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William Langewiesche looks at how America can sustain an influx of immigrants, as well as its effects on economic, social, and political discourse.

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00:00Tonight on Frontline
00:22We're averaging about 1,000 to 1,200 aliens a day
00:25A woman
00:26Enough is enough
00:28It's just out of control
00:29Her treacherous journey
00:30And it's affecting my lifestyle
00:33To a better life than America
00:35I frankly don't care why they come
00:37If they're here, they're breaking the law of the United States and they need to leave
00:41Correspondent William Longavisha examines Americans' growing fears about the rush of illegal immigrants
00:48In the past, we worried that immigrants would never become like us
00:52Today, we worry about something new
00:55That they will cheat on welfare, corrupt our politics, and watch too much TV
00:59We worry that they will become like us
01:03Tonight on Frontline
01:07It's our country, it's America
01:08Go back to Mexico
01:11Funding for Frontline is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
01:22And by annual financial support from viewers like you
01:27This is Frontline
01:33Along the border at San Diego, it starts the same way every day
01:49They've come from all over Mexico and Central America
01:54They peer into the United States and wait for darkness
02:00Every night, thousands of people penetrate the border defenses here
02:09And many of those will stay
02:11Since 1980, the United States has absorbed the greatest rush of newcomers in its history
02:18An average of over a million immigrants each year
02:21Half of them cross this southern border
02:23Fully one-fourth come illegally
02:26San Diego is the new Ellis Island
02:29But no one is erecting statues to liberty
02:31They're costing us millions of dollars every year
02:35They account for about 30%
02:36Are you the immigrant?
02:37They account for about 30% of our criminals
02:39We have to pay for their babies that they come here and have
02:40And they become legal citizens
02:42They say 30% of their land
02:43Cut your homeland, go back!
02:46Illegal immigration in particular frightens and angers Americans
02:50And nowhere more than in California
02:52They keep coming
02:54Two million illegal immigrants in California
02:56The federal government won't stop them at the border
02:59Yet requires us to pay billions to take care of them
03:02Pete Wilson, California's incumbent governor
03:05Has sensed a winning issue
03:07And is campaigning vigorously against illegal immigration
03:10They're coming by boat
03:13They're coming by plane
03:14They're coming on foot
03:16A flurry of proposed bills would deny public benefits to illegal immigrants
03:20Including schools, welfare, and health care
03:23Who need these benefits
03:24And we just don't have the money
03:26To support this type of giveaway program
03:29To illegal aliens
03:30Attorney General Reno and Senators Feinstein and Boxer
03:33Spent about an hour touring the border
03:34Washington has felt the need to respond
03:37And liberals on this issue
03:39Sound increasingly like conservatives
03:40The day when America could be the welfare system
03:45For Mexico is gone
03:47We simply can't afford it
03:50Today we send a strong and clear message
03:56We will make it tougher for illegal aliens to get into our country
03:59We can't afford to lose control of our own borders
04:03Or to take on new financial burdens
04:06At a time when we are not adequately providing
04:08For the jobs, the health care, and the education of our own people
04:12Therefore, immigration must be a priority for this administration
04:17I have lived along this border and written about it for years
04:24It is not the only place to look at immigration
04:29But it has become the most important
04:32Economically, socially, and politically
04:35What happens here affects every corner of our country
04:38Along this border, the choices affecting our very identity as a nation
04:44Lie starkly exposed
04:46San Diego is the American dream city
04:53For many immigrants, it is the first awe-inspiring sight of a new world
04:57But like much of Southern California
05:01San Diego is a troubled place
05:03Defense cutbacks have undermined its economy
05:07Causing widespread unemployment and frustration
05:10It's not surprising that the city has become a hotbed
05:14Of anti-immigrant activism
05:16A daily talk show hosted by Roger Hedgecock
05:26A former mayor and reformed liberal
05:28Is the best-known forum for these feelings
05:30As a former U.S. attorney here in San Diego
05:32Certainly people with the right credentials
05:34I feel like, I mean, as a recovering politician
05:37I can tell you my senses are that this is a
05:39Is a firestorm of a political issue
05:42Well, when you see Dianne Feinstein
05:44Who was the mother of sanctuary in San Francisco for illegals
05:51Now stands on the border and shakes her head
05:53And wrings her hands and says
05:55Something has to be done
05:56Then you know that it's a real issue
05:5960% of Americans feel illegal immigration damages the country
06:03That sentiment is even stronger in California
06:06If they're here, they're breaking a law of the United States
06:08And they need to leave
06:09We have got to address the reality
06:11That there are 500,000 people getting caught
06:14Coming across our border every year
06:16That's got to stop
06:17We don't have enough of that social service net for citizens
06:20For people who deserve it
06:21For people who are sick here in our country
06:23We have a lot of open phones
06:25And lots of people who want to talk
06:26Let's get Lauren in San Diego, hi
06:28All of them know that if they get here
06:31That we'll look after them
06:32I decided to follow the telephone trail
06:34Back to the people who called in
06:36Making sure that we look after the babies
06:37That wander over here
06:38If you're an illegal alien
06:39And you go into our county welfare offices
06:42You can get welfare
06:43They say to you, where do you live?
06:45You live here
06:46Where's your papers?
06:48I don't have them, I lost them
06:49What's your name?
