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Thursday, August 28, 1997

Operation Rio Grande shifts illegal immigration activity

By PAULINE ARRILLAGA / Associated Press Writer

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Three days into a new initiative to control illegal immigration on the Texas border, activity has diminished on a 2-1/2-mile stretch of the Rio Grande garrisoned by Border Patrol agents.

But illegal crossings have shifted up and down river, while an unprecedented number of aliens are sprinting across international bridges into the United States -- a practice known as port-running.

The shift in activity was underscored Tuesday night with the sexual assault of a female immigrant just east of the section of river where Border Patrol manpower was heightened under Operation Rio Grande.

Border Patrol officials said Wednesday that such shifts were anticipated and that adjustments were being made to address it.

"Things are working exactly the way we had projected them to work," said Brownsville Border Patrol supervisor Herb Monette.

Nevertheless, concern about the new initiative is growing across the border.

Mexico's foreign ministry, expressing "profound worry" over the crackdown, scheduled an urgent meeting of its border consuls Thursday and Friday in San Antonio. The consuls are expected to formulate a plan to ensure the rights of Mexican citizens are protected as the operation proceeds.

The Mexican consul in Brownsville did not return a telephone message from The Associated Press.

Operation Rio Grande began Monday with beefed-up patrols in downtown Brownsville and along a 2-1/2-mile section of river just south of downtown.

Ten Border Patrol agents, in vehicles positioned just one-eighth of a mile apart, were dispatched to the banks of the Rio Grande to create an imposing wall to deter illegal immigrants.

Floodlights also were installed along the river bank to take away the cover of night from would-be crossers and bandits.

As of Wednesday afternoon, no one had attempted to cross into the United States along the 2-1/2-mile sector, which usually averages more than 100 crossings daily, Monette said.

However, more than 400 illegal immigrants had been apprehended elsewhere in the city, Monette said. And Tuesday night, a female immigrant was sexually assaulted by border bandits just east of the targeted sector. The bandits fled back into Mexico, where police are investigating.

In addition, 33 illegals have sprinted past immigration officers at one of the international bridges connecting Brownsville and Matamoros, Mexico.

Before Operation Rio Grande, there had been only 13 incidents of port-running at the city's two international bridges since July 1996, said Mario Ortiz, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

To address the shifts in activity, the Border Patrol increased the number of agents stationed directly on the river from 10 to 22 Wednesday, and additional INS inspectors were assigned to the international bridges.

In the meantime, Border Patrol stations outside of Brownsville braced for more action to come their way. On Tuesday, the Rio Grande City station apprehended 29 illegal immigrants who said they crossed farther upriver because of the heightened enforcement in Brownsville.

Throughout the McAllen sector of the Border Patrol, which patrols 282 miles of river from Brownsville west to Roma, operations have been refashioned to place more agents directly on the river, officials said.

Additional agents will be dispatched to those stations should activity increase significantly.

Harry Beall, who oversees the McAllen Border Patrol station just across the border from Reynosa, said it's just a matter of time until that happens.

"Their jungle grapevine is buzzing now," Beall said, indicating that word is spreading among illegals about the stepped-up enforcement in Brownsville.

"Matamoros is the largest border city in the state of Tamaulipas. It's the cheapest bus ticket, and they have large smuggling operations," Beall said. "But once we make it difficult for them to come through Matamoros, they will come to the second-largest border city in Tamaulipas, which is Reynosa."