Salt Lake City Grapples With Illegal Immigration

It's hard to imagine what the founding fathers would make of the scene that plays out every day along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Thousands and thousands of people, mostly Mexicans, steal across the border to be in the United States.

Many of them come to Utah. Latinos are now the largest minority in the country and in Utah. Between legal and illegal immigrants, 19 percent of Salt Lake City, Utah's capital, is now Latino and some area residents aren't very happy about that.

America is rightly called a nation of immigrants, but their welcome has seldom been with open arms. A sampling of recent calls to Salt Lake City's KTALK radio reveals no small amount of antipathy toward Latinos who've eluded the U.S. Border Patrol and settled themselves and their families in the midst of Salt Lake City's predominantly white, Mormon community.

Callers to the station phone in to say they're sick and tired of Mexicans coming to American and having babies, others want to put up a fence along the border, others say they feel like foreigners in their own country.

KTALK host Jim Kirkwood said, "Hispanics who are coming in here and now in a recession are taking jobs away from people who need it. What we have going on is an absolute attack on this country."

'Addicted to the Mexican Worker'

Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans are lured across the border every year by the hope of finding work. Despite the lingering recession that's taking a particularly tough toll on working class Americans, many low-wage service industry jobs go unfilled by white Americans. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said he doesn't believe the Mexican immigrants are taking jobs away from American citizens. "We have about the same unemployment rate we've always had. It's about 3 1/2 percent. These jobs are not being filled by American citizens," Anderson said.

"The Hispanic community here is at the base of our economic ladder. I often say we're addicted to the Mexican worker," said Robert Bussen of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in the affluent community of Park City. "They're working in the service industries, they're in our hotels, they clean your rooms, they clean the floors, they're in our restaurants, they wash your dishes, they bus your tables. We would be paralyzed without these people," he added.

Like earlier waves of immigrants, such as Italians and the Irish, Mexicans often fill a need here for cheap labor. The immigrants that came to America in the 19th and early 20th century entered the country legally and eventually did become citizens. America needed workers, and the immigration laws, which left the borders largely open, were written with that in mind.

Today, immigration policy favors educated immigrants or relatives of American citizens. Many unskilled Mexicans, coming to find any kind of work, are breaking the law the moment they set foot on American soil.

Looking the Other Way

While many Mexicans are making a choice to break the law in hopes of finding work and a better life in America, many U.S. officials are choosing to look the other way. "Any person in any community knows that you can go to just about any job site in the United States, involving construction, or, or in your fields, or in your hotels, and you can make an arrest. We choose not to, simply, we don't have the resources. And, look, I believe that the Hispanic community is critical to Utah," said Robert Flowers, who headed the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command.

Flowers' point is illustrated by the fact that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has 22 agents in Utah, while the state's illegal population is nearly 75,000.

If an illegal immigrant is working in America but otherwise living a law-abiding life, the chances are small that authorities will find and arrest the worker, according to Steve Branch, who heads the INS office in Salt Lake City.

The message being sent here is simply this: the federal government and the state of Utah are looking the other way. The economy needs illegal workers and the authorities are not about to go looking for them. It is a message that resonates deep into Mexico, and Mexicans find it irresistible.

Father Bussen thinks our powerful economy be enticing Mexicans to break the law. "Our economic vortex was so powerful and our needs for their labor so great, that we have literally pulled out of Mexico their youngest, their best, their hardest-working people."

Who Gets to Be an American?

In a country that defines itself by ideals, not by shared blood, who should be allowed to come here, work here, and live here? In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks these questions have never seemed more pressing.

On Dec. 11, 2001, as part of the effort to increase homeland security, federal and local authorities in 14 states staged "Operation Safe Travel" — raids on airports to apprehend employees with false identification working in secure areas. In Salt Lake City, the site of the Winter Olympics, there were 69 arrests, the most in the country. But the arrests captured people who are anything but terrorists. Most of the individuals arrested were illegal immigrants from Central or South America. Authorities said the undocumented workers' illegal status made them vulnerable to blackmail by terrorists.

Many people in Salt Lake City's Hispanic community were outraged by the arrests and said they felt as if they were being treated like disposable goods.

Mayor Anderson said those feelings were justified to a certain extent. "We're saying we want you to work in these places, we're going to look the other way in terms of what our laws are, and then when it's convenient for us, or when we can grandstand, or when we can try to make a point in terms of national security, especially after Sept. 11, then you're disposable. You and your families. There are whole families being uprooted here for all of the wrong reasons," Anderson said.