06:50And you make up a name
06:51And they give you money
06:52Lauren Fleming repairs boats
06:54And has the familiar worries of a small businessman
06:56But beyond his anger at welfare
06:59Lies a deeper cultural anxiety
07:01About being overwhelmed
07:02There are whole portions of Los Angeles City
07:06If you don't know where you're at
07:08You'd swear you're in Tijuana
07:09Cannot tell the difference
07:10You cannot tell the difference
07:12The barrio that exists in Tijuana
07:15Looks exactly the same as the one in Los Angeles
07:18As an American, I'm offended by that
07:21Deanne in Poway is next
07:23We're going to squeeze as many callers in here as possible
07:25Hi, Deanne
07:26Hi, Roger
07:27Well, all three of you are my heroes on this subject
07:30Immigration is a real problem
07:32In trying to get some laws passed
07:34Northern San Diego County is affluent
07:36And no longer quite rural
07:38Deanne Erickson welcomed me to a property there
07:41Like many of her neighbors
07:43She resents and fears the changes she sees all around
07:47I know of situations where women have actually been pulled off of their horse
07:52Where they've been taken at gunpoint in their cars
07:57We moved here for the peace and quiet
08:00And we thought, what a lovely setting
08:02And so we've been here 18 years
08:05And it was, and it is
08:06A casual visitor might not understand her fears
08:10But there is a hidden world here
08:12And it is close by
08:13Deep in the ravines
08:16A tenacious and foreign visitor has moved in
08:19We do have problems with illegal laborers
08:24Who work up here, live up here
08:26Some of them drive their cars on the roads erratically
08:30It's just, there's a number of problems associated with living here
08:35And sharing my home and my area
08:38With people who I feel don't really belong here
08:41I've decided to take a stand
08:44My husband and I talked about it
08:45And we decided that what we were doing
08:48Hiring them was contributing to the problem
08:50That was why they were coming here
08:52And so we stopped hiring them
08:54And even though now there are those with green cards
08:58I refuse to hire them
09:00Because I don't want to contribute to the problem
09:01That we have in this state
09:02Gary in San Diego, sorry, go ahead
09:05How you doing, Raj?
09:06Okay
09:06I want to make a response to that fellow that called
09:08Well, if those Hispanics weren't here
09:11Those jobs would be filled by Americans
09:13Some of the loudest complaints come from poor
09:15And blue-collar neighborhoods
09:17Where residents live shoulder-to-shoulder
09:19With new immigrants
09:20I went to work for a scaffolding company
09:24And I was making $7 an hour
09:26Which is, I thought was pretty decent, you know
09:29And they let me go
09:32And the reason they let me go
09:33Is because they could hire two Hispanics
09:37To do my work
09:38For $10 an hour, meaning for both
09:41Gary gone is unemployed
09:43Like many Americans today
09:45He has been beaten down
09:47And has grown bitter at his own country
09:49For allowing this to happen
09:50The competition from immigrants
09:53Seems to him like the most personal of tax
09:55They're stealing
09:58And they're not stealing from the government
10:00They're stealing from me
10:02Because I'm the clown that gets unemployed
10:03When they're taking my job
10:05They're stealing
10:06They're coming over here to get my job
10:08You know, it's just
10:10You might as well just come over here
10:11And get my house
10:12You might as well just come over here
10:13And starve my family
10:14Gone sees the world in simple terms
10:17But poses questions that have no easy answers
10:20To feed you
10:21It's not my problem
10:24That their country has a problem
10:26I'm not involved in the politics of their country
10:29You know, I have nothing to do with their country
10:32Their country's problems are their problems
10:35Not mine
10:37Why do I have to suffer the problems of the politics played in their country?
10:41There is an old and circular argument about what drives immigration
10:51Suction from the north or pressure from the south
10:54The answer is probably both
10:57Mexico, like Central America, remains deeply troubled
11:01Agua Verde, a coastal community about a thousand miles south of the border
11:06Is a typical Mexican town
11:08From the outside, it appears whole
11:11But on the inside, it is damaged and poor
11:14When shrimp are abundant in the nearby lagoon
11:20Agua Verde can support itself
11:22But most years, the shrimping is bad
11:24Then the town falls back on farming
11:27But there is not enough land
11:29And there is not enough irrigation water
11:32Farmers can only grow one crop a year
11:35For a visitor, life seems wonderfully relaxed here
11:40But the relaxation is enforced
11:42For the people of Agua Verde
11:44It becomes a way of enduring the slow passage of time
11:48Men leave if they can
11:51Women and children follow
11:53In recent years, much of the town has escaped to Los Angeles
11:57Some people who left Agua Verde
12:03Have established themselves as legal residents of the United States
12:07They may dream of their former lives
12:09But when they return, it is only to visit
12:12I left because my family really didn't have enough to eat
12:17And if I were in the same situation right now
12:19I don't know how, but I'd find a way to jump the fence
12:22Because to live here in this situation, you just can't
12:25There's no work here, so what do you do?
12:30I'll go to Los Angeles
12:31And what kind of work will you do there?
