Barren deserts, high mountains and dangerous gangs on the US-Mexican border are a more effective barrier to migrants than the wall planned by US President Donald Trump
Denis Duettmann -
It takes just 18 strong strokes for Adrian Valdezto row his aluminium boat to the other side of the Rio Grande, which is all that separates Mexico from the US between the village of Boquillas del Carmen and Big Bend National Park, in Texas.
“I go to the United States every day to pick up tourists. But I never go there over land. I don’t have a visa,” says Valdez. He works for the International Ferry Service on the Rio Grande.
That may sound like a a big transportation firm, but it is in fact a small family business: he takes about 40 visitors across the river everyday. Despite high levels of security on most of the US-Mexico border, including a wall along 1,000 km of it complete with drones and US Border Patrol officers on quads, the crossing at Boquillas del Carmen is a relatively pleasant prospect.
If you cross into the United States there, you only need to have your passport scanned, look at the camera and call the Border Patrol office in El Paso, more than 500 km away.
The officer will ask how long you have been in Mexico, whether you have bought anything and how much money you are taking into the United States with you.
When they decide everything sounds fine, you will be allowed to go through.
This border crossing closes at 5 pm, and two days a week it does not open at all.
The Rio Grande is only waist-high in Boquillas del Carmen and because there is no Border Patrol facility there, crossing illegally from the Mexican state of Coahuila to the US state of Texas is very easy.
The actual risks lie beyond the borders, and make US President Donald Trump’s plans to build a wall along the entire length of it, to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling, look rather meaningless.
The closest town on the US side is Marathon, with under 500 people, and it is 150 km away. In between, there is nothing but desert, undergrowth and mountains.
In winter, night-time temperatures drop below zero, and in summer, midday temperatures can be as high as 45 degrees Celsius. On the Mexican side of the border, things are even worse. Boquillasdel Carmen is the last outpost, and the closest town, Muzquiz, is four hours away by car.
The region is also extremely dangerous: Los Zetas, a gang notorious for its brutality, is active in the area. Gang members often kidnap Mexican and Central American migrants and demand ransom from their families. Those who cannot pay up must smuggle drugs across the border for the cartel.
In recent years, Los Zetas have killed hundreds of migrants in several massacres in northern Mexico. “Every now and then we pick up illegal immigrants, but it is far fewer than in other stretches,” says US Border Patrol officer Ruben Sanchez.
He patrols the hinterland beyond the border with his colleagues, and the Border Patrol has set up a control post on the small road to Marathon. There, infrared cameras are used to check vehicles, and drivers need to show their documents.
“We sometimes find illegal immigrants at the national park,” says park ranger Michael Ryan. “We often need to give them treatment before handing them over to the Border Patrol.” Immigrants often get hurt or run out of water while crossing the desert.
Illegal immigrants often face major risks in the large desert on the Mexican side, even before they reach the US border.
The Beta Group, a special unit of Mexico’s immigration authority, saved almost 5,000 migrants who were in trouble last year, most of them in northern states. — dpa
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