Illegal immigration to U.S. flourishes in desert

By Robin Emmott

RANCHO EL COCHIFEO, Mexico (Reuters) - At the remote Ugly Piggy cattle ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border, dozens of Mexicans doze by an abandoned chicken pen in the searing desert heat, waiting for nightfall to cross illegally into Arizona.

Every day, thousands of people come to isolated farms and villages in the Sonoran Desert to slip into Arizona, despite searing summer heat and a huge U.S. security crackdown.

Immigration experts say the latest initiative, a 38-mile (61-km) "virtual fence" of towers, radars, cameras and sensors about to come into operation along the border near Tucson, will not make a significant difference in the number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. Southwest.

"They will just change routes," said Arturo Obregon, head of the Mexican migrant protection agency Grupos Beta in El Sasabe, a town used by immigrants as a starting point for the 45-mile (72-km) journey across the desert.

He has seen no overall decline in migrant numbers recently due to increased U.S. border security.

"I will get through, mentally I feel unstoppable," said Jose Magarino, 25, waiting to cross the desert and wearing a Rambo T-shirt saying: "No Man, No Law, No War Can Stop Him."

Following the failure of President George W. Bush's immigration reform proposal in Congress last month, U.S. policy is centred on tighter border security rather than giving immigrants more options to find jobs legally.

The government has raised its Border Patrol deployment to around 13,500 agents now from fewer than 4,000 in 1993, and traditional crossing points in border cities such as Tijuana are sealed with huge metal fences.