12:33I don't know
12:34Let's see what happens
12:35You may be poor when you get there, but you'll be better off than here
12:38And now it is time for Maria Salas to leave
12:41She is 24
12:42Her husband has made it to Los Angeles already
12:45Where he is staying with his sister
12:47And has found a job in a shirt factory
12:49Now Maria and her one-year-old baby, Jesus, must join him
12:53They too will have to cross the border illegally
12:57We would go days without money to buy milk for the baby
13:05We do have my grandmother
13:07She has a store, and we've borrowed from her
13:10That's why we're able to get by
13:13And we still owe her money today
13:15That's one reason we're going north
13:18So that we can pay her what we owe her
13:20If they go, they want to improve their lives
13:30Lorena Quintanilla is a retired teacher and local welfare official
13:35I asked her if Mexico's problems should be the responsibility of the United States
13:40We don't hold the United States responsible for these problems
13:48But it isn't Mexico's fault either for being poor
13:51They go in search of a better financial situation for their families
13:56We love Mexico
14:00Only something of great magnitude would make us abandon our country
14:05There is great poverty here
14:07And this affects our lives
14:10We don't want to be so poor that we can't provide stability for our children
14:14For our families
14:16That's why we go to the United States
14:21We go to find opportunities
14:23It's Maria's last night in Agua Verde
14:27Her neighbors have thrown a traditional going-away party for her
14:32But beneath the festivities, the mood is somber and regretful
14:42I want things to go very well for you there
14:48Don't be sad when you think about going away
14:51My husband and I wish the best for you and your baby
14:54I hope that up there you find the future that you couldn't achieve here
15:05I wish you and your husband the best of luck
15:08Thank you
15:09Los Angeles waits for Maria
15:24It is the city of immigrants
15:26The new New York
15:28They come from all over the world and in big numbers
15:31Of the 9 million people who live in the county
15:36Nearly a quarter are foreign born
15:38And almost a million of them are illegal immigrants
15:42Americans are beginning to conceive of the illegal immigrant
15:47And to some degree the legal immigrant
15:48As having a little different character than he has in the past
15:52Some of that's our own fault
15:54When you advertise to the world that you can come to the United States
15:58And make more money staying in bed all day
16:00On a social service, on welfare
16:02Than you can putting in eight hours in your own country
16:05You're a little bit at fault for putting out that type of a message
16:08This is the giant Los Angeles County Hospital
16:12Where medical care is free
16:13It is the embodiment of a welfare system
16:16That the critics say draws immigrants to California
16:20I think today you have a number of people who come over
16:24Knowing that you can get to the United States
16:27The steps you go through to apply for various social payments
16:31And pretty soon you're extracting dollars from Uncle Sam
16:33Health care costs are very, very high
16:36You have, when an emergency occurs
16:39And you have to take care of somebody
16:40We do that, we're Americans
16:42Those costs, as you know
16:44When a person goes to the hospital after an accident
16:46Are massive
16:47People are coming here not to get benefits
16:51Those kind of benefits
16:53Not to get the welfare benefits
16:54Not to get a free handout
16:56People come across here to work, to earn money
17:01I don't think they're stealing services
17:07What service?
17:08Service means to offer improvement
17:10No one leaves here better
17:11They leave here tired of waiting
17:13They leave even sicker than when they came
17:15It's time they stop blaming us
17:19They keep saying that the state is broke because of us
17:22No, the state is rich because of us
17:25Because I pay taxes and I don't see those taxes
17:30I don't benefit from them
17:31Nonetheless, over half the patients at the Los Angeles County Hospital are foreign-born
17:36And two-thirds of the women giving birth are illegal immigrants
17:39For taxpayers who do not use this system, all this is expensive
17:44But the question remains
17:46Even if we could stop immigration
17:48What do we do with the people who are already here?
17:51You can't avoid the problem of undocumented aliens
17:56You either have to accept it or get rid of it
17:59And the way that people are looking at getting rid of undocumented aliens
18:05Is okay, we won't give them anything
18:07We won't give them a driver's license
18:09We won't give them a social security number
18:11We won't give them a job
18:12Maybe they'll leave
18:14Maybe they'll just go away and this won't be a problem anymore
18:18Well, it's not going to happen
18:21Outside the city, in the migrant camps
18:24There is plenty of evidence that the immigrants will keep coming
18:27Even if they are denied social benefits
18:29Claudia Smith, an attorney who works with the migrants
18:32Took me to a camp in northern San Diego
18:35It's one of the biggest encampments of its sort
18:39And this is how they put their housing together
18:44And ward off, or try to ward off, the rain and the cold
18:49They come here, especially in the San Diego area
18:54For about seven, eight, nine months out of the year
18:58And then go home
19:01They come to piece together a living wage
19:05Which amounts to an average of $5,000 to $7,500 a year
19:12And working under conditions that are as appalling
19:17As anything I have seen over the last 20 years
19:21We are very poor people, but we're not thieves
19:27We're honorable people
19:29We like to work and earn what little we can
19:33I don't think people come here in search of free benefits
19:36Everything is earned here through our work
19:38Nothing is free
19:39Migrant laborers in North County
19:44Migrant laborers in North County
19:47Subsidize a fairly affluent and carefree lifestyle here
19:57They're the ones who will do your gardening work
20:01They're the ones who will babysit your children
20:05All of these kinds of things
20:08People want them out on the street corners at 6 o'clock in the morning
20:12And a lot of them
20:13So that they can bid each other's wages down
20:15However, at 6 o'clock at night
20:17They want them out of sight
20:19And it just doesn't work that way
20:21But it's obvious that the United States cannot assume responsibility for the entire world
20:26Or even for Mexico
20:28A debate is now raging over whether total immigration
20:32Legal and illegal
20:33Is causing large-scale economic damage to the nation
20:37There are illegal aliens taking large numbers of American jobs
20:42That are fairly high paying jobs
20:44And are valuable to our citizens
20:46And that's now being substantiated by people like Dr. Huddle of Rice University
20:50That's troubling
20:56Dr. Donald Huddle is an economist whose report on immigration
20:59Concludes it has cost the country massive unemployment
