Notes from the border

Crossing the border illegally is a lucrative business, no longer the province of enterprising coyotes preying on desperate people. In Sonora, Mexico, from Altar to Sasabe, the industry of smuggling people across the U.S./ Mexico border is controlled by the drug cartels. The wait is long and the prices vary but it is all carefully controlled by organized crime.

Pharmaceuticals are part of the industry. Particularly antibiotics and birth control pills. Rape is so common that women protect themselves months in advance. Still they cross.

Illegal substances are also a large part of this industrial complex. The border patrol said it seized 1 million pounds of marijuana last year. Much of it comes in on trucks, some comes in carried by migrants. It is difficult to reconcile my experience of carrying an 8 pound jug of water into the desert with someone carrying bundles of marijuana. The bundles weigh 50 pounds each and are carried in burlap slings attached with plastic rope, like a yoke. In addition, the migrant must carry water and any other personal effects. They walk, carrying those bundles, as much as 60 miles. They walk over the harsh desert mountain landscape, in the dark, over ground mined with movement sensors. We were told that if caught by border patrol most drop their bundles and run. However, if they lose their drugs the cartel kills them. Are these migrants truly evil drug traffickers or are the cartels using anyone they can to move illegal drugs? It seems to me that my country has a responsibility for this activity. It is our demand for these substances that the cartel is happy to supply.