April 16, 1999
By Ben Fox
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ROSARITO, Mexico - Ana Maria Ventura helped her younger brother pack a small bag of food, knowing he was setting out on a risky journey.
She didn't know how he would travel or how long the trip would take. But she knew it was something Antonio, like thousands of other Mexicans, felt he had to do.
``I said goodbye and told him, ``Antonio, be careful out there,''' said Ms. Ventura, recalling that morning in her home on a dirt lane overlooking the beach resort of Rosarito. ``That was the last time I saw him.''
Ventura, 31, was one of eight migrants who froze to death this month when a surprise snowstorm hit the southeastern mountains of California. Most were wearing only light clothing.
The ill-fated journey is another example of the peril facing migrants who are making their way into a land of promise through a stretch east of San Diego to Tuscon, Ariz. - the busiest and most dangerous illegal crossing region along the 2,000-mile U.S. border.
More than 140 illegal immigrants died last year crossing from Mexico into California and Arizona, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. At least 28 have died this year.
The dangers have grown since Operation Gatekeeper went into effect in 1994, pushing migration east into the mountain and desert regions of Southern California. The policy tripled patrols from the coast to the mountains.
``They know the risks and they are afraid, but they will go anyway,'' said Gemma Lisot, director of a Catholic shelter for women and children migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. ``It's either die of hunger here or go look for a better situation elsewhere.''
Arrests of illegal immigrants fell 15 percent last year to about 240,000 in San Diego County, which covers the coast to the mountains. But arrests rose 55 percent to about 227,000 in Imperial County, the desert region to the east.
In the Tuscon area, arrests have quadrupled over five years to 387,000.
``They can't get through anywhere else. The effort that we've made in San Diego has caused the smugglers to pack up shop and move east,'' said Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for the INS.
The U.S. and Mexican governments have led public awareness campaigns to warn migrants about the dangers of crossing, such as a video shown to migrants who stay at shelters in Tijuana and signs along the border.
``They just say they'll be more careful,'' said Jaime Soto, director of a Salvation Army shelter in Tijuana.
The lure is money: Mexicans, on average, make $3.50 a day at home compared to the $5.75 hourly minimum wage in the United States.
That has motivated Matias Abandano, a 17-year-old from the southern state of Oaxaca, to try to cross the border seven times.
On his last attempt, he ran out of food after the second day, hiking on an empty stomach another day before Border Patrol agents caught him. He says he will stay in Tijuana for a while before one more try.
``Then I'm going home,'' he said.
Noemi Delgado, 31, said she and a friend hiked last month for three days in freezing weather before they were caught 40 miles east of San Diego near the Cleveland National Forest, the same site where the eight immigrants died last month.
She, too, is biding her time until she gets another shot.
``We Mexicans are stubborn. You keep sending us back, and we'll just keep trying to cross,'' Delgado said.
Ventura's first attempt was his last.
Four days after he and his 32-year-old sister said goodbye, news reports began to speak of dozens of migrants trapped in a snowstorm as they tried to cross the border through San Diego County.
Border Patrol agents and other searchers rescued more than 50 migrants, many of them unprepared for the cold, wet weather.
Ana Maria Ventura called relatives in Southern California, who said her brother hadn't arrived. She learned of his death days later.
Ventura, a farmer from the central Mexico state of Guanajuato, had a wife and three young children. He planned to return home as soon as he earned enough money to buy a herd of sheep.
He was the first in his family, which included nine sisters and their aging parents, to try to cross illegally, said Ramon Ventura, his father.
``He was a good man. He just didn't have a lot of options,'' his sister said. ``He had to earn money for his family.''
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