If Sept. 11 had never happened, the airport workers would not have been arrested and could have gone on quietly living in America, probably indefinitely. Ana Castro, a manager at a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop at the airport, had been working 10 years with the same false Social Security card when she was arrested in the December airport raid. Now that she, her husband and their two daughters are living under the threat of deportation, Castro said, "Probably everything that we have done is not worth it." Castro's case is currently pending. While she awaits the outcome, the government has granted her permission to work in the United States and she has returned to her job at Ben & Jerry's.

Gilberto Rejon, another airport worker arrested in Operation Safe Travel, is also living in uncertainty in Utah. His wife is expecting a child, and the government is allowing him to stay in the country until his baby is born. However, he cannot work here. A judge will make a decision about his future early next year. "I know I have done wrong. You know, I know have done wrong … but I did not kill anybody. You know, I respect everybody. … I just came here for one purpose: to work, to send my kids to school to give them an education and to help the other ones that stayed behind," Rejon said.

Hoping for Amnesty

Almost every illegal Mexican worker knows the story of President Ronald Reagan and amnesty. In 1986 President Reagan signed a law that gave amnesty to people who had entered the country and were working illegally.

The law required illegal immigrants to register with the government and provide proof they had been in "continuous unlawful residence" in the country for at least five years.

It was intended to be a one-time thing to stop illegal immigration. Instead, it attracted more Mexicans.

"There is a force drawing these people here that all of us are participating in. If there's a lure for them to come here, to work, and we know there is, and yet we don't have any legal avenue for them to be here, then we're not addressing the bigger problem, which is the need for them to be here and the lack of a legal avenue for them to be here," said Sharon Preston, who specializes in immigration law.

A Harvest for Mexico

While many American communities are reaping the benefits of cheap labor, Mexico is benefiting as well. Mexicans who are working in America illegally send more than $9 billion of their modest earnings back to family members in Mexico every year, according to Dr. Juan Hernandez.

Hernandez, who was appointed Mexican President Vicente Fox to be an advocate for Mexicans living in America, said this influx of dollars is vital to the Mexican economy.

Still, Hernandez stressed that recent studies say that only about 15 percent of the illegal immigrants earnings are sent to Mexico. "The other 85 percent they spend right here, investing it right here in the United States, paying taxes right here in the United States," Hernandez said.

President Bush and Mexican President Fox have a friendly rapport and have each expressed a desire to strengthen U.S.-Mexico ties. When Fox addressed the U.S. Congress in September 2001, he said Mexico was "seeking an agreement to address the status of Mexican immigrants already working and living in the United States, already contributing to enrich this nation."

Any thought of an agreement about immigration was overwhelmed when the United States was attacked. It is not a problem, however, that can be ignored for long, not with an estimated four million illegal Mexicans already here, and more on the way.

Source - http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/grapples.htm

Hospitals Feeling Strain From Illegal Aliens

STUART, Fla.— In the two and a half years since Luis Jiménez arrived at the Martin Memorial Medical Center emergency room with severe brain damage from a head-on car collision, the hospital here has become his home.

In that time, Mr. Jiménez, 30, a former gardener, has emerged from a coma, had two birthdays and accumulated medical bills of almost $1 million. By all accounts, he is well enough to be discharged, but the hospital and advocates for the patient are in a conflict over his mounting medical bills and future care that makes his release unlikely without a court order.

A penniless illegal immigrant from Guatemala, Mr. Jiménez has no health insurance, and his injuries have left him with limited mobility and the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. Martin Memorial wants to send him back to his homeland for any remaining medical care. But Mr. Jiménez's advocates insist that he must remain at the hospital until it can find a suitable place in the United States or Guatemala that is willing to care for him.

The impasse is at the center of a national debate over who is ultimately responsible for illegal immigrants who require extensive medical care but have no means to pay for it. The issue has become an increasing concern for health care providers, particularly in Florida and border states with growing numbers of illegal immigrants.

Federal law requires hospitals to provide emergency care to critically ill or injured patients regardless of their immigration status. But because many illegal immigrants work in low-wage jobs that offer no benefits, and cannot qualify for Medicaid, they use emergency rooms as their primary source of routine and critical health care. As the number of such patients increases sharply in states like Florida, California, Texas and Arizona, so too does the financial burden on health care centers that treat them, hospital administrators say.

