ImmigrantSmuggling
05 MAY 2003 - SELLS, ARIZONA, USA: A family of undocumented immigrants from the Mexican state of Jalisco hide in the back of pickup truck after the driver of the truck was stopped by a Tohono O'Odham tribal police officer for speeding on AZ 86 east of Sells, AZ, the capital of Tohono OOdham Indian Reservation, May 5, 2003. The Tohono OOdham reservation covers a vast expanse of Southern Arizona and has a 70 mile border with Mexico. In recent years the reservation has been flooded with undocumented immigrants who pass through the reservation on their way north to Phoenix, AZ, and other cities in the US. About 1,500 undocumented immigrants, most from Mexico, cross the reservation, which has more land than the state of Delaware, every day. According to the tribal government, the tribal police department spends about 60 percent of its resources dealing with crime created by the undocumented immigrants. Many times tribal police officers have to wait hours for the US Border Patrol to respond to calls to pick up undocumented immigrants. This family was released by the tribal police two hours after the Border Patrol was notified that the police had the family. The Border Patrol didn?t respond the tribal police call. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
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