Now how did that get in my hockey bag? [Archive]

Ole Glory

03-10-2010, 12:05 PM

The same way this kid got in this pinata.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Girl in piñata found during ...

Girl in piñata found during border check

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 12, 2004

Inspectors at border checkpoints have seen it all: people rolled inside carpets, sewn into car seats and stuffed into washing machines, all attempting to be smuggled into the United States.

But inspectors at the Tecate Port of Entry discovered a new twist recently when they encountered a little girl meticulously sealed inside a piñata.

U.S. Customs & Border Protection
Authorities said the girl who was found sealed inside a piñata was able to breathe and seemed to be in good physical condition.

The child was found just before 3 p.m. Nov. 2, when two U.S. citizens attempted to drive a 1990 Acura sedan loaded with several piñatas through the border checkpoint. Suspicious customs inspectors decided to take a closer look at their cargo.

"Officers began to take the piñatas out of the back seat, and one seemed to be much heavier than the others," said Vince Bond, a spokesman for U.S. Customs & Border Protection. "This one had a little girl of approximately 4 or 5 years of age inside it."

The girl's mother also was found, curled up inside the car's trunk, and the girl's brother, who is about 9 years old, was found underneath the collapsible back seat.

The large piñata carrying the little girl appeared to be a representation of a "Powerpuff Girls" cartoon character.

The girl was completely sealed inside, Bond said, but she was able to breathe and seemed to be in good physical condition. She, her mother and brother were voluntarily deported to Mexico after they were found.

The car carrying the piñatas bore California plates and was driven by a female U.S. citizen; a man in the passenger seat also is a U.S. citizen. Their names were not available.

Neither will be prosecuted, Bond said, in part because of the sheer volume of immigrant-smuggling cases.

"The arrests of individuals smuggling people far exceeds the ability to prosecute all these people," he said. "The more egregious cases obviously will be considered for prosecution, but if there is no prosecution, we must release them."

Bond could not say if this was the first such incident of a person being smuggled inside a piñata, but acknowledged it was an odd case. Piñatas have been used to smuggle drugs, according to immigration officials, and humans have so far been found hiding in everything from upholstery to appliances.

"We have found people inside the dashboard of a car, inside a gas tank, inside a seat," Bond said.

About two weeks ago, inspectors at the San Ysidro Port of Entry found people hidden inside washing machines loaded into a van. Smugglers had removed the motors from the machines and stuffed humans into the bottoms of the machines.

"That gives you an idea of the creativity involved with these smuggling attempts," he said.

According to immigration experts, it can cost as much $5,000 to be smuggled through a legal port of entry, depending on whether false documents are used. Prices also vary depending on where the individual comes from.

Being led by a smuggler on foot through the desert costs less, usually upward of $1,000. But the difficulty of the journey is daunting for many women, who prefer entering illegally through land ports if they can afford it.

Immigration officials have noticed an influx of women and children being smuggled in recent years, often trying to join husbands and fathers already here.

Some immigration experts believe that border-enforcement efforts such as Operation Gatekeeper, which 10 years ago added extra fencing and Border Patrol agents to San Diego County's urban border areas, have made illegal immigration so difficult and costly that migrants who once crossed back and forth now stay in the United States and send for their families.

Leslie Berestein: (619) 542-4579; leslie.berestein@uniontrib.com