10A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
▼ IMMIGRATION
NEWS
MONDAY, MAY 8, 2006
Child immigrants cause concern
BY OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TJUANA, Mexico — Alejandro Valenzuela, a loquacious 12-year-old, memorized the details of a borrowed U.S. birth certificate and jumped in the front seat of his smuggler's car.
Tired from a two-day bus trip to the border, from Mexico's central state of Jalisco, Alejandro soon fell asleep. He was
awakened by the flashlight of a U.S. immigration inspector.
"I told him in English, 'I'm an American citizen,' but he kept asking questions. That's all the English I know," Alejandro said as he rested at a child welfare office back in town.
back in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.
Alejandro is one of a rising number of children trying to sneak into the United States without their parents. Some hide in cars or try to pass themselves off as U.S. citizens, while others ride inner tubes across the Rio Grande or trek through the harsh Arizona desert.
These are criminals working with sophisticated smuggling organizations that will go to any length to make money."
Since October, about 70,000 children have been detained along the Mexican border, a 5 percent increase over the same period a year earlier, the U.S. Border Patrol says.
prompted the United States to tighten security along its southern border, making it harder to sneak in. Rather than risking a return to Mexico to get their children, many migrants are paying smugglers to bring them north.
Like Alejandro — who wants to get to Corona, Calif., to join a father he hasn't seen in nine years — most children are heading north to reunite with parents living illegally in the United States.
Experts say that number will likely increase if the U.S. Congress presses ahead with plans to tighten border security even more.
The Sept. 11 terror attacks
In the traditional method of crossing children, a smugger
Adele Fasano U.S. Customs and Border Protection
drives across the border pretending to be a relative of the child, who is carrying false or "borrowed" documents. But border agents are giving closer scrutiny to documents, and smugglers are trying other methods.
"We're seeing a very dangerous trend of stuffing minors in trunks, in hidden compartments, in washing machines, even in gas tanks," said Adele Fasano, director of field operations for the San Diego district of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Last August, border inspectors found a 10-year-old boy who had been sedated with cough medicine and crammed inside the dashboard of a van. The boy was unconscious and dehydrated, Fasano said.
Fasano said many of those children had to be treated for respiratory distress or burns from being near hot engines.
"These are criminals working with sophisticated smuggling organizations that will go to any length to make money," Fasano said.
Hit me with your best shot
Kelly Harris, Overland Park junior, takes a swing at a pinata during a Cinco de Mayo celebration at "Dad" Perry park on Friday. The celebration was sponsored by Sigma Lambda Gamma and Delta Gamma sororities and Sigma Lambda Beta and Beta Theta Pi fraternities. Along with the pinatas, the celebration included food, a live DJ and games, Cinco de Mayo festivities celebrate the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Pueblo in 1862.
Nicoletta Niosi/KANSAN
Man to row old slave trade route
WORLD
BY HEIDI VOGT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DAKAR, Senegal — A New Yorker set off from West Africa on Sunday to become the first black American to row solo across the Atlantic.
Victor Mooney, 41, said the voyage in his homemade, 24-foot boat is to raise awareness of AIDS in Africa and memorialize the route that took African slaves to the Americas.
Africans "went through slavery and now they're going through AIDS and being devastated again," said Mooney, who lost a brother to the disease.
About 50 people gathered
on the beach to watch Mooney head off toward his hometown — many saying they wished him well, but weren't sure why he was undertaking the dangerous adventure.
He's crazy.Everybody wants to go to America,but not like that."
"He's crazy," said Gaston Sabaly, who works at a beachside restaurant. "Everybody wants to go to America, but not like that."
Mooney's craft has no backup sail or motor, and he is rowing with no accompanying boat. He said the French military has promised to send planes over his route occasionally to check on him.
Fewer than 50 people have completed solo rows across the Atlantic, according to the England-based Ocean Rowing Society. Four have been lost at sea in the attempt and nearly 40 have had to abandon their trips, the group says.
Gaston Sabaly Senegal resident
Mooney said he is the first to attempt the trip from Africa. He hopes to reach the Americas in about 120 days. Wind patterns and currents mean he'll likely hit the Caribbean first, then start up the U.S. East Coast toward the Brooklyn Bridge — which he aims to reach by
October.
October His trip was delayed for nearly a month in Senegal to fix a keel broken by fishermen who tried to move his boat by rolling it on logs. He called the delay a surprise boon because it gave him time to know the local population.
Mooney said the boat and its supplies are worth more than $100,000, but he got most of his materials as in-kind donations.
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