-Published: Thursday, November 7, 2019-

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Death frequently is the fate of illegal immigrants who try to enter the United States through the unforgiving Sonoran Desert. The news is filled with stories of Hondurans and Guatemalans perishing as they challenge Mother Nature for a shot at living in the United States.

But from some, there is even car or bus service to a convenient crossing point.

A 6-year-old Costa Rican boy was one of those, and his uncle was so certain that he would be successful that he let the boy go on his own.

The story illustrates the problems along the southern U.S. border where thousands of illegal migrants pour in every month. This is the section just south of Lukeville, Arizona, an unincorporated community in southern Pima County.

The migrants appear to be well briefed on U.S. law, and some even carry folders with birth certificates and other documents, according to news reports.

The plight of the Costa Rican boy made headlines in the United States, perhaps because few really know conditions at the border. In fact, the boy was ushered on his way across the border by an uncle who expected that the child would be picked up quickly by U.S. Border Patrol agents, according to news reports at the time.  That was June 19, 2018.

Wednesday judicial agents detained the uncle in Sardinal in the province of Guanacaste,  and accused him of trafficking in persons and abandoning an incapacitated person. The man, identified with the surnames Brenes Villalobos, was taken to a First Judicial Circuit court in San José where pre-trial measures are pending.

The case is being handled by the deputy prosecutor against trafficking in persons and the illicit trafficking of migrants, according to a report from judicial agents. They said the case has been under investigation for nearly a year. The man returned to Costa Rica a day after Border Patrol agents picked up the boy at the border, they said.

The Washington Times said that the boy endured 100-degree heat and that he told agents that the uncle had told him that agents would pick him up. The child was trying to join his mother, who also is an illegal immigrant in the United States, the newspaper said at the time.

The international border south of Lukeville just has a rail fence to prevent vehicle crossings, the Border Patrol said. A major highway runs parallel to the road on the Mexican side, so illegal immigrants have a number of places to cross. There is regular bus service along the highway. Most who enter illegally usually sit down as the boy did to await a Border Patrol vehicle. Then they can take advantage of U.S. laws that  allow them to claim refugee or some other status. Most adults are freed to await a court date sometime in the future. Minors like the boy are taken into protective custody. The boy initially went to a government facility in Tucson, Arizona.

The Border Patrol also says that some border crossers are just smugglers bringing harmful drugs into the United States. They do not want to be caught and head to the nearest interstate highway. The area is northern Mexico is firmly in control of the drug cartels.

The Lukeville area has been used to illustrate the demand by U.S. President Donald Trump to construct a wall the length of the border. The case of the boy made national news in the United States because U.S. Customs and Border Protection recounted the details in a Twitter posting.

Judicial agents said that Costa Rican consular workers in the United State managed to deliver the boy to the mother.

Despite the proximity of the border to the highway, others are not so lucky. Border Patrol agents this June found the body of a 7-year-old girl from India who had died in the desert west of Lukeville. She had been traveling with at least two other women and some children, and it appears they headed out on their own and did not await a pickup by the Border Patrol. News reports said that agents managed to follow the tracks of the small group from the body of the girl to a point where they returned to Mexico.

The case of the uncle presents some interesting jurisdictional problems. Although investigators in Costa Rica have received information from the United States, there is no certainty that the man ever actually was in that country. Presumably the man left Costa Rica with the boy legally. Of course, Costa Rica does not extradite its citizens to other countries to face trial.



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Should the U.S. urge Costa Rica to modify the prohibition against extradition that is in the Constitution?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com