Growing number of illegal immigrants fleeing the law back home

BY DAVE MONTGOMERY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - After illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border near Laredo, Texas, almost six years ago, Juan Carlos Almanza-Castillo made his way north, eventually landing a job as a ranch hand in Central Texas, about 50 miles up Interstate 35 from Austin.

He lived a simple lifestyle, under the radar of the law, until Bell County authorities began investigating him this year for an alleged sexual assault on a minor. The investigation turned up another detail: Almanza-Castillo was a former Mexican police officer wanted in the slaying of a relative in northern Mexico.

The fugitive, who was deported this month, is part of what U.S. authorities say is a menacing subset of the nearly 11 million immigrants who have entered the United States in the past two decades.

While most come in search of better jobs and higher wages, a large and growing number are on the run from the law, often on both sides of the border. Thousands of criminals flee to the United States to escape apprehension back home and some commit more crimes while dodging the law in this country, officials say.

Of the 1.2 million illegal immigrants apprehended nationwide while entering the United States over the past year, fingerprint checks revealed that more than 26,000 were linked to major crimes, Border Patrol officials say.