Hostage Capital USA
Phoenix in recent years has become home to a variety of symbols of excess: sprawling, homogeneous housing developments, a choking mix of desert dust and automobile pollution, and a hardened, gruff demeanor as indigenous Arizonans have been replaced by Eastern retirees and part-time golfers. Now, Phoenix has earned the dubious distinction of Hostage Capital USA.
But there is a sad twist to this already pejorative honor. The hostages are usually pollos. These are “chickens” in Spanish; a term used for Mexicans seeking guides (coyotes) for an illegal overland crossing of the U.S.- Mexican border between Texas and California. It is a coyote’s job to successfully bring the pollos through severe environmental obstacles and evade border patrols.
Coyotes are becoming more ruthless in the economic downturn. They normally demand prepayment of around US $1,500 for the trip. But the smugglers have found changing prices en route more lucrative, adding $1-2,000 per trip. If they can’t pay up on demand, the illegals are held at safe houses in the U.S. Southwest until relatives produce the remaining amount, often selling their homes in Mexico to come up with the scarce cash.
Mexican drug gangs are also joining the abduction game. Those abducted may have connections to Mexican drug business, much of which runs through Arizona. Targets are researched and selected on their abilities to pay.
Phoenix has become the central holding point for many of immigrant hostages. The city is geographically convenient to the border, as well as large enough for a degree of anonymity so that the illegal activities remain obscure to authorities. Estimates range from the hundreds to thousands of individuals being held at any one time.
According to the Phoenix police, there were 368 kidnapping in 2008. The unreported numbers are considered much higher. Law enforcement officials have their jobs made more difficult by Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Connections into the immigrant community have been strained by the popular Arpaio’s high-profile, aggressive campaigns against illegal immigrants. With the environment for community policing and intelligence gathering in the Phoenix Hispanic community subsequently poisoned, combating the hostage-taking has been difficult.
Mexican drug gangs and transport syndicates are strengthening their presence in Phoenix and across the U.S. Southwest. As the economy slows the flow of illegal workers and authorities tighten their grip on drug routes into the Southwest, hostage-taking offers a lucrative supplement to waning underworld incomes. Some speculate it is only a matter of time before abductions and associated violence move into the golf courses and restaurants of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Chandler. Heading off this kind of crime will require better intelligence flow from informants and citizens in the Phoenix Hispanic community, as well as cooperation. This is unlikely to happen until there is a shift in area law enforcement that puts the “community” back into community policing.
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