Some entrants try polluted-river route

Day 5: Crossing through filth (July 23, 2006)

The three young people wore only underwear and held green trash bags on their heads as they sloshed through the murky, polluted New River, which flows north from Mexicali, Mexico, to Calexico, Calif.

The trio's attempt to illegally enter the United States turned out to be in vain. The U.S. Border Patrol waited for them on the banks of the sewage-laden river, and the illegal crossers — two men and one woman who appeared to be in their 20s — turned back.

Calexico, a city of about 34,000, straddles the border alongside the more heavily populated Mexican city of Mexicali, with about 1.3 million people.

Attempts to cross into Calexico from Mexico via a break in the metal border fence at New River are common. The local Border Patrol says the riverbanks on the Mexican side are controlled by smugglers who charge money to the crossers.

The river crossers typically carry their clothes in trash bags so that they have something dry to wear when they get out of the water, to help them blend into the Calexico community.