tographs of the immigrant hopeful, and the magnifying glass helps make sure everything matches against the original document. The use of counterfeit, altered or outright stolen documentation for helping illegal immigrants cross the Mexican border into the U.S. is a huge business. From crime rings organized to steal legitimate documentation from Mexican tourists to those that exist solely for the production of altered and counterfeit documents, huge profits are being made because of the vast numbers of Mexicans seeking the “promise” of life in the land of “milk and honey”—America.
This situation illustrates the fact that despite the large numbers of border guards patrolling the vast U.S.-Mexican border and despite other security measures such as electronic fencing and video-surveillance, until more effective measures for detecting fraudulent documentation are implemented high numbers of illegal immigrants will continue crossing into the U.S. right under the noses of the Border Patrol Agents. As the INS reports “As of September 1998 approximately 7,357 Border Patrol Agents protect our 1,954 miles of southwest border with Mexico” (Hall, 1999, 1).
Because of the heavy security along the Mexico-California portion of the border, immigrants hoping to cross into the U.S. illegally have moved further inland to states like Arizona. This influx of illegal immigrants has angered ranchers and Arizona politicians. This anger has escalated into violence in many areas, where disgruntled ranchers who bemoan the damage done to their property and livestock from illegals have formed vigilante groups who make up their own border patrol. From ranchers who stake out their property wearing night-vision goggles and toting shotguns and rifles to those who set traps that injure illegals, the situation is out of control.
The problem is, most of the illegals that cross the border are doing so with stolen or counterfeit documentation...