[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.

____________________