     material to make fake documents.
                                                                    ____


                 Fall Kills Border Agent in Foot Chase

                          (By Leonel Sanchez)

       A midnight dash after illegal immigrants cost a Border 
     Patrol rookie his life yesterday. It was the first local 
     death in the agency in 20 years.
       The agent, Luis A. Santiago, 30, fell from a steep cliff 
     while chasing a group of people near a dam in Otay Lakes.
       ``It was just a tragic accident that could have happened to 
     any of our officers,'' said local Border Patrol Chief Johnny 
     Williams. ``It points to the dangers of doing this job.''
       Sheriff's and Border Patrol investigators said Santiago's 
     death was accidental.
       It comes at a time when the Border Patrol is cracking down 
     on illegal immigration along San Diego County's border with 
     Mexico, where more illegal crossings occur than anywhere else 
     along the 2,000-mile international boundary, Part of that 
     crackdown has included an unprecedented influx of rookie 
     agents fresh from the agency's training academy in Georgia.
       Santiago was among 279 new agents who have arrived here 
     since the October start of Operation Gatekeeper.
       The ex-military man had been on the force less than 10 
     months, the past six at the Chula Vista station. Agents at 
     the station patrol the area east of Heritage Road, which in 
     recent months has become the sector's hot spot for illegal 
     crossings.
       A concentration of agents to the west had shifted the 
     illicit traffic in their direction.
       At 12:40 a.m. yesterday, Santiago and three other agents--
     including a training officer--were patrolling a canyon area 
     near Lower Otay Reservoir when they saw a group of 15 to 20 
     illegal border crossers.
       The people scattered when they saw the agents approaching. 
     Santiago raced up a canyon rim after some of them, leaving 
     his fellow agents behind.
       The area on top has grass that quickly gives way to loose 
     rocks.
       That time of the morning, the grass is quite damp from dew 
     and slippery,'' Williams said. ``He tried to step around a 
     rock and lost his foothold.''
       Santiago fell at least 100 feet down a hill with jagged 
     rocks.
       The other agents heard a scream and rushed to find him.
       He was lying about 150 yards south of the dam. They 
     immediately tried to resuscitate him.
       Soon they were joined by paramedics. But they, too, were 
     unable to revive him.
       He died from head injuries, Border Patrol spokeswoman Ann 
     Summers said.
       Agents apprehended at least two illegal crossers in the 
     canyon, but they could not be linked to the group that 
     Santiago was chasing. They were expected to be deported.
       Santiago was to have completed the 10-month training period 
     next week and then would have been eligible to take a two-
     hour written and oral examination to become a permanent 
     Border Patrol agent.
       He lived in Chula Vista and is survived by family members 
     in his native Puerto Rico.
       Human rights activists have questioned whether the agency 
     in its haste to deploy agents on the line rapidly, is 
     allowing sufficient training time.
       Border Patrol officials defended the training, saying 
     safety is stressed at all times.
       ``No one is going to do anything to endanger their life or 
     anybody else's life, not intentionally,'' Summers said.
       New recruits spend four months at an academy in Glynco, 
     Ga., where they undergo weapon training and study Spanish and 
     immigration law.
       Afterward, they are sent to one of the agency's sectors for 
     an additional six months of training. They are teamed up with 
     experienced agents and learn about the area's terrain, 
     particularly the key paths used by the illegal crossers.
       Santiago was the first agent in the sector to die in the 
     line of duty since Glenn A. Phillips was killed in a vehicle 
     accident on the border in July 1974.
       And he was the second agent to die on the job this year 
     along the southern border. An agent was killed in a vehicle 
     accident while patrolling in south Texas, officials said.
       The mood among agents in the San Diego sector was somber 
     yesterday. It was in stark contrast to the previous day, when 
     morale ran high as 45 new agents arrived.
       The U.S. flag flew at half-staff at the sector's 
     headquarters in San Ysidro, and agents wore black ribbons 
     around their badges.
       Agents usually worry more about confrontations with illegal 
     crossers than about falling while running, said Brent 
     Johnson, 33, who has been on the force eight years.
       ``You can prepare yourself for the confrontations, but 
     there's little you can do to