21:03Lowered salaries and huge government expenditures
21:08Immigration indeed is a pretty costly event for the public sector in the United States
21:14The net cost after taking into account taxes that are paid by them at local, state and federal levels
21:21That the cost is about $42.5 billion
21:24$19.92 dollars
21:26Huddle's report was commissioned by the Carrying Capacity Network
21:30An environmental group with strong reservations about immigration
21:33But it has never been published in an academic journal
21:37And is disputed by most immigration specialists
21:41In Washington, I talked to Huddle's chief critic, Dr. Jeffrey Purcell of the Urban Institute
21:47He tends to understate the amount of taxes that immigrants pay
21:53Tends to overestimate the cost of services provided to them
21:57In a very general sense, he tends to ignore positive and indirect benefits of immigration
22:06And in this report in particular, he greatly overstates the number of immigrants
22:13Illegal immigrants in particular are hard to count
22:17The cell, like the federal government, believes they now number perhaps 3.5 million
22:23Huddle adds about a million to that figure
22:26It's true that, for instance, on the illegal immigrants
22:31Illegal immigrants
22:32That I am on the upper part of the range
22:35And Dr. Purcell is on the very bottom of the range
22:39And I happen to believe from the studies that have been done
22:45Including presidential commissions
22:48And the original immigration commission
22:51That my numbers are very consistent
22:53We've taken it apart and looked at the assumptions
22:56And redone a lot of the calculations with
23:00More accurate assumptions
23:04We come up with a figure on the range of 25 to 30 billion dollars in surplus
23:09Rather than cost
23:11Between Huddle and Purcell lies a gap of 70 billion dollars
23:15Both men make assumptions because there is so little hard evidence
23:19It appears that immigrants do suppress wages
23:22But they also create new jobs with their productivity and spending
23:26New immigrants burden local governments
23:29But probably pay more into the federal treasury than they take out
23:33The consensus among experts is that Huddle is wrong
23:37Beyond that, there is only politics
23:41It is morning in Agua Verde and time to leave
23:53Maria says goodbye to her grandfather
23:59One always feels sad because they leave
24:12She's nervous and happy because she's going to be with her husband
24:17We'll see if their lives will change
24:19Right now, things are sad here
24:22There hasn't been any business
24:28Maria is leaving behind the comfort of her known world
24:31The future is treacherous
24:33The way is uncertain
24:41Her parents will drive her an hour and a half
24:43To the bus station in Mazatlan for the long journey north
24:55Tijuana and the border lie 24 hours away
24:58There are plenty of buses going there
25:00They compete for business
25:02Maria has only her baby and her worries to keep her company
25:07In Tijuana, she will have to make choices
25:14She has a plan to send the baby through the official border crossing
25:19But she herself may have to jump the fence
25:22She knows enough to fear it
25:26I know it's going to be hard
25:31Just thinking that when I cross, they might catch me and send me back
25:35All that scares me
25:39For years, as an air taxi pilot, I flew the border
25:54Seen from the air, it disappears into the sameness of the continent
25:59It is an arbitrary line, a legalism laid across the land
26:04By its very nature, the border remains open
26:08It can be crossed anywhere
26:13The San Diego area is the busiest crossing point of illegal aliens in the United States
26:21I know that tonight our agents will arrest over a thousand people
26:27That's a given
26:28How many got away, I figure that anywhere from five to six hundred based on our measures
26:37The heaviest concentration of our activity occurred within a 14 mile zone
26:43You have mountains, canyons, hills
26:47The terrain is extremely difficult
26:50The whole idea is to make it across the border area
26:55Get into town
26:57Get to where the conveyances are
26:59The buses, the taxis, the trolley
27:02As long as there's an agent here
27:04Then I'm going to come across
27:05As soon as I see one of the units pull off
27:08They'll try to run a group through
27:10There have been efforts to control illegal immigration before
27:13The most recent was the massive Immigration Reform and Control Act
27:18Which outlawed the hiring of undocumented workers nationwide
27:22It was signed into law in 1986
27:25Future generations of Americans will be thankful
27:29For our efforts to humanely regain control of our borders
27:33And thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people
27:37American citizenship
27:39The bill failed
27:41It required employers to verify the identities of their workers
27:45But a huge black market in phony documents sprang up in response
27:50Employers could no longer tell who was a legal resident
27:54And who had crossed the border illegally
27:57What she did is she got a smuggler to take this
28:01Put her picture on there, put the counterfeit stamp on there
28:04Then she tried to make application for entry with it
28:07This document right here
28:09This gentleman presented
28:11It's got his fingerprint on it
28:13We've already checked the fingerprint
28:15It's not him
28:17We get maybe a hundred of these a day
28:21People presenting other ones
28:23This document right here
28:25You can obviously see that that's not her
28:29It's a border crossing card
28:31To cross the border into the United States
28:35For a temporary visit
28:37Not to work
28:38She presented to make application for entry
28:40And it's not her
28:43Immigrants feel neither reformed nor controlled
28:46And we are left trying to hold the line
28:49Because of false documents
28:51That has become even harder
28:53It's early afternoon in Tijuana
28:59Maria and her baby arrive after the overnight bus trip from the south
29:07Los Angeles is now only a few hours away
29:10But Maria has no idea how she'll cross the line
29:13In Tijuana, Maria will stay at her sister's tenement apartment while she waits for word from her husband in Los Angeles
29:25I'm hoping for the farmer
29:27Here's the link
29:29Hello
29:31Hey, what have you been to find out?
29:33What have you been to find out before?
29:34Oh, I'm going to find out
29:35She's not me to find out
29:37She's not her at home
29:38She's a lady
29:39Here in Tijuana
29:40Look, she's a lady
29:41She's a woman
29:42Let's find out
29:43I have Enigner
29:44You're running $600
29:45She's a woman
29:46But she said that she didn't know
29:47She passed through the line
29:48Oh no
29:49So she could find out
29:50She's not her
29:51Who did she go to the house?
29:52What did she say to her
29:53Well, it's me saying that the house can also pass me.
29:57Yes, it can.
29:58But the house can pass me.
30:00Yes, but no.
30:01No.
30:02You're going to say that you're in the house.
30:03I already told you.
30:04No, you're not telling me.
30:06You're going to see.
30:07No.
30:08No, it's not possible.
