(The following article by Diana Washington Valdez was posted on the El Paso Times website on January 18.)
EL PASO, Texas — Union Pacific Railroad police discovered a large group of undocumented immigrants early Monday in a boxcar at a rail yard near the Asarco smelter, Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said.
“Border Patrol agents say the migrants had only water, but who knows how long that would have lasted,” Mosier said. “Even though the train car was not locked, it is considered extremely dangerous to ride the trains in this manner due to the possibility of exposure.”
Union Pacific Railroad security found the 29 migrants in the train car at about 12:30 a.m. Monday. The railroad notified Border Patrol agents, who detained and transported the group to the Border Patrol Processing Center.
Mosier said the group consisted of 24 men, three women, a teenager and an 8-month-old infant. “None of them required medical treatment,” he said.
Union Pacific Railroad officials said the train originated in Dallas and was headed to Long Beach, Calif. Mosier said the suspected smuggling case was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for investigation.
“All the migrants were from Mexico and are believed to have been smuggled onto the train,” he said. “Only one of them, who had a narcotics record in the state of Utah, was still in custody. The rest were repatriated back to Mexico.”
Socorro Cordova, spokeswoman for the Mexican consulate in El Paso, said Mexican officials were notified about the incident at 2 a.m. Later in the morning, “the migrants were processed for their return to Mexico. We notified Mexican migration authorities in Juárez and identified any high-risk people, such as women and children,” she said. “Those who said they wish to return to their hometowns are given bus and meal tickets and a ride to the central bus station.”
In fiscal year 2004, which ended Sept. 30, El Paso Border Patrol agents rescued 44 undocumented immigrants from freight trains.
Mosier recalled that in 1987, the Border Patrol found 18 undocumented migrants dead inside an airtight boxcar near Sierra Blanca. A smuggler had locked them inside the car in sweltering heat, and one person survived by cutting a hole for air in the bottom of the boxcar with a railroad spike. The suspected smuggler was never caught.