Despite 'zero-tolerance' policy, many who cross border are repeat offenders
NOGALES, Mexico – Men and women recently deported from the United
States often sleep here at night among the dead in a pebble-strewn
graveyard, a hillside resting place, where winding, dusty trails bisect
stone markers decorated with candles, flowers and personal mementos.
But Franklin Alexander Ordonez Ordonez, from the violent Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, was preparing to sneak back into the United States, his fourth attempt following three U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions. Ordonez said no number of arrests would discourage him from a familiar goal: Find work in America and send money home.
“I’ll try until I make it,” Ordonez, 29, said in Spanish. “It doesn’t matter how many times it takes.”
His repeated arrests are a common story, too. Despite efforts by the
Border Patrol to deter migrants from entering the country without
authorization and curtail repeat offenses, interviews and data newly
obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting spotlight a revolving
door where agents still see many of the same faces again and again.
The number of immigrants caught crossing the border illegally by the Border Patrol is at historic lows, which authorities attribute to bolstered security measures and the faltering U.S. economy. But in more than 21,000 cases last year, agents apprehended border crossers who already had been caught six or more times.
According to the data, more than 100,000 cases involved two or more previous apprehensions. Five crossers had at least 60 apprehensions on their records when nabbed in 2012.
The findings, along with an upcoming report by a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, challenge the Border Patrol’s assertion that delivering consequences to offenders – criminal charges in the case of one program called Operation Streamline – can successfully dissuade people who are determined to enter the country.
First launched in 2005 in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio, Texas, sector by the Bush administration, Operation Streamline became a key enforcement tool. It has been billed as a deterrent because it calls for criminally prosecuting certain border crossers rather than sending them through immigration courts. But its effectiveness at stopping repeat offenders remains in question.
CIR obtained a database of immigration violations under the Freedom of Information Act, and it details about 365,000 immigration apprehensions made by the Border Patrol during the past fiscal year.
During the year, more than 183,000 people were apprehended for the first time, according to the data. Most are from Mexico, but tens of thousands more came from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. They might have been apprehended at other times throughout the year. In nearly 7,000 cases, no information is available on how many times they were caught previously.
As Congress grapples with the possibility of immigration reform, a
key element for some lawmakers is the expansion of Operation Streamline,
which the Border Patrol credits for reducing recidivism. Detractors say
it’s a costly strategy that jeopardizes due-process rights, clogs
federal courts and might not yield results the Border Patrol intends.
For years, the Border Patrol’s strategy has been to discourage crossers with fencing, surveillance technology and an increased number of agents standing watch over the nation’s boundary with Mexico, an approach known as “deterrence.”
“Deterrence is a failed strategy for the Border Patrol, even though that’s what they claim is our main goal,” said Shawn Moran, a vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing agents. “Displacement is actually what’s happening. We squeeze one area, they show up in another.”
Heather Williams agrees, but for different reasons. A federal public defender in Arizona until recently being named to the Eastern District of California, Williams said deterrence as a public safety tactic is supposed to prevent criminals – fraudsters, rapists and killers – from acting on the impulses of rage or greed. But it’s often family and jobs that fuel border jumpers, she said.
“It’s a desperation to improve one’s economic situation, or they’re returning to the United States because their ties are here,” Williams said.
Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security laud Operation Streamline as evidence that repeat violators will suffer the consequences with time spent behind bars. Border Patrol spokesman William Brooks said in an email that the agency’s so-called consequence delivery system, which aims to mete out punishment for nearly all unlawful crossers, has been effective, driving down recidivism rates from 24 percent in 2010 to 17 percent last year.
But Franklin Alexander Ordonez Ordonez, from the violent Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, was preparing to sneak back into the United States, his fourth attempt following three U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions. Ordonez said no number of arrests would discourage him from a familiar goal: Find work in America and send money home.
“I’ll try until I make it,” Ordonez, 29, said in Spanish. “It doesn’t matter how many times it takes.”
‘I’ll try until I make it’
Franklin Alexander Ordonez Ordonez (left) is from the capital city of
Honduras, considered one of the most violent places on earth. Speaking
from a graveyard in Nogales where he sought a shady reprieve close to
the Arizona border, Ordonez said he was on his way north and would be
trying for a fourth time to enter the country in search of work. He said
no number of Border Patrol arrests would be enough to discourage him.
“I’ll try until I make it,” Ordonez said in Spanish. “It doesn’t matter
how many times it takes.” He does not have family in the United States.
Three brothers and sisters are back home in Honduras.
Credit: Will Seberger/For the Center for Investigative Reporting
The number of immigrants caught crossing the border illegally by the Border Patrol is at historic lows, which authorities attribute to bolstered security measures and the faltering U.S. economy. But in more than 21,000 cases last year, agents apprehended border crossers who already had been caught six or more times.
According to the data, more than 100,000 cases involved two or more previous apprehensions. Five crossers had at least 60 apprehensions on their records when nabbed in 2012.
The findings, along with an upcoming report by a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, challenge the Border Patrol’s assertion that delivering consequences to offenders – criminal charges in the case of one program called Operation Streamline – can successfully dissuade people who are determined to enter the country.
First launched in 2005 in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio, Texas, sector by the Bush administration, Operation Streamline became a key enforcement tool. It has been billed as a deterrent because it calls for criminally prosecuting certain border crossers rather than sending them through immigration courts. But its effectiveness at stopping repeat offenders remains in question.
CIR obtained a database of immigration violations under the Freedom of Information Act, and it details about 365,000 immigration apprehensions made by the Border Patrol during the past fiscal year.
During the year, more than 183,000 people were apprehended for the first time, according to the data. Most are from Mexico, but tens of thousands more came from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. They might have been apprehended at other times throughout the year. In nearly 7,000 cases, no information is available on how many times they were caught previously.
Three decades in the U.S.
Raul Alvarado (foreground) said he entered the United States as an
8-year-old and spent 34 years living and working in California. He was
deported to Mexico after seeking to renew his green card at a federal
building in Bakersfield, Alvarado said. Officials there noted that
Alvarado had been convicted of a felony as a young man and ejected him
from the country. Alvarado said he then attempted to cross back into the
United States alone through the desert but turned himself over to the
Border Patrol after the trek turned treacherous. The English-speaking
Alvarado is now unsure what to do. “I don’t even have a blanket to sleep
in the graveyard tonight.”
Credit: Will Seberger/For the Center for Investigative Reporting
For years, the Border Patrol’s strategy has been to discourage crossers with fencing, surveillance technology and an increased number of agents standing watch over the nation’s boundary with Mexico, an approach known as “deterrence.”
“Deterrence is a failed strategy for the Border Patrol, even though that’s what they claim is our main goal,” said Shawn Moran, a vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing agents. “Displacement is actually what’s happening. We squeeze one area, they show up in another.”
Heather Williams agrees, but for different reasons. A federal public defender in Arizona until recently being named to the Eastern District of California, Williams said deterrence as a public safety tactic is supposed to prevent criminals – fraudsters, rapists and killers – from acting on the impulses of rage or greed. But it’s often family and jobs that fuel border jumpers, she said.
“It’s a desperation to improve one’s economic situation, or they’re returning to the United States because their ties are here,” Williams said.
Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security laud Operation Streamline as evidence that repeat violators will suffer the consequences with time spent behind bars. Border Patrol spokesman William Brooks said in an email that the agency’s so-called consequence delivery system, which aims to mete out punishment for nearly all unlawful crossers, has been effective, driving down recidivism rates from 24 percent in 2010 to 17 percent last year.
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