30:10And if they return me, I'm not going to pass me.
30:13How?
30:14I'm going to do the fight.
30:16How?
30:17No.
30:18Why not?
30:19You're fine.
30:20You're fine.
30:22No, no, no.
30:25Maria simply has to wait.
30:28She keeps her courage up with the thought that Agua Verde is only a bus ride away.
30:36Meanwhile, the U.S. government keeps trying to strengthen the divide between Tijuana and San Diego.
30:42The first move was the construction of 15 miles of new, reinforced fencing.
30:49We found every available landing map stacked up in surplus from Guam to Guantanamo.
30:55I mean, every military base we had, we searched for a landing map.
30:58We found a ton of it, 179,000 pieces.
31:01So what you have right here is a little runway that's just been turned on its side.
31:05But there is little evidence that the fence has slowed illegal immigration.
31:16Another idea, pushed by San Diego residents, was to light up the most heavily traveled stretch of the border.
31:23Part of the problem has been the fact that the federal government has had a benign interest in this.
31:28They have not paid attention to it.
31:30And so we just need to get the word out that, hey, somebody has got to pay attention.
31:36Our agents are out there waiting.
31:39You have a lot of people that are already congregating on the Mexican side.
31:43And now it's time, ladies and gentlemen, to light up the border.
31:51In theory, the lights will help the Border Patrol and deter illegal immigrants.
31:55In fact, they illuminate a narrow swath of fence and cast the larger border deeper into darkness.
32:03Border Patrol Chief De La Viña himself must know that the lights are largely a political show.
32:09Again, these lights are not the ultimate solution to this problem.
32:12In fact, we had about 20 people just make a run across the border.
32:15The Border Patrol did see them. They're trying to get a hold of them.
32:18The floor is going to be a few.
32:20Yeah, if you guys can just get over to the 57 watch, there's another group that's coming up through there.
32:30The final defense is technology borrowed from the military.
32:34Stacy got a lot of stuff that left fantasy.
32:36The Border Patrol now parks thermal imaging cameras on hillsides.
32:41Kelly, just swing north right there in the wash.
32:44They're right there on the east side, but getting ready to cross.
32:46Come on, come on.
32:51Yeah. South. Demis, stop. Stop. Turn around. Come south.
33:00The government carefully tallies its arrests each night.
33:03No one knows how many people get away.
33:05But it's clear that immigration has not been stopped at the border.
33:09Not by fences, lights, or high technology.
33:20Finally, the time has come to go.
33:22Maria's husband has found a smuggler who will take her right through
33:26the official border crossing with false documents.
33:30The price is $500 to be paid upon delivery in Los Angeles.
33:34Maria will assume an entirely new identity for the crossing.
33:50She will become a long-standing Tijuana resident with a job and an income.
33:55The smuggler will provide her with the new documents.
33:58In the meantime, she has to shed all official traces of her former self.
34:03By late morning, after hours of anxious waiting,
34:10it appears the deal has fallen through.
34:12There is no word from the smuggler.
34:15The women in the house work the telephone to find an alternative.
34:23An extensive smuggling network reveals itself.
34:34The baby is still scheduled to leave.
34:36He will cross with relatives using the birth certificate of an infant cousin.
34:47Maria makes the wrenching decision to send him ahead.
34:50He has to take it.
35:05By the next morning, Maria's wait is over.
35:08For the right price,
35:09there are plenty of people eager to take her across.
35:12A new smuggler has been found.
35:14His plan is also to go through the official border crossing.
35:18Maria provides him with photographs for the altered documents.
35:23She has changed her hair and clothes to look more Californian.
35:27She carries no luggage.
35:36The smuggler is nervous and in a hurry.
35:39600 miles to the east of San Diego
35:52lie the twin cities of El Paso and Juarez
35:55divided by the border along the narrow Rio Grande.
36:01Less than a year ago,
36:02the Border Patrol here decided to hold the line against illegal crossings.
36:09When the program called Operation Blockade was instituted,
36:13thousands of Mexican commuters
36:15accustomed to crossing daily to their black market jobs in El Paso
36:19were outraged.
36:21Sylvestra Reyes,
36:25the chief border patrol agent in El Paso
36:28is responsible for this program
36:30that has received so much national attention.
36:34When I first got here,
36:35the perception was that it was very easy to cross here.
36:39We had anywhere between 30 and 40 lancheros
36:44or ferrymen
36:45that made a very lucrative business
36:47in bringing people across,
36:49charging them anywhere from two to five dollars a person
36:52to enter illegally.
36:55The strategy is simple.
36:56Agents are positioned every few hundred yards
36:59along the river levies between the cities.
37:01Their new job is to deter people
37:03rather than to arrest them.
37:05The agents are visible and stationary.
37:08It's boring work,
37:09but it has succeeded.
37:11The quiet of the Border Patrol's holding cells
37:13attests to an impressive lack of business.
37:16Before the operation started this,
37:18you know, this place would be full
37:19and you'd have agents
37:21just about at every seat processing.
37:24You know, all these cells were full,
37:26all these pre-processing cells were full.
37:28It was more of a revolving door.
37:31Now, the aliens are so few
37:35that the one or two agents
37:37that we have assigned to the processing center
37:40can handle all the processing.
37:43But can El Paso be a model for the larger border?
37:46Most of the people dissuaded by the blockade
37:48are only illegal commuters,
37:50not determined immigrants.
37:52Skeptics believe this circumstance
37:54makes El Paso a special case.
37:57That just isn't going to work.
37:59That just is not going to work.
38:01Ruben Garcia,
38:03a Catholic lay worker
38:04with long experience
38:05on the El Paso border,
38:07is convinced that local blockades
38:09will not stop illegal immigration.
