INS Announces Six Rescue Beacons

May 24, 2002
FOSTER KLUG
Illegal immigrants lost in the vast desert near Yuma this summer will be able to summon help by pressing a button on one of six 30-foot tall rescue beacons.

The new beacons, which have been operating since March, were one of several safety measures announced by the Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner to try to prevent deaths on the border this summer.

James Ziglar made the announcements during stops in Arizona and California on Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the discovery of 14 illegal immigrants who died of exposure in a part of the Yuma desert called the "Devil's Path."

Some activists, however, remain skeptical the measures will do anything to stop the illegal immigrant death toll from rising.

Dubbed the "disco towers" by agents, the solar powered beacons are covered in mirrors and topped with fist-sized flashing strobe lights that blink every 10 seconds and can be seen from as far away as four miles during the day and five miles at night.

The towers have instructions in Spanish and English, as well as simple pictures showing illegal migrants how to push an alarm button if they're in trouble. They're located in places where agents have rescued illegal immigrants before.

The Mexican government also announced Wednesday that it's setting up similar solar-powered rescue towers. The 100-foot-high beacons will be visible from up to six miles away.
So far, no illegal immigrants have used the Arizona beacons since they began operating in March, Yuma Border Agent Michael McGlasson said.

"But the most dangerous time of the year hasn't come yet," said McGlasson, adding that summer temperatures in the area can approach 120 degrees. "Hopefully we'll get no alerts. It means we're getting less people trying to cross one of the most dangerous parts of the country."

Since the Border Patrol increased its presence along the 2,000-mile border in the past decade, more than 300 illegal migrants have died each year while attempting to cross — most from exposure or drowning.

Despite the new safety measures, crossing the border this summer will still be a terrifying ordeal, said Isabel Garcia, a spokeswoman for Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, an immigrant rights group in Tucson.

"We don't believe that the measures to beef up and militarize the border will do anything to protect them," said Garcia, adding that increased border agents means more illegal immigrants will try to cross at dangerous, remote spots.

"We will see more deaths and more suffering along the border this summer," she said.
INS officials said they hope the new safety measures will help.

They're giving border agents in El Centro and Tucson non-lethal pepperball guns, Ziglar said. The pepperball guns allow agents to avoid killing or seriously injuring illegal immigrants who are threatening them.

Border agents in San Diego already have access to the guns, which use compressed air to fire plastic, chemical-filled pellets that irritate the eyes, nose and mouth.

In the Imperial Valley near El Centro, the safety campaign will provide a horse patrol and two hovercrafts to guard the All-American Canal, an agricultural channel that divides the United States and Mexico.

Illegal immigrants often drown while forging the network of fast-flowing irrigation canals that crisscross the area.

The INS will also set up an intelligence gathering cell in El Centro that will work with Mexican officials to arrest and prosecute immigrant smugglers operating in the area, Ziglar said.

Tucson, Yuma and El Centro will receive five extra helicopters and eight pilots starting in June.

More aircraft will be added in July, added Ziglar, who said new search and rescue teams have also been set up along the border, including an additional 10 agents in El Centro.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/breaking/5_24_02ins.html