''We have people coming to our country in good faith to work, but we have no system in place as a nation as to what to do when these people get sick,'' said Pat Austin, a spokeswoman for Martin Memorial. ''Each hospital is left to kind of figure out what to do for itself.''

The hospitals insist that they are not turning away critically ill or injured people, but they are becoming more aggressive in seeking ways to release them. Some hospitals are going to court seeking permission to discharge patients like Mr. Jiménez. Federal lawmakers are seeking financial aid to reimburse hospitals for treating indigent illegal immigrants, and some hospitals have taken unusual steps, including putting nurses on planes to fly the patients back to their own countries.

Such measures, though, have done little to stem the rising costs, the health care providers say.

''We have tried to work on this for years, but the problem has gotten more acute,'' said Sheri Jorden, senior policy director for the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. ''Hospitals have been writing these bills off with great difficulty.''

According to a study released last month by the National Association of Counties, 86 percent of 150 counties nationwide reported an increase in uncompensated health care expenses in the last five years. Of those reporting an increase, 67 percent cited a growing number of immigrants as a factor in the rising costs for county hospitals and rescue services.

''Most of the counties receive money from the state and federal government,'' said Jacqueline Byers, director of research for the association, ''but it is not nearly enough to meet the growing need.''

According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the number of illegal immigrants in the United States increased to as many as eight million in 2000, the last year for which figures are available, from five million in 1996. By some estimates, hospitals are collectively writing off as much as $2 billion a year in unpaid medical bills to treat the illegal immigrants, who, unlike American citizens and permanent residents, are ineligible for Medicaid.

In one case at Martin Memorial that was resolved in February, an illegal immigrant from Jamaica arrived at the emergency room with a sore on his leg and stayed in the hospital for 17 months.

''He said he had a green card but couldn't find it,'' Ms. Austin said. ''The doctors found a serious vascular disease and he had to have both legs amputated.''

''After his surgeries, when he was well enough, we had a great deal of difficulty figuring out what to do next,'' Ms. Austin added. ''We eventually found some relatives and a physician in Jamaica who was willing to accept him, and one of our nurses flew with him to Jamaica. By the time all that happened, it had cost us probably over half a million dollars.''

In the case of Mr. Jiménez, Martin Memorial says it has already incurred nearly $900,000 in expenses for which it has no hope of being paid.

''We feel there needs to be a national program of some sort that would cover these individuals with insurance,'' Ms. Austin said, ''or in the case of catastrophic events, allow the hospital a chance of repayment.''

Martin Memorial has been unable to release Mr. Jiménez because the patient's guardian and the hospital cannot agree on a discharge plan. The hospital has petitioned a judge for permission to send Mr. Jiménez back to Guatemala. No state medical center will accept him, since his immigration status makes him ineligible for Medicaid.

Mr. Jiménez's lawyer contends that the hospital has not provided enough information about where the man will be placed and who will treat him. Mr. Jiménez's family in Guatemala does not have the money to pay for his care.

''The hospital is saying he's occupying a bed and we need to get him out,'' said Michael Banks, a lawyer who has donated his services to Montejo Gaspar, Mr. Jiménez's cousin by marriage and his court-appointed guardian. ''We have made it unequivocally clear that we have no problems sending Mr. Jiménez to Guatemala, but we feel a plan is not in place.''

In Arizona, where hospitals have grappled with similar problems, the University Medical Center in Tucson wrote off more than $3 million in costs between July 2000 and June 2001 that it incurred from treating uninsured immigrants, said John Duval, chief operating officer for the center. ''I don't know that there's a societal solution to the problem,'' Mr. Duval said, ''but we are doing an enormous amount of heavy lifting with no compensation.''

Another Arizona hospital, Southeast Arizona Medical Center in Douglas, filed for bankruptcy and nearly closed in 1998 because of the rising costs of treating illegal immigrants. The problem has become so bad in Arizona that a state program that provided free dialysis and chemotherapy for legal and illegal immigrants will run out of money in a couple of months.

The issue has prompted hospitals in several states to seek assistance from sympathetic lawmakers. Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, introduced a bill in January 2001, co-sponsored with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, that would provide $200 million a year for four years to reimburse health care providers in border regions.

Representative Jim Kolbe, Republican of Arizona, introduced a similar measure in June 2001 that would establish a $50 million reimbursement program for hospitals and ambulance services in his state. The Border Hospital Survival and Illegal Immigrant Care Act would guarantee that medical providers are compensated for treating illegal immigrants. Both bills are stalled in committees.

