Police estimate 30K flee Juárez violence

A timely article from http://www.elpasotimes.com/ (and a big hat tip to them) about how many people are leaving Juarez and moving to the city of El Paso without going through the legal immigration process; and the laws that are broken are not being enforced. As the link shows, there are 30,ooo immigration law-breakers in El Paso.
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Drug war: Laser, investors' visas allow many to live, work in El Paso
By Adriana Gómez Licón / El Paso Times
Posted: 02/28/2010

Police estimate 30K flee Juárez violence, Rep. Beto O'Rourke says

EL PASO -- They are not your typical undocumented immigrants.
Thousands of middle-class Mexican citizens, under the guise of being commuters or visitors, may be manipulating the U.S. immigration system to escape the violence of Juárez.
More than 4,600 murders occurred in Juárez in 2008 and 2009, and the fallout is apparent in the city's decay. More than 110,000 houses have been abandoned, 75,000 people have lost their jobs and more than 10,000 businesses have closed.
Now a white-collar segment of Juárez's population may be streaming to El Paso by misusing tourist visas, then renting houses or apartments or even opening businesses.
Living in the United States may be illegal for these immigrants who flee the epicenter of Mexico's drug war by moving right across the border to one of the safest cities in the country.
El Paso had 12 murders last year compared to 2,643 in Juárez. New York City, with eight times the population of Juárez, had 466 homicides in 2009.
Most people who cross international bridges from Mexico into El Paso hold tourist or "laser" visas. This visa entitles Mexicans to visit the United States, but they cannot work legally in the country.
The U.S. government issued almost 1.5 million visas from 2000 to 2009 at the Consulate of Juárez. Some were for students and temporary workers, but most were laser visas, which expire after 10 years and cannot be used for visits longer than six months.
Not just any Mexican citizen can get a tourist visa to enter the United States. To qualify, one must prove he or she has a steady income, a residence in Mexico and bank and utility statements to help demonstrate that he or she is not intent on working in the United States.
Obtaining a tourist visa also is contingent on the applicant's background, such as whether he or she has an immigration violation or criminal history in the U.S., said Lisa Rios, an immigration lawyer in El Paso.
Mexican nationals apply for the visa at one of the 12 U.S. consulates in their country. The cost is $130, plus the cost of the Mexican passport. The screening process usually takes weeks.
Customs inspectors at bridges verify the authenticity of the document and ask more questions about the purpose of the travel in the United States. But once foreigners are in the United States, it is difficult if not impossible to keep track of them.
Customs and Border Protection has a system to record people overstaying their visas, but it is not as sophisticated as it is in airports.
Mexicans entering with a laser visa who stay less than 30 days and near the border do not need a form that allows CBP to maintain a log of arrivals and departures.
The form is not collected at international bridges in El Paso when Mexicans are traveling back to Juárez. That leaves CBP without an accurate record of who is violating the terms of the visa.
So staying in El Paso may provide a way for Mexican nationals to slip under the immigration radar and justify their presence in the country as commuters.
Grace Gomez, a Customs and Border Protection supervisor in El Paso, said the agency documents cases in which people overstay their visit and notifies Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A sweep last week by ICE agents in El Paso County led to 33 arrests of people who were living in the United States illegally. But all of those people had criminal convictions in the United States, making them targets of law officers.
Sergio Ramirez, a real estate agent, said most Juárez residents moving to the United States do not run the risk of being deported because they have no criminal record.
"If they were criminals, it would be foolish for them to come here," Ramirez said. "Here, they get caught."
Another way Juárez residents are moving to El Paso is through investors' visas.
To get the document, an applicant must show that he or she will invest at least $500,000 opening a business and hiring at least 10 full-time employees.
Ana Gonzalez of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said the agency last year counseled more than 200 business people from Mexico looking to start operations in El Paso. When the business owners were not permanent residents or U.S. citizens, an investor's visa was a possible avenue.
New businesses rooted in Mexico were not necessarily opening in El Paso be cause its owners were trying to leave Juárez, Gonzalez said. Some were looking to expand.
Attorney Rios said she had seen an increase in people from Juárez looking to apply for the investor's visa in the past two years.
The number of these visas granted to foreign nationals went from about 800 in 2007 to nearly 1,400 in 2008, the last year documented by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Rios said the number, not broken down by country, indicates more businesses are moving to El Paso because their owners faced threats of kidnapping and extortion.
Gomez of Customs and Border Protection said anecdotal evidence shows that fewer people are crossing into El Paso. An annual immigration report is still months away.
Nonetheless, more people detect a greater presence of Mexicans in El Paso.
"If you go to restaurants or malls, you see license plates from Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Chihuahua," Ramirez said.
Adriana Gómez Licón may be reached at agomez@elpasotimes.com ; 915-546-6129.