[[Page E406]]

     prevent an unforeseen accident,'' Johnson said.
       Most of the serious injuries involve vehicle accidents on 
     hilly and bumpy roads. Agents also pay a physical price while 
     running after the crossers.
       ``Sometimes it's just a sprained ankle, a stubbed toe, a 
     broken finger, scrapes and cuts,'' Summers said. ``It's not 
     uncommon for agents to get injured, seriously injured. We've 
     been fairly lucky.''
                                                                    ____


                    Border Fugitive Plunges to Death

                            (By Stacy Finz)

       Repeating a tragedy in the dark, a man trying to evade a 
     U.S. Border Patrol agent plunged to his death and five other 
     men were injured when they ran off a 120-foot cliff near Otay 
     Lakes Dam Saturday night.
       The cliff is about 50 yards from the place where a Border 
     Patrol agent feel to his death last year while chasing 
     illegal border crossers.
       The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office are investigating 
     Saturday's events because of reports that the agent may have 
     fired his gun, panicking the group.
       The agent, whose name has not been released, has denied 
     firing his weapon. He has been assigned to administrative 
     duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
       Robert Walsh, the FBI special agent in charge of the San 
     Diego office, said the agent's gun is being tested to 
     determine whether it was fired.
       At a press conference yesterday, Border Patrol Chief Johnny 
     Williams said the agent was near Otay Lakes Dam when he 
     spotted a group of 15 suspected illegal crossers and hid in 
     the brush until they passed.
       He began tailing the group, and then ordered them to stop, 
     said Border Patrol spokesman Ron Henley.
       Nine complied. Six broke into a run, Williams said.
       Shortly thereafter, the agent heard cries and screams and 
     found that the six men had fallen off a sheer cliff. Williams 
     said.
       ``We see a lot of things in the course of our duty,'' said 
     Henley, who helped give medical aid to the injured men. ``But 
     to see this was like seeing a herd of cattle that had just 
     fallen off a cliff.''
       Henley said the men apparently didn't see the rugged drop, 
     which is filled with boulders and jagged rocks. The incident 
     happened about 9:40 p.m., according to the Border Patrol.
       An agent also was injured in the rescue operation and was 
     taken out of the area by helicopter.
       Four of the injured men have been released from area 
     hospitals and are being questioned, Williams said. They, and 
     the nine men who surrendered, are being held on suspicion of 
     entering this country illegally.
       Officials would not release their names, but said they are 
     men in their 20s and 30s who came from all parts of Mexico.
       U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin said smugglers should be blamed 
     for Saturday's death. Officials said they believe the 15 men 
     paid a minimum of $300 each to a guide, who brought them to 
     the isolated area, only about four miles from the border.
       ``The people who led these people here, and one man to his 
     death, have to be dealt with,'' Bersin said. ``As a matter of 
     public safety we must stop the smuggling of human beings. 
     These people are profiting off the misery of others' 
     poverty.''
       Bersin praised agents for what he called bringing law back 
     to the border. Regarding the investigation into whether the 
     agent fired his gun, Bersin said: ``Allegations are just 
     allegations at this point.''
       Saturday night's incident was reminiscent of rookie Agent 
     Luis Santiago's fall to his death last March, when he slipped 
     from a cliff while chasing a group of suspected illegal 
     crossers near the Lower Otay Reservoir. Santiago, 30, had 
     raced up a canyon rim after them and plunged 100 feet down a 
     hill with jagged rocks.
       No warning signs have been erected since the first 
     accident.
                                                                    ____


                31 Immigrants Caught in Stolen Vehicles

                           (By Maria C. Hunt)