''It is not a top priority for many,'' Mr. Kolbe said. ''It does happen everywhere, but where you see it every day is here along the border.''

Photo: Luis Jiménez in his room at Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, Fla., at the end of a visit with his cousin Juana Gaspar and her son, Lucas. (David Friedman for The New York Times)

Source - http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/us/hospitals-feeling-strain-from-illegal-immigrants.html

Mexican ID Card Gets Illegal Aliens Access to Banks

WASHINGTON – Mexican citizens living in the United States are allegedly being illegally helped by at least one national banking chain that now accepts a card issued by the Mexican government as valid identification for opening accounts. But an immigration reform group says those banks are violating federal law.

"We were approached by the Consulate General of Mexico to help find solutions to the barriers that Mexicans are encountering when trying to open a checking or savings account at a U.S. bank," said Lynn Pike, regional president for Wells Fargo in metro Los Angeles announcing the decision last year. "It became clear that one of those barriers is having forms of identification that are accepted by banks.

Wells Fargo accepts the Mexican "Matricula Consular" - or Certificate of Consular Registration - as a "primary" form of identification in place of other forms of U.S.- or state government-issued identification. Wells Fargo also requires applicants to have a major credit card, department store credit card, or student identification card with a photo to open an account.

Abetting Illegal Aliens

"By removing this barrier," Pike explained, "we want Mexican citizens to know that Wells Fargo welcomes their business and wants to be the financial services company of choice for the Hispanic community."

The Matricula Consular is a photo identification card issued by local consulates to Mexican nationals living in foreign countries. The card is valid for five years, and applicants are not questioned about their immigration status. It costs applicants $29.

"These cards are issued almost exclusively to illegal aliens," charged Craig Nelson, director of ProjectUSA, an advocacy group created "to inform the public" about "mass immigration and overpopulation."

Information published by the Mexican government corroborates Nelson's claim.

"The Certificate of Consular Registry is exclusively for Mexican citizens, independent of their legal stay in this country," according to a translation of the Matricula Consular page of the Mexican Consulate's Web site in San Diego.

"If someone were in the country legally they wouldn't need the Matricula Consular," Nelson explained. "They would have official U.S.-issued identification, and they would use that to open a bank account."

Criminal Act

By "welcoming the business" of illegal aliens, Nelson said banks are breaking the law. He points to Title 8 Section 1324 of the U.S. Code.

The law mandates that: "Any person who ... encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law ... or aids or abets the commission of any of the preceding acts ... in which the offense was done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain, shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both."

The implication, Nelson believes, is clear.

"Courts have held that the word 'encourage' there means allowing an illegal alien to stand equally with an American citizen," he explained. "To us it seems plain that opening a bank account for an illegal alien encourages the illegal alien to remain in the United States."

Wells Fargo maintains, however, that it is not the bank's responsibility to inquire about the immigration status of its customers.

"We don't feel that we're breaking the law because we don't bring [aliens] in, nor do we harbor anyone," said Julia Tunis, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo. "And, the Matricula card does not induce anyone to come to the United States."

Calls to the Mexican Embassy in Washington seeking comment on ProjectUSA's allegations were not returned before the filing of this story for publication.

Source - http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/8/19/150601.shtml

Millions of Mexican Illegal Aliens Endanger U.S. Security

WASHINGTON – The millions of Mexican illegal aliens in the United States endanger national security by creating a demand for false identity documents and smuggling networks that could also assist terrorists, experts said Tuesday.

The three experts, speaking at a panel hosted by Nixon Center and Center for Immigration Studies, also said that amnesty for Mexican illegal aliens in the United States should not be considered until immigration enforcement at the U.S.-Mexican border is strengthened.

Robert Leiken, a guest scholar at Nixon Center, said that Mexican illegal aliens themselves did not pose a terror threat. But operating in the shadow economy, they help to undermine the rule of law in the United States and in Mexico, he said.

"Mexican immigrants are not a direct threat to homeland security," Leiken said. "The real problem is that a large illegal population creates an active market for illegal documents."

Leiken said that helping Mexico guard its borders should be one of the most important items on the U.S.-Mexico foreign relations agenda, especially in light of Sept. 11. Another critical aspect of control should be increased immigration law enforcement within U.S. workplaces, he said.

"Earned legalization must be sufficiently stringent as to discourage illegal immigration, something the 1986 'amnesty' failed to do. That is why the program must be linked not only to shared U.S. and Mexican border responsibility but also to regularly enforced employer sanctions," he said.

