Excerpts from:

8 hours on the border

Quote:The influx of families and children from Central America is just one of the many changes Romero has seen in his 13 years of service.

Back when he started, the people he apprehended were mostly from Mexico and included many undocumented workers coming to fill jobs. In those cases, they were usually quickly deported back to Mexico.

These days, the El Paso sector, which includes all of New Mexico, is coping with a 430 percent increase in family migration. Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released the latest numbers for the entire border, and February set a record with more than 76,000 parents with children and juveniles arriving on their own.

In most cases, they have paid smugglers to drop them off near the border.

Most of the attention has focused on large groups crossing at remote spots like Antelope Wells in southwest New Mexico, but many migrants are now choosing to cross in or near El Paso and Sunland Park.

By week’s end, agents took in more than 1,000 people in El Paso alone. Across the border in Mexico, Ciudad Juárez has become a hub for people seeking asylum, like Imelda Garcia.

“My son is in danger,” she said in an interview. Gang violence is a pervasive threat in El Salvador. But she said the small girl in a winter coat who walked across the border with them is not her daughter.

“She’s alone,” Garcia said. “Poor thing.” The child, Estela Enriquez, said she is 14, and that she is trying to get to Virginia to reunite with her mother.



Minors are handed over to Health and Human Services, which cares for them in shelters until a parent or other relative who can serve as a guardian in the U.S. is located.

An unaccompanied child crossing into the U.S. isn’t uncommon here. But something is unusual about this group that catches Romero’s attention.

“They weren’t dirty at all. Their shoes were clean,” Romero said. Their appearance suggests the trio did not walk far and were probably dropped off right at the border.

In fact, the smaller groups often pay extra to be delivered to a spot right on the border where they can turn themselves in to an agent.

Garcia did not want to reveal details about how they got from El Salvador, but Romero said he’s sure they used a human smuggler.

What was particularly unusual about this group was that two Juárez City Police vehicles followed behind them up to the border while a third unit watched.

“Not one unit, three for three people,” Romero said with concern, wondering whether some police were on the payroll of smugglers.

Border Patrol agents often talk to Mexican police they see right on the border and work together in some instances, according to Romero. But this time the police vehicles took off quickly when they spotted his uniform.

A Juárez City Police spokesperson said the department “had no knowledge of that situation.”

Quote:Along another stretch of border in Sunland Park, Romero peeked around a gap in the border fence.

“This is where we’ve seen a few of the large groups come through. They come to the end of the fence, come right around this edge and make their way and turn themselves in to the agents here,” he said.

Others appear at an opening in the fence a few miles east of the state line, inside El Paso city limits. As he’s driving down the highway, Romero sees four people standing in that spot. Two are carrying red suitcases.

“They look like they’re on their way to Disneyland,” Romero said, referring to the well-dressed woman and young man.



They tell him they are from Brazil and only speak Portuguese. The woman has highlighted hair, wears gold earrings and carries what looks like an expensive purse. In a few words of broken Spanish, she says her traveling companion is her 17-year-old son.

Romero suspects they paid smugglers for a “premium package.”

“Those people told us they flew in. They’re not as tired. They’re not as worn,” Romero said.

The Brazilian woman looks worried when Romero pulls her son aside to check for weapons, a standard procedure.

Soon a Border Patrol vehicle arrives to transport them – as well as another Brazilian woman with a little girl – to the processing center. While most of those crossing the border seeking asylum are Central Americans, a growing number are Brazilians and Cubans as well.

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