       Thirty-one illegal immigrants who caught a ride through the 
     East County in stolen vehicles were captured by authorities 
     in two separate operations early yesterday.
       Those apprehended by the Border Patrol and other 
     authorities were sent back to Mexico voluntarily after the 
     incidents that began in Dulzura and Pine Valley.
       While it is not uncommon for Border Patrol agents to 
     capture that many in two hours, a spokesman said they usually 
     don't see vehicles so crammed with people.
       ``The fact that they were all in stolen vehicles, that's 
     unusual,'' said spokesman Mark Moody, ``And they both came 
     out of East County. That's where everything is taking 
     place.''
       Border Patrol agents working near the pine Valley Road exit 
     of Interstate 8 pulled behind a suspicious pickup truck and 
     tried to get it to stop about 5 a.m. When the driver did not 
     comply, the agents ended the pursuit for safety reasons. They 
     had lost sight of the truck for a few minutes when they 
     spotted a cloud of dust ahead.
       The truck had left the road and hit a guard rail of the 
     Pine Valley creek bridge, coming to rest on the other side of 
     the barrier. About 13 people got out of the truck and waited 
     while agents went down the embankment to chase a few people 
     who had tried to hide in the brush.
       When the agents returned, a sheriff's deputy helped them 
     extinguish a fire that had started in the truck. None of the 
     17 people captured needed medical treatment, Moody said. 
     Although most of the people in the truck, which had been 
     reported stolen from San Diego, were captured, authorities 
     were unable to identify the driver.
       About an hour later, Border Patrol agents arrested 14 
     People who had been traveling in a double-horse trailer 
     pulled by a pickup truck, said spokesman Jim Pilkington.
       Shortly after the truck was stolen from the owner's front 
     yard around 6 a.m., someone drove it through the Highway 94 
     checkpoint without stopping. Agents in a marked Border Patrol 
     car tried to get the westbound truck to stop, but the driver 
     kept going, so they ended the chase.
       Undercover agents were following at a safe distance as the 
     truck drove onto northbound Interstate 805 and pulled to the 
     median near Murray Ridge Road, Pilkington said. When the 
     truck stopped, about 30 people spilled out of the trailer and 
     truck and scattered across the freeway.
       While 14 of those people were apprehended, the rest got 
     away.
       None was hit by cars and no collisions occurred.
                                                                    ____


     Border Crosser, Told To Pack No Provisions, Dies in Mountains

                          (By Leonel Sanchez)

       Alpine.--The medical examiner said Jose Luis Centeno died 
     of natural causes.
       But it was probably his ordeal in the East County mountains 
     that killed the 35-year-old Mexican on Wednesday.
       He was among a group of illegal border crossers whose 
     smugglers told them not to pack any food or water because 
     they would be hiking for only five hours, the Border Patrol 
     said.
       Centeno and a friend became separated from the group and 
     spent four days wandering in the rugged mountains, where 
     overnight temperatures dipped near freezing.
       Border Patrol agents found the two men by the side of 
     Japatul Road near Hidden Glen before dawn Wednesday.
       Centeno was having difficulty breathing and went into 
     cardiac arrest.
       Paramedics tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead 
     an hour after being found.
       His friend, Demetrio Moreno Esquivel, was interviewed later 
     by the Mexican Consulate, but information on his whereabouts 
     was not available yesterday.
       Centeno died in a mountain area where agents from the Campo 
     station are increasingly making arrests.
       Campo agents made 2,735 arrests last month, compared with 
     853 in December 1994.
       The Border Patrol's crackdown in the Imperial Beach area 
     has deliberately pushed the illegal immigrant traffic east of 
     the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
       Thus, illegal border crossers are being forced to find new 
     routes to enter the United States.
       Some have paid the ultimate price.
       On Saturday, a still unidentified illegal border crosser 
     was killed when he and five others ran off a cliff near a dam 
     near Otay Lakes while trying to elude a Border Patrol agent. 
     A second man suffered head injuries and was in a coma 
     yesterday at UCSD Medical Center.
       In East County, agents said, they routinely find illegal 
     border crossers who have been hiking for days to reach a 
     point where they are picked up for their journey north.
       Most carry food and water with them and do not suffer 
     tragic consequences, said Jim Pilkington, a spokesman for the 
     Border Patrol.
                                                                    ____


