Smugglers raise stakes along border

By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 23, 2007

Rival alien and drug smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border are targeting each other in a wave of escalating violence to win control of smuggling corridors into the United States, with at least four recent killings tied to efforts to kidnap migrants for ransom.
Three of the killings took place Feb. 8 north of Tucson, Ariz., in what federal and state law-enforcement authorities have described as one of the nation's most popular alien- and drug-smuggling corridors. Another occurred Jan. 28, south of Tucson.
Authorities said gang members are kidnapping illegal aliens being guided into the United States, demanding ransoms of up to $2,500 a person and killing the illegals, along with gang rivals, who resist. The kidnappings save the gangs the cost of recruiting migrants in Mexico and hiring guides, or "coyotes," to bring them across the border.