38:12The word gets out.
38:13I'm willing to bet
38:14that everybody in Central and South America
38:16knows right now
38:17what the situation in El Paso is,
38:19and what's the place to cross
38:23and what's not the place to cross.
38:25This isn't going to keep people out.
38:27The blockade stands like a boulder in a stream.
38:31The current divides
38:32and accelerates around it.
38:34Illegal immigration
38:35is up from Arizona
38:36to the lower Rio Grande.
38:38It is also up
38:39on the bridges of El Paso
38:41where many people are crossing
38:42with phony documents.
38:44I have seen people
38:45who have left
38:46and they have walked
38:48hundreds and hundreds
38:52and hundreds of miles.
38:54No one is going to believe
38:58that that person
38:59is going to be deterred.
39:01It's because we have no sense
39:03of why it is that they're moving.
39:06But Reyes is confident
39:08his solution can control
39:10illegal immigration
39:11along the entire 2,000-mile border.
39:14There are only approximately
39:16200 miles
39:17that we really basically need to control
39:19in this way here.
39:22And this type of operation
39:24makes it very practical
39:26in terms of addressing
39:27those 200 miles.
39:31El Paso fools people.
39:33They tour the levees
39:34and naturally suspect
39:35that a painless solution
39:36has been found.
39:38But I left with serious doubts
39:40looking down once again
39:42on the larger border
39:43where Reyes' own agents admit
39:45that the blockade fails
39:46just outside the city.
39:51In San Diego
39:52there is mounting pressure
39:53on the Border Patrol
39:54to institute
39:55an El Paso-style blockade
39:57here at the border's
39:58busiest crossing point.
39:59But the question is
40:01will it work?
40:04It's not that we don't
40:05want to do that type
40:07of an operation.
40:08Physically,
40:09it's not going to work.
40:10El Paso has level terrain
40:13at Rio Grande River.
40:16Here we have mountains.
40:18We have canyons.
40:19We have the ocean.
40:21The other aspect
40:23is you have 95%
40:26of those that are entering
40:28are not local.
40:29They're from the interior
40:30of Mexico.
40:31Their motivation is
40:33that if they don't
40:34make it tonight
40:35we apprehend them
40:36and send them back.
40:37Well, they're on the border
40:38tomorrow night.
40:39They're not going back
40:40to their home.
40:41So when you put
40:42all that together
40:43then you put the volume
40:45where El Paso
40:46might be dealing
40:47with 600-700
40:49on a daily basis
40:50we're dealing
40:51with 2,000.
40:52These 2,000
40:55should there be
40:56say
40:57some type of
40:59a barrier
41:00or what have you
41:01where they could
41:02come across
41:03the following
41:04that you'd have
41:05another 2,000
41:06followed by
41:07another 2,000
41:08by the end of the week
41:10you'd be looking at
41:11close to 10-15,000
41:12people.
41:13We're going to lose.
41:14We don't have
41:15the resources.
41:16We would anticipate
41:17that they would be
41:18making big rushes
41:19at us.
41:20We would anticipate
41:21there'd be violence.
41:22We would anticipate
41:23a riot type situation.
41:25Frankly,
41:26there are ways
41:27to seal a border.
41:28The Soviets showed us how.
41:30It requires barbed wire,
41:32watchtowers
41:33and guards
41:34and some sort of
41:35more powerful deterrent.
41:37No one seriously suggests
41:39that the United States
41:40use deadly force
41:41on its perimeter.
41:42But those most concerned
41:44about illegal immigration
41:45worry that arrest
41:47and deportation
41:48is no punishment
41:49at all.
41:50That the southern border
41:51is just a revolving door.
41:53One practical punishment
41:59now being discussed
42:00is immigration prison.
42:02On a small scale
42:03we already have
42:04such places
42:05called INS
42:06detention centers.
42:07El Centro, California
42:09is one.
42:10It's staffed
42:11by Public Health Service.
42:12Five hundred men
42:13are locked up here
42:14awaiting their hearings.
42:17Most are criminals
42:18just released
42:19from prisons.
42:20But some are not.
42:23During my visit
42:24the center held
42:24several hundred Chinese
42:25who had been intercepted
42:26off the coast
42:27of San Diego.
42:28El Centro is interesting
42:30because it gives
42:31some idea
42:32of the type of facility
42:33that would have
42:34to be built
42:35on a much larger scale
42:36if we decided
42:37to punish masses
42:38of foreigners
42:39and hold the line
42:40against the revolving door.
42:41The question,
42:43as always,
42:44is at what cost?
42:47Already,
42:48this center was expanding
42:49to avoid overcrowding
42:50and to meet
42:51national prison stands.
42:52We have a total
42:55of five different menus
42:56that are changed
42:57on a weekly basis.
42:59And, you know,
43:01your morning breakfast
43:02is, you know,
43:03you get orange grits,
43:04scrambled eggs,
43:05grilled turkey ham,
43:06sliced bread,
43:07jelly, margarine,
43:08coffee.
43:09And variety for lunch
43:11could be shrimp egg,
43:12rolled rice, fried rice,
43:13even broccoli,
43:14raised beef cubes,
43:15butter doodles,
43:17beef taquitos
43:18which we had yesterday,
43:19have a baked fish
43:20which is on right now,
43:21soup of the day,
43:23chicken salad,
43:24potato salad.
43:27What roughly
43:28is the cost
43:29per prisoner,
43:30for detainee,
43:32per day,
43:33per week,
43:33per month?
43:34God, presently,
43:35I don't have that figure.
43:37It was maybe about
43:40forty-some dollars per day,
43:42maybe about a year ago,
43:43so that's probably
43:44gotten up since then.
