 |
         
|
NBC dispatched Brian Williams to anchor from the Texas-Mexico border: he started the newscast in El Paso and ended it Juarez. NBC's lead was Lisa Myers' expose of the black market in identification papers that eases illicit entry into the United States. She explained the two-part process. First, in Juarez, would-be immigrants rent "lookalike documents"--$500 for a green card, $400 for a passport. These are not forgeries but authentic papers, whose owner's picture sufficiently resembles that of the renter so that a customs officer will not notice the difference. Once inside the United States the renter returns the lookalike to its owner's associate. Then, visaless immigrants acquire the ID they need to find work. Myers sent Telemundo's Abraham Villela undercover to a black market in downtown Los Angeles and he was offered fake documents--driver's licenses and Social Security cards--five times within half an hour.
NBC's Don Teague showed us from the air that Juarez-El Paso form a single metropolis: "They are inseparable"--but not identical. El Paso "is among the safest large cities" in the United States with unemployment at a seven-year low. Juarez is "plagued by extreme poverty, crime and drug-fueled violence." The bridge crossing between the two cities is used by 17,000 pedestrian commuters each day and 6,000 vehicles, NBC's Williams told us, as he headed into Mexico. Customs controls mean that cars wait in line for an hour on average. Some Mexican children cross north each day because El Paso's schools are better, as NBC's Janet Shamlian told us last month. Some Texans live in Juarez "because the dollar goes further" when spent in pesos.
You must be logged in to this website to leave a comment. Please click here to log in so you can participate in the discussion.