George Grayson, a professor of government at the College of William and Mary, said that the Mexican Ministry of the Interior needed to improve the reach and the behavior of its border agents.

His 2001 study of the conditions for illegal aliens at the Guatemalan-Mexican border showed that more than 100 criminal organizations continue to move migrants across the frontier, at times through the assistance of corrupt border officials.

Middle Eastern, African, and Asian aliens are among the many passing through from Central America, creating a U.S. security threat, the experts said. Despite recent enforcement reforms and crackdowns by the United States and by Mexican President Vincente Fox, illegal immigration continues steadily, they said.

'A Sieve Blasted by Buckshot'

"The Mexican-Guatemalan border is a sieve blasted by buckshot. There are more than 200 clandestine crossing points," Grayson said.

Post-Sept. 11 border security has been a major consideration to the Bush administration. The president's 2003 budget contained money to double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol and major increases in Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Under Bush's plan for a Department of Homeland Security, all border and port security would be handled in one agency and the administration anticipates far greater control over who enters or leaves the country. The annual legal quota for Mexican immigrants is 75,000. Before Sept. 11, Fox and other Mexican officials requested that the quota be raised to 250,000, even if the Mexicans were permitted in only as temporary guest workers.

An amnesty program for the millions of illegal Mexican workers in the United States was a key Mexican request at a February 2001 presidential summit between Fox and George W. Bush. But since Sept. 11, amnesty and legalization programs have taken a back seat to border enforcement, the experts said.

In his remarks, Leiken also said he believed more Mexican illegal aliens should receive legal spots in the United States to reduce the pool of illegals.

But Steven Camarota, director of research at Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that is often critical of open immigration policy, said he thought U.S. policy should focus on reducing the number of Mexican and low-skill immigrants.

Taxpayer Subsidy to Cheapskate Employers

His research showed that Mexican immigrants, legal and illegal, were costing U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars a year though their use of public assistance. He thinks their benefit to the economy is small.

"In effect, Mexican immigration acts as a subsidy to businesses that employ unskilled workers, holding down labor costs, while taxpayers pick up the costs of providing services to a much larger poor and low-income population," he said.

Source - http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/8/6/143102.shtml

Congressman: 'Parasitic' Illegal Aliens Burden U.S. Hospitals

As Congress considers a reorganization of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, some members are also taking a closer look at the cost of illegal immigration, especially to the nation's hospitals.

"We basically want to know ... how much these hospitals are being hit ... and what are their recommendations [as to] what we should do," Chris Paulitz, a spokesperson for Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., told CNSNews.com. "It's just hard for these hospitals to keep staying afloat with this, especially in our area in Florida."

In a recent letter to U.S. Comptroller General David Walker of the General Accounting Office, Foley acknowledged the legal and moral responsibility of hospitals not to turn anyone away, but expressed concern over the financial burden imposed as "hospitals are inundated with thousands of illegal immigrants seeking medical care.

"We need to remedy this problem before we can no longer afford to take care of Americans," Foley said. "The parasitic effects on our health care system must be inoculated immediately.

'Rules Apply' to Foreigners Too

"The world must realize that, while we gladly accept its tired, poor and huddled masses, we also have rules that govern their entrance," he explained. "We must make clear that these rules apply to both foreign nations and its citizens."

Foley stated in an op-ed earlier this year that the U.S. "should not be burdened because of the failure of a foreign nation to maintain responsibility for its people." He is now asking the GAO to make recommendations on possible solutions for alleviating this problem.

Tanya Broder, staff attorney and policy analyst for National Immigration Law Center (NILC), disagreed with Foley's actions.

"The cost of treating an undocumented person isn't different from the cost of treating another uninsured adult," she stated. "The only issue is that our federal government is excluding some persons from public health coverage because of their immigration status.

"Claiming that the solution to uncompensated care is getting rid of undocumented immigrants ignores the fact that a growing number of citizens and lawfully present immigrants do not have access to health care," Broder added. "We need to reexamine how we care for the uninsured throughout our health care delivery system."

However, David Ray, a spokesman at Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said American taxpayers, not illegal immigrants, are the ones suffering discrimination.

Taxpayer Gets 'Short End of the Stick'

"The only person getting the short end of the stick in this whole bargain is the taxpayer and disadvantaged Americans who rely on public health centers to stay alive," said Ray, pointing out that illegal aliens "are showing up for free health care and then going home." If a U.S. citizen tries to do that, Ray said, the hospitals would "find ways of extracting payment from you, by hook or by crook."