43:45Our concerns about
43:46punishing illegal immigrants
43:48should be deeper
43:49than the merely fiscal.
43:50What would be
43:54the societal costs
43:55of establishing
43:56a massive
43:57immigration prison
43:58system
43:59on our southern border?
44:00It is a question
44:01worth considering
44:02when people say
44:03we must hold the line.
44:07Hernandez?
44:08Yeah.
44:09Yeah, that's him.
44:10That's him.
44:11You're under arrest.
44:12We have a warrant for your arrest.
44:13We have a warrant for your arrest.
44:14You're an alien in the United States.
44:15The alternative
44:16to holding the line
44:17is to try
44:18once again
44:19to eliminate
44:20the lure of jobs.
44:22This should be
44:23relatively simple
44:24to achieve.
44:25Regulations are already
44:26in place
44:27forbidding the employment
44:28of undocumented workers.
44:29Now,
44:30if only documents
44:31were not so easy
44:32to falsify.
44:36We do not have consensus
44:37in this society
44:38about how we should
44:39be identifying ourselves.
44:41Now,
44:42our ability
44:43to work
44:44with employers
44:45and with enforcing
44:47the laws
44:48that are requiring
44:49employers
44:49to hire only
44:50people that are legally here,
44:51our ability
44:52to do that
44:53is very much
44:54limited by the fact
44:55that we do not
44:56have consensus
44:57in this society
44:58about what cards
45:00we should be carrying
45:01and whether there
45:02ought to be data banks.
45:02It seems
45:03the federal government's
45:04ultimate plan
45:05for stopping illegal
45:06immigration
45:07could be a national
45:08data bank
45:09and ID card
45:09for everyone.
45:10to identify themselves.
45:12And I think
45:13it's quite clear
45:14in the healthcare
45:15debate already
45:16that there is going
45:18to be some kind
45:19of a system
45:20for verifying
45:21people's eligibility
45:22for healthcare.
45:23My own sense
45:24is that that will
45:25over time
45:26become a general
45:28verification system
45:29that is used
45:30for all kinds
45:31of societal purposes
45:33and immigration regulation
45:35and verification
45:37of legal status
45:38will become
45:39one of those uses.
45:40Supporters
45:41of this idea
45:42say we already
45:43have credit cards,
45:44social security numbers,
45:45and various licenses
45:47already backed up
45:48by computers.
45:49But the very need
45:51for a single card
45:52points to the limitation
45:53of the current system.
45:54it is still awkward
45:56for authorities
45:57to figure out
45:58who we are.
45:59A single card
46:01would eliminate
46:02illegal immigration
46:03but it's hard
46:04to be an American
46:05and not be concerned
46:06about the larger
46:07implications.
46:08Given what we don't
46:10know about immigration
46:12you have to wonder
46:13if we have much
46:14to gain.
46:19We had lost track
46:20of Maria
46:21as she headed
46:22for the San Diego border.
46:23Her plan was to get
46:24into the United States
46:25through the official
46:26crossing point
46:27using false documents.
46:28Up in Los Angeles
46:30the baby Jesus
46:31has made it safely.
46:32Maria's husband
46:33has not seen
46:34his son
46:35since his own
46:35long trip north.
46:40By early afternoon
46:41there is no sign
46:42of Maria.
46:43Her family is worried
46:44and is beginning
46:45to imagine trouble.
46:46I don't know
46:49how they're doing
46:50or how it will go
46:51with her crossing
46:52the border.
46:53I don't know
46:54how they're doing
46:55or how it will go
46:56with her crossing
46:56the border.
46:57For me
46:58it was an extremely
46:59difficult crossing.
47:00Maybe she got caught.
47:02I don't know.
47:03I really don't know
47:04what could have happened.
47:06It's been many,
47:07many hours.
47:13I'm just thinking
47:15about what could have happened
47:16whether they got caught
47:17on the line
47:18and sent back.
47:21It's hard thinking
47:22about how they're
47:23going to cross.
47:24It has been eight hours
47:31since Maria disappeared
47:32in Tijuana.
47:35Her husband can no longer
47:36wait and has to go
47:37to work.
47:42Finally, the call
47:43from Maria.
47:45She made it.
47:46She's in Los Angeles.
47:48The smuggler needs
47:49directions.
47:5030 minutes later
47:54he makes the delivery.
48:12Until now,
48:13no money has changed hands
48:15but with Maria
48:16safely in Los Angeles
48:18the time has come
48:19for payment.
48:20The smuggler tries
48:21to raise the price
48:22by $50
48:23but when the family
48:24resists
48:25he quickly accepts
48:26the $500
48:27as agreed on
48:28in Tijuana.
48:32I ask him
48:33to describe the trip.
48:36They had documents.
48:37The documents
48:38that are made over there
48:39are perfect.
48:40Just perfect.
48:41They're transported
48:42in a car
48:43and will be asked
48:44where are you going?
48:45All you say
48:46is I'm going to San Isidro
48:47to go shopping.
48:49There's a lot of people
48:50that don't know
48:51about us
48:52so those are the ones
48:53that risk it
48:54walking through
48:54the mountains.
48:55And of course
48:56there's assaults.
48:57Women get raped.
49:00It costs $300
49:02to bring you through there
49:03but you're also
49:04risking it.
49:05We aren't known
49:07to a lot of people
49:08since we don't publicize.
49:10It's only $200 more
49:12and your safety
49:13is assured.
49:14We don't stuff you
49:16in the trunk of a car.
49:17Instead,
49:18you're riding
49:18like an average citizen.
49:24The next morning
49:25the family is together
49:26again.
49:27The latest illegal immigrants
49:28to the United States.
