Webster defines the border as "the line or frontier area separating political or geographic boundaries" - sounds pretty benign. For most of us, it's only a line in the sand. But for some people, the border is much more - it separates danger from safety, hunger from prosperity, and hopelessness from opportunity.

Over the last five years, more than 1,500 people have lost their lives in efforts to cross the southern border into the United States, and countless more have been injured. People crossing legally arrive via comfortable conveyances at a port of entry. Illegal aliens face the rigors of the inhospitable border terrain as well as the risks to which unscrupulous human smugglers subject them in the name of profit. They suffocate. They die of thirst. They die of heat stroke or drowning.

But, imagine instead seeing a sign posted along a desolate piece of desert. The message, written in Spanish, warns "Dangerous Desert" - Lack of water and high temperatures can result in death! For your own security, don't try to cross!" Another sign shows a mourning family huddled around a coffin. It warns, "Your brother trusted a "coyote" (flesh smugglers). Think of your loved ones. Don't risk your life."

Don't trust the smuggler - typical public service announcement of the Border Safety Initiative.

In 1998, a humanitarian effort known as the Border Safety Initiative (BSI) was begun to address the growing concern over injuries and fatalities along the border. Mexico and the United States signed a bi-lateral agreement to cooperate in these efforts. The initiative has a four-pronged approach: prevention, identification, tracking, and search and rescue.

Signs, radio broadcasts, and television spots along the Mexican border are all part of BSI's prevention effort intended to dissuade Mexican nationals and others from attempting to cross the dangerous border area, but it doesn't always work.

Rob Daniels, public information officer of the Border Patrol, Tucson sector expressed concern. July is often the worst month. The heat index rises with the humidity that comes with summer rains, he said. Victims of heat exhaustion and dehydration become disoriented and may start walking in circles. As their condition becomes more severe, they may shed clothing, which only increases their exposure, he explained. When prevention efforts fail, Mexico and the U.S. cooperate to identify the unfortunate migrants who lose their lives in attempts to cross the border.

The Border Patrol collects and tracks data on all migrant deaths and rescue incidents to identify high-risk areas and trends. Smugglers are also doing their own risk assessments, adapting their operations in response to stepped-up enforcement efforts in any given area.

In the El Paso area, smugglers of immigrants have modified the way they do business as a result of the arrest and conviction of key players in a major immigrant-smuggling ring. Ruben Patrick Valdes of El Paso was convicted this month of smuggling and transporting undocumented immigrants as part of a racketeering enterprise whose methods resulted in the deaths of two Mexican immigrants in North Texas last summer. Valdes faces up to life in prison when sentenced in June in U.S. District Court in El Paso.

Valdes has the dubious credit of redesigning the way smugglers marketed and networked their operations. He developed a network of truck drivers who, in exchange for bribes, transported immigrants, mixed in with legitimate cargo, from the border to other parts of the country. Immigrants paid from $1,500 to $2,000 up front - big profits for smugglers running loads of 20 to 50 people in their 18-wheelers. Valdes' conviction and the guilty pleas of his brother, Roman Matin Valdes, two truck drivers, and two other smuggling partners in North Texas has made those who trade in human cargo nervous.

Smugglers have reverted to older methods of moving undocumented migrants, using crossing and transportation routes into desert areas and relying on cars, campers, vans and rental trucks for transport. "People are still being moved out in trailers, but not to the extent that the Valdes brothers were doing," said David Ham, an assistant chief of the Border Patrol in El Paso. "We are now seeing more and more people going in smaller groups and moving out into the desert of New Mexico..."

Border Patrol Chief Gustavo De La Viña attributes the majority of deaths to smugglers who lead groups of aliens through treacherous terrain and exposing them to the extreme climactic conditions of the western desert. "As the temperature rises, so do risks to migrants," said De La Viña. Unscrupulous smugglers will often mislead migrants by saying that Tucson or another city is "just over the hill," when it is 50 or 60 miles away. The coyotes (smugglers) will also tell a group they will be right back and abandon the group without food or water.

Search and rescue efforts
The extreme southern border terrain - rugged, remote, and containing both arid lowland desert and high-altitude mountains, presents real challenges in developing effective search and rescue capabilities. In the late '80s, the Border Patrol recognized a need for rescue and response teams and established the first ones in Yuma, Tucson, and El Paso sectors. However, in July 1998, as an outgrowth of the BSI, a more fully developed program, the Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue Team (BORSTAR) was born.

Photo Credit: Gerald L. Nino

Border Patrol BORSTAR team member Brian Kelly, provides rappelling tips to a bi-national training participant.

BORSTAR agents utilize an assortment of tools, including search and rescue canines. There are four BORSTAR canines currently in service, with plans for more. Like their human counterparts, these "superdogs" are trained to search for distressed individuals, and rappel out of helicopters and down cliffs. Sandrails (dune buggies), ATVs, hovercraft and specially retrofitted hummer vehicles are also part of the arsenal of equipment used in rescue efforts.

Border Patrol agents rescued more than 1,700 migrants during FY '02; over the last three years they've rescued more than 5,000 men, women, and children. Most of those rescued are migrants suffering from exposure. Rescues from potential drowning are the second most common. In some cases, traffickers who have been paid for safe, albeit illegal, passage leave migrants in sealed containers, railroad cars, and other confined spaces from which they cannot escape, to suffocate or die from the heat. By July 2000, Border Patrol agents had rescued more than 846 migrants in the Tucson sector alone, and migrant deaths in the El Centro sector, a sector in California with one of the highest incident rates, decreased by 34 percent during 2002 as a result of BSI efforts.

BORSTAR personnel may very well be considered as the "supermen" in the search and rescue arena. The faint at heart need not apply; requirements for selection to a team are extremely rigorous. The selection process has three phases: physical evaluation, field evaluation, and an oral interview. For starters, these men and women are extremely fit. During a timed test, they must complete a mile and a half run in 12 minutes or less, be able to do a minimum of 40 push-ups, 60 sit-ups, and bench press 85 percent of their body weight. In addition, they must meet exacting standards as a team member. During the field evaluation, a 6-8-person team must successfully carry a stretcher over 4-5 miles of rugged terrain. But, the selection process is the tip of the iceberg. During the summer months BORSTAR agents across the southwest border are involved in at least three rescue operations per day. A rescue operation may last as long as 16 hours, cover hundreds of miles of rugged terrain, and involve as many as 20 victims. The largest rescue operation recorded involved over 300 victims. BORSTAR personnel are specially trained and equipped to locate, access, stabilize, and transport victims to areas where medical personnel are available. In many cases, BORSTAR agents are the only medical personnel along the border.

While BORSTAR's principal mission is to respond to incidents involving other Border Patrol agents and undocumented immigrants, they also assist local, county, state, and federal entities in search and rescue efforts. Echoing the sentiments of many, Roy D. Villareal, BORSTAR director, said, "The men and women of BORSTAR work tirelessly to enhance border safety. The significance and value of BORSTAR is recognized on both sides of the border."

The BORSTAR program has been so successful that it was included in the Smart Border Plan between the United States and Mexico. During November 2000, search and rescue training was provided to Mexican representatives from Baja California, Sonora, Chiapas, Coahuila, and Tabasco. The Border Patrol is providing bi-national training to more than 600 Mexican law enforcement and rescue personnel. The training, to be conducted in each of the southwest border sectors, includes search and rescue, aquatic safety, land navigation, all-terrain vehicle training, and first-responder training. The goal is to equip Mexican agencies with the skills they need to conduct their own search and rescue efforts.