American Hospital Association has a system that keeps track of general uncompensated care, defined as the "estimated cost of bad debt and charity care to the hospital." According to AHA's records, the national uncompensated care cost in 2000 was $21.6 billion, or 6 percent of total expenses.

Ray pointed out that Federation for American Immigration Reform's estimate of the national cost incurred by illegal aliens for Medicare and Medicaid is $3.7 billion.

"It's an enormous cost and can be very crippling, especially in border states," Ray explained. "The federal government is the one that's dropping the ball in allowing poor immigration enforcement to [negatively affect] the state's pocketbooks."

Cecilia Munoz, a policy analyst at National Council of La Raza, calls efforts to change immigration at the health care level "unrealistic" and said "focusing on what happens in hospitals is not going to provide immigration reform."

To Ray, however, even if Foley's efforts don't alleviate the problems in Florida, "it's always useful to remind us [of] all the enormous costs associated with illegal immigration."

Source - http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/7/15/165415.shtml

Illegal Aliens Cause Traffic Pile-up That Kills 7

EL CAJON, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol on Tuesday was investigating a deadly pile-up caused by a van packed with illegal aliens apparently trying to evade an immigration checkpoint.

Six people were killed and around 30 were injured Monday night, all because the van traveled the wrong way on an interstate freeway outside San Diego. A seventh person died Tuesday.

The wreck involved five vehicles and 43 people. It closed Interstate 8 on the rural eastern outskirts of El Cajon for 10 hours.

"The van was not being pursued at the time by any agencies," CHP officer Steven Lopez said Tuesday.

The maroon Dodge van had been spotted by the Border Patrol around 9 p.m. PDT near Buckman Springs driving westbound toward San Diego with its headlights off in the eastbound lanes of I-8, the main road link between San Diego and Arizona.

A few minutes later, Lopez said, the van sideswiped two Honda sedans near El Cajon and then struck a Ford Explorer head on, sending the sport utility vehicle over an embankment, killing the driver and injuring a passenger. A Toyota van then struck the crippled Dodge van.

The unidentified driver of the Dodge was among five people killed in the van, which was filled with 33 illegal aliens from Mexico, Brazil and other Latin American nations.

Six of the injured had to be airlifted to some of the eight hospitals that treated victims from the crash. Firefighters returning from a nearby brush fire were on the scene within minutes, Lopez said.

It was not clear whether the seventh person who died had been in the Dodge van or the Explorer, he said.

The remote area, about 45 miles east of San Diego, is routinely exploited by smugglers driving vehicles crammed with illegal aliens.

The crash was the second this year in San Diego County involving a large number of criminal aliens. A van struck a boulder on Route S2 on May 15, injuring 15 occupants.

Source - http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/6/25/141620.shtml

Pregnant rancher kills illegal alien intruder

SAN ANTONIO -- An undocumented immigrant looking for something to eat in a stranger's kitchen was shot and killed by a pregnant woman in her Edwards County ranch home, border officials said.

Police believe Gonzalo Lopez Castaneda, 32, and two other immigrants, were looking for food in the woman's kitchen Tuesday when he was shot once in the chest with a hunting rifle.

Lopez had worked on an area ranch and was returning there after going to Mexico for Christmas, Edwards County Sheriff Don Letsinger said.

The ranch where he was killed is about 50 miles from the Texas-Mexico border.

The case will be turned over to the district attorney.

The sheriff and Mexican consular officials said the woman woke from a nap to find two men trying to cut through a window screen and a third, Lopez, standing in her kitchen after apparently kicking in the back door.

San Antonio Attorney J.A. Garcia, who represents the Mexican Consulate, said the two other immigrants told him they overhead Lopez and the woman seconds before the shooting.

"They could hear Lopez telling the woman they were hungry as she became hysterical," Garcia told the San Antonio Express-News for today's editions. "They heard the lone shot and both ran.

"It is an unfortunate incident where another undocumented alien is looking for food and made the mistake of actually breaking into a home."

The two other men were being held as material witnesses in Edwards County Jail.

The shooting, which happened about 80 miles northeast of Del Rio, near Rocksprings, marks the latest casualty in the region plagued by violence involving immigrants and Texans trying to protect their property.

At least eight times in the past three years, area residents have shot immigrants. Two have died.

Source - http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/pregnant.htm