49:30Despite all
49:31the political rhetoric
49:32and all the efforts
49:33of the Border Patrol
49:34they managed to get here.
49:39The family is poor
49:40and may need California's help.
49:42But Maria's husband
49:43is working already
49:44and paying taxes.
49:46In the long run
49:47they are unlikely
49:48to take more
49:48from the nation
49:49than they give.
49:51Should we fear them anyway?
49:53Neither Maria
49:54nor her husband
49:54speaks English
49:55and in Los Angeles
49:56they may never need to.
49:58In other ways too
49:59they may never adapt.
50:01Magnified by millions
50:04this causes concerns
50:05deeper than economic.
50:07The newcomers
50:08seem to threaten
50:09the unravelling
50:10of society.
50:14But history casts
50:15light on our times.
50:18The myth of an immigrant
50:19nation misleads us.
50:21The United States
50:22has rarely absorbed
50:23immigrants happily.
50:25Much of the rhetoric
50:27that is being used
50:30in the debate
50:31over immigration
50:32and multiculturalism
50:33today
50:34is a direct throwback
50:35to the rhetoric
50:37of the 1920's
50:39in which we were
50:40objecting to immigrants
50:41mainly on cultural
50:42and racial grounds.
50:44Many of the arguments
50:45are identical.
50:47They imply that
50:49the U.S.
50:50has reached
50:51or exceeded
50:52its cultural
50:54absorptive capacity.
50:58Whether or not
50:58the economy
50:59can continue
51:00to use
51:00these people
51:01productively
51:02the concern
51:03is that
51:04the culture
51:05the core culture
51:06of the United States
51:07whatever that is
51:08has been stretched
51:10to the breaking point.
51:12In the past
51:13we worried
51:13that immigrants
51:14would never become
51:15like us.
51:16We were wrong.
51:21Today
51:22we worry about
51:23something new
51:24that they will cheat
51:25on welfare
51:26corrupt our politics
51:27and watch too much TV.
51:29We worry that
51:30they will become
51:31like us.
51:32Immigrants provide
51:33a mirror
51:34and we don't like
51:35what we see.
51:39We do need
51:40a border
51:41to define the nation
51:42and to keep
51:43from being overrun.
51:44But our border
51:45is a strange
51:46sort of fiction
51:47that functions
51:48to the extent
51:49it is believed.
51:50it is possible
51:51that the fiction
51:52needs strengthening
51:53but little else.
51:54Beyond that
51:55we should not pretend
51:56that we can actually
51:57seal ourselves off
51:58without altering
51:59the essence
52:00of America.
52:02To live
52:03with the current
52:04level of immigration
52:05would not be an easy choice.
52:06It would require
52:07wisdom
52:08and steady nerves.
52:09it takes courage
52:11not to indulge
52:12our fears.
52:13Dear Frontline, I am so grateful for
52:28Dear Frontline.
52:29And now it's time
52:30for some viewer comments.
52:31Behind the badge
52:35was a Frontline report
52:36on the breakdown
52:37of trust
52:38between cops
52:39and the communities
52:40they serve.
52:41The situation
52:42as far as we understand it
52:43is that there have been...
52:44The program used local
52:45and national TV news coverage
52:46of a New York drug dealer's
52:47shooting
52:48to examine media bias
52:49against the police.
52:50This man was screaming
52:51for his mother.
52:52It's not a man
52:53that has a gun
52:54that's gonna kill you.
52:58Break his fingers.
52:59I'll be here.
53:01His name is Ulysses Oniko.
53:03He says he was there
53:04and saw what happened
53:05to his friend.
53:07CBS News senior producer
53:08Robert Lang wrote a letter
53:09saying that Frontline
53:10had unfairly misrepresented
53:12a CBS News magazine story.
53:14He wrote,
53:15What Frontline did goes way beyond
53:17using quotes out of context.
53:19You have demonstrated
53:20a reckless disregard
53:21for the truth
53:22treating one side
53:23of a balanced story
53:24as if it didn't exist
53:26and in so doing
53:27damaged the credibility
53:28of CBS News.
53:31Frontline regrets
53:32not conveying
53:33that CBS did attempt
53:34to tell the police version
53:35of what happened.
53:38One viewer sent us
53:39a video letter
53:40defending police use of force
53:42in life-threatening situations
53:43like the one discussed
53:44in the program.
53:46The officer does not choose
53:47to get assaulted.
53:48to get assaulted.
53:49But must control
53:50that type of behavior.
53:51It's time to allow
53:53law enforcement
53:54realistic options
53:55of control and resistive behavior
53:57so that they may protect
53:59and serve the citizen population better.
54:01This is Sam Faulkner,
54:03law enforcement training specialist
54:04from the Ohio Peace Officer
54:06Training Academy.
54:08Dear Frontline,
54:09Another viewer
54:10had a different reaction.
54:12I believe that police abuse
54:13of the public
54:14is much more widespread
54:15than generally known
54:16and is covered up
54:17by the politicians
54:18and politically controlled courts.
54:20And the public
54:21is at the mercy
54:22of the lawless cop.
54:24Increasingly,
54:25the criminal law
54:26has become a revenue measure
54:27resulting in more regulations
54:28and controls
54:29and more and more
54:30police supervision
54:31of the public
54:32and violation
54:33of their civil rights.
54:35It is called law and order.
54:37Very truly yours,
54:38Donald J. Cassidy.
54:39Donald J. Cassidy.
55:09Funding for Frontline
55:12is provided by
55:14Funding for Frontline is provided
55:39by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
55:41and by annual financial support
55:45from viewers like you.
55:48Frontline is produced
55:49for the Documentary Consortium
55:51by WGBH Boston,
55:53which is solely responsible
55:54for its content.
56:03This is PBS.