 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2005 
Officials Bulldoze Homes in Border Village
 Marina Montemayor - Associated Press
| | Mexican officials bulldozed 31 abandoned buildings in Las Chepas, a border hamlet which officials in neighboring New Mexico say is used as a staging ground for crossings by undocumented migrants. (Photo: Raymundo Ruiz) |
Las Chepas, Mexico - Mexican officials have bulldozed 31 abandoned buildings in Las Chepas, a border hamlet that officials in neighboring New Mexico say is used as a staging ground for crossings by undocumented migrants.
A squad of about 15 Chihuahua state police officers showed up Tuesday and, along with two bulldozers, began demolishing the adobe homes with tin roofs.
"This is great news for everyone living on the border," Gov. Bill Richardson said in a statement. "I commend the actions of the Mexican government for taking this step to put a halt to increased illegal activity on the Mexico-New Mexico border."
The operation was monitored from the United States side by U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Last month, Richardson declared a state of emergency in four New Mexico counties along or near that border with Mexico. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano earlier had declared a similar emergency in her state.
"Bulldozing abandoned buildings in Las Chepas is a major step that sends a strong signal to anyone involved in illegal criminal activity on the border that it will not be tolerated," Richardson said.
But many houses were left standing in the farm community, which has 50 full-time residents and supports three grocery stores whose main business apparently involves selling supplies to border crossers.
Village residents complained Tuesday that police had not shown them any court order to justify the demolitions.
"Bill Richardson wouldn't like it if we demolished Columbus," the New Mexico city that stands just beyond a barbed-wire fence that marks the border, said local communal farm representative Francisco Molina.
Molina complained that the houses, while abandoned, had legal owners. However, another leader of the communal farm community had apparently agreed to the demolitions, angering the other residents.
Resident Erasmo Silva said one of the state police officers pointed his rifle at him, after residents voiced their objections.
The village is formally named after a heroine of the Mexican Revolution, Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, but is more widely known as Las Chepas.
In August, Richardson and the governor of Chihuahua agreed to bulldoze or board up abandoned buildings here to prevent them from being used as a haven for would-be immigrants and smugglers.
Richardson and Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza also said they hoped to establish a police presence to end lawlessness in Las Chepas and fine unlicensed bus operators who ferry would-be immigrants along a dusty washboard road to Las Chepas.
However, even after the demolitions, one such bus carrying people who appeared to be migrants was seen driving on the road to Las Chepas.
And in the village, people peered out from the remaining homes, where bunk beds and cots apparently serve as improvised quarters for migrants waiting to cross.
One man waiting for nightfall before embarking on a journey he hoped would take him to New York vowed that the demolitions wouldn't stop him from making the crossing. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us