           Alien Smugglers Are Packing Cars for Perilous Trek

                          (By Leonel Sanchez)

       The weekend crash that killed three people and injured 16 
     in Jamul has highlighted a dangerous trend in the smuggling 
     of illegal immigrants through East County.
       Smugglers are recklessly crowding people into vehicles and 
     taking them on perilous rides on windy mountain roads in 
     Jamul, Dulzura, Tecate and Campo.
       ``They don't care how they pack them in. All they care 
     about is the money,'' said U.S. Border Patrol spokeswoman Ann 
     Summers.
       The Jamul crash underscored the risks illegal immigrants 
     take to get North.
       Thirty-six people were crammed in the Ford van that struck 
     a pickup truck Saturday night on state Route 94. The crash 
     killed the pickup driver and two van riders.
       Agents were not surprised by what happened.
       They have been seeing large groups of illegal immigrants, 
     sometimes up to 100, congregated in the desolate stretches in 
     East County near the border.
       Many cross on foot, jumping or going around the steel fence 
     near the Tecate border crossing, then board a van or truck 
     waiting nearby to take them to Los Angeles. They pay as much 
     as $375 apiece.
       In East County, state Route 94 has become the smugglers' 
     preferred route to get to major roads and freeways, where 
     they can blend into traffic.
       From Tecate, state Route 94 leads to Jamacha, Otay Lakes, 
     Honey Springs and Buckman Springs roads.
       Guides familiar with the area's mountainous terrain are in 
     heavy demand as are smugglers with access to large vehicles.
       East County mountain residents are feeling the impact of 
     the new traffic and are complaining to authorities.

[[Page E407]]

       Border Patrol officials have met with residents and re to 
     meet again May 15 at the Dulzura Community Center.
       ``We've told them we're concerned about it too and are 
     getting resources there to deal with the problem,'' Summers 
     said.
       Overtime pay has been approved for more agents to work in 
     East County, she said.
       Illegal crossings have risen there mostly because the U.S. 
     Border Patrol has been effective in stopping illegal traffic 
     farther west in the Imperial Beach-San Ysidro area.
       Arrest records for the past seven months show the illegal 
     crossing hot spots now are near Chula Vista, Brown Field, El 
     Cajon and Campo.
       Arrests in Imperial Beach were down 52 percent in April 
     compared with the same month last year from 23,855 to 11,348, 
     according to records.
       Elsewhere in the 66-mile-wide sector, arrests continued to 
     soar.
       Arrests in Chula Vista, Broken Field and El Cajon rose 34 
     percent, 126 percent and 824 percent, respectively, in April 
     compared with the same period last year.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       Arrests were down from March, however, when 61,687 were 
     made.
       Immigration officials maintain that their strategy is 
     working because the illegal traffic is shifting east to 
     isolated areas where they are easier to apprehend.
       Officials said they anticipated illegal crossings going up 
     during the first quarter of the year because of seasonal 
     labor patterns. The devaluation of the Mexican peso also has 
     been a factor.
       Would-be crossers are still arriving in Tijuana to probe 
     the border there or hook up with a smuggler. Many now end up 
     walking or riding to the border area in East County, said the 
     CHP's Summers.
       Some are trying to enter through the desert area near 
     Calexico. In past summers, people have gotten lost there and 
     died.
       In East County, meanwhile, smugglers appear to be brazen 
     and reckless in their attempt to move their human cargo 
     north. Agents are foiling their trips near the border and as 
     far north as Temecula.
       In the past month, agents at that southern Riverside County 
     check-point have intercepted five vehicles loaded with 
     illegal immigrants, something that's relatively rare there.
       The most recent happened hours apart Tuesday when agents 
     found 97 illegal immigrants in two rental trucks. Agents 
     found one of the trucks on the median of Interstate 15 with 
     38 people aboard.
       In April, agents found a rental truck abandoned in De Luz 
     Road in Fallbrook. Inside were 48 illegal immigrants. Three 
     women who had fainted were treated for heat exhaustion and 
     dehydration.

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