vanguard blog | November 14, 2010 | 11 comments

Why I Smuggled Myself Across the Border

Christof Putzel is a Vanguard correspondent. As part of his investigation into the immigration debate, he crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. on foot.

Americans may be preoccupied by the economic hardships they face because of the Great Recession. Unemployment is stuck close to ten percent; poverty claims a larger share of the population each year; many older people without the means to retire fear they’ll never work again.

But for millions of people looking at the United States from afar, America is still worth risking everything just for a shot at a better life.

The presence of illegal immigrants, now estimated at eleven million, is a source of bitter and emotional controversy among us. They build our houses, clean our office buildings, harvest our food, care for our kids, cut our lawns and hire themselves out for a pittance to do odd jobs. They’re fixtures in restaurant kitchens, poultry processing plants and jobs considered too dirty or too menial for others to do. Yet they keep coming, especially from the south, sneaking across the border from Mexico any way they can. It’s a dangerous dash, often into the arms of waiting border patrol.

Nearly all of us are descended from immigrants, of course. But in recent years, as living standards have stagnated or declined for all but the wealthiest and most fortunate Americans, the political pressure to choke off illegal migration has exploded. Billions of dollars are spent on higher, stronger fences, sophisticated sensing technology and more border patrol agents.

Tighter security has pushed would-be migrants to try more and more remote and treacherous areas along the nearly 2,000-mile US/Mexico border. Fewer get through. More die on the way. Yet hundreds of thousands try it every year. This year, officials say, more people have died in the desert on American soil than ever before.

To understand what crossers go through for a shot at the American dream, I went to the small Mexican town of Altar, a hotbed of human smuggling, where migrants pay coyotes—smugglers—to take them across. On assignment for Current TV’s documentary series, Vanguard, I found a coyote willing to allow me to accompany him across the border and into southern Arizona desert.

The trip frequently takes three or four days to reach a road north of the border. The coyotes restrict each traveler to two gallons of water, which often isn’t enough to survive. Authorities have found the remains of more than 250 people already this year, and they estimate that for every body they discover many more lie unfound under the brutal southern sun.

For me it was humbling to experience first hand just what so many people go through for a chance at a better life.

My report, "Life and Death on the Border," premieres Monday, November 15 at 9/8c on Current TV.

Watch a preview after the jump.

  1. groups:
    vanguard blog,   VG-blog-CP
  2. tags:
    California,  United States,  Mexico,  Immigration,  9 more
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11 comments // Why I Smuggled Myself Across the Border

  • Tularockstar
    • 0
      Tularockstar  

    • Chritof, although your show maybe revealing and beg the audience emotion, your show is still very much one-sided and pro-illegal immigration! If you're going to do a story on illegal immigration, how about present the pros and cons equally? You'd mentioned the number of illegal immigrants in the US, you conveniently failed to mention the amount of money and the number of lives they've cost the American people on a yearly basis! I have lived in Arizona for over 25 years and have seen the lives these illegals took from families by committing various crimes including murder, rape, home invasion, and vehicular manslaughter! In addition to lives they take, they also cost US taxpayers billions of dollars in free education, free health care, free food stamps and other social services! How come your show didn't mention the impact? Sure, it's easy to do a one-sided show and call it investigative reporting! Maybe, for your next piece, you could show the human impact to "We" the American taxpayers, and how the lives we've lost and the tolls we took are pretty much being forgotten by today's liberal media?

    • 7 months ago
  • llaarrzz
    • 0
      llaarrzz  

    • You suggest that the rise in illegal alien deaths is due to the fact that coyotes are taking them through more dangerous routes because of more effective border patrol enforcement. Isn’t that the purpose of patrolling our border?

      Consider: if the US took in every Mexican who wanted to enter the US, who would be left in Mexico? Generally, it is not the Mexican doctors, lawyers, or teachers who are coming here; it is the low skilled, low educated people. Do we really have enough work to support this population? Do we have enough work to support our own citizens with this low skill/education level? Isn’t it the responsibility of the Mexican government to create conditions favorable for economic growth?

      You seem to suggest that the dismal economic state and poverty in Mexico is the reason this dangerous trip is taken to the US. But doesn’t the Mexican government have any responsibility in providing any type of social safety net for its citizens in need?

      It seems that the questions that should be asked, but are not, is the Mexican government ineffective, is Mexico abdicating its responsibility for the well-being of it neediest citizens to the US, and is the US responsible for caring for Mexico’s citizens? I think the answers are yes, yes, and no.

    • 10 months ago
  • JuanVargas
    • 0
      JuanVargas  

    • Hey Christof, the docummentary that you did on immigration was inspiring. I am doing a project in my goverment class. We are writing bills and passing them to congress(teachers). I thought that Vanguard was a good reasouce for my immigration bill. I hope that I can explore the lives of people like you someday. Keep doing what you are doing because you are really good at it. Thank you for helping us see the world from another point of view.

    • 1 year ago
  • evemalkin
    • 0
      evemalkin  

    • Chrisof~ Crossing the border was dangerous, i had made that trip 8yrs ago and hopes of a new times. Ive come to find that I am talented in things I had no idea about. I live the dream everyday :)

    • 1 year ago
  • timcrock
  • Jan_Zuppinger
    • 0
      Jan_Zuppinger  

    • have you guys had a policy change and the videos, i mean the full videos of the shows, not only the trailers and background materials, will no longer appear on the page? can't find them anymore...

    • 1 year ago
  • desteward
    • 0
      desteward  

    • Quick footnote: Vanguard's correspondents taking off into the sun's heat with black/dark hats and clothing was really stupid.

    • 1 year ago
  • Pat_Royse
    • 0
      Pat_Royse  

    • Eye opener, I knew it was bad, but had no idea the number of poor souls who had passed. Thank you and your friend for risking your lives to show us how horrible this situation was.

    • 1 year ago
Christof

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