Undocumented Immigrants Recruited to Grow Marijuana in National Park

Undocumented Immigrants Recruited to Grow Marijuana in National Park
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=86acd7298461c568
c149043c420677df

Noticero Semanal, News Feature,
Benito Ortiz, Translated by Miguel A. Báez and Mónica Monroe, Mar 01, 2005
Traducción al español

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - Sequoia National Park authorities have found
at least 40 marijuana fields in the last two years. Last year, five
undocumented Mexican immigrants were arrested in one of the fields,
according to a National Park Service investigator who did not want to be
identified.

"About 95 percent of the people who grow marijuana in this park are illegal
aliens," the agent said. "The illegals just work in the fields but the
people who really run them are first and second generation Mexican Americans
who recruit these illegals, promising them $15,000 cash and sometimes more
to grow marijuana for just four months," he said.

These undocumented immigrants are among a group of unemployed day laborers
who can be found outside large hardware and construction stores in the San
Joaquin Valley, waiting for someone to hire them for a day¹s work. Many of
them used to work in the fields of the Central Valley.

"Some of them don't even know they were hired to grow marijuana unti l they
get to the park," the agent said.

But the land owners don't keep their promises to the field workers. Many
undocumented farmhands never see their money, either because they get
arrested before getting paid or because their bosses disappear with all the
drugs, the agent said.

Nearly all the marijuana that has been found and confiscated was grown near
rivers or streams on the hillsides. Between 10,000 to 20,000 marijuana
plants are grown on each field, whose average size is about one acre.
Walking through these areas is difficult because of the roughness and
inaccessibility of the land.

The vast vegetation of pine trees, oak trees, bushes and other plants
provide these fields with shade and protection. This makes the authorities'
job harder. Even with the use of helicopters, finding marijuana fields in
the Sequoia National Park is not easy.

How the Pot Growers Operate
Growing marijuana in the Sequoia National Park has become a highly
sophisticated process.

"Obviously there are more people behind this and they are the ones that pay
for all of this," the agent said.

"(By interrogating people) we have learned that the people in charge have
connections with cartels in Mexico," he said. "These cartels send highly
trained people to teach the undocumented immigrants how to grow marijuana,
and how to find the perfect area for the fields," he added.

The irrigation system in nearly all the fields is also very sophisticated. A
drip system provides water to each plant through a hidden underground
irrigation pipes installed in rivers, or under running water coming from the
mountains. Water is pumped uphill through pipes that are activated by solar
timers.

"They start growing marijuana between March and April," said Richard Thiel,
one of the park's employees.

The undocumented immigrants recruited to grow marijuana live in the fields
during the four months it takes the plants to grow.

"They live in tents and have drinking water and bathrooms," the agent said.
"Besides the workers, there are also one or two armed men," said the agent.
These guards don't work in the fields; they just watch the workers to make
sure they don't run away and watch for outsiders.

"Every ten days people come to bring them food, fertilizers and pesticides,"
said the agent said. Sometimes the suppliers don't come for many days and
the workers have to go for days without eating.

Many of the people who bring supplies to them are women with children,
probably to deter the authorities, according to the investigator.

"But these women, knowing that what they are doing is wrong, ignore the fact
that they could also be arrested, in addition to having their car
confiscated and their children taken away," the investigator said.

How the Authorities Operate
"It is a crime to take food and leave it by the side of the road," said the
agent in charge of the investigation. The crime is even worse when weapons,
fertilizers and pesticides are brought into the park.

Currently, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is investigating one of the
suppliers with the goal of finding the leaders of the operation.

"As long as we¹re just arresting the ones who grow marijuana in the park,
we¹re not going to solve the problem," the investigator said. "We are going
directly for the people at the top."

"There are forest rangers that are trained to lead investigations,
detentions and also to continue with the investigations after the arrests
are made," he said.

To make the search of the marijuana fields more effective, the park
authorities are now using a tracking system, utilizing new and different
tactics.

"We will install electronic sensors, satellite detectors and other
innovative techniques that have been designed in the last few years," the
agent said.

Meanwhile, some groups are trying to make growing marijuana in national
parks a federal crime.

"We are trying to charge the detainees with federal crimes and not just for
illegal violations, especially since Sequoia Park is a national park under
the protection of the federal government," the agent said.

Punishment and sentences
"Planting and growing marijuana in national parks is a crime punishable by
up to 20 years in federal prison and a charge of conspiracy that can add
five to 10 years," said Alexandra Picavet, public information officer of the
National Park Service of the U.S. Department of Interior, assigned to the
Sequoia National Park.

"And if there are charges of firearm possession, this adds 10 more years to
the original sentence," Picavet said. She added that the suppliers that are
arrested for conspiracy can be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison, in
addition to having their car confiscated and losing custody of their
children.

How it all started
Nobody knows exactly when Sequoia National Park started to be used to grow
marijuana, but authorities estimate that this has been going on for many
years.

The discovery of the first field at the beginning of 2001 was purely
coincidental, according to Thiel.

Thiel said that one day a forest ranger noticed water flowing out of the
ground on one of the park¹s many small trails. He started to investigate and
discovered that the water was coming out of a leak in an underground pipe.

"He tried to tear it out of the ground but the pipe was much longer than he
first thought so he continued tearing it out of the ground until he came to
a huge marijuana field," Thiel said.

"For his own security, and also as to not alert anyone nearby, he
immediately left to alert the authorities," he said.

Hikers have also found fields in the park that they reported to authorities.

Other than confiscating drugs, authorities had confiscated an AK47,
shotguns, pistols and .22 caliber rifles.

Meanwhile, the remains of fertilizer and pesticides that the marijuana
growers are using have started to cause ecological problems in the forests
after they mix with the river water, according to Picavet.

"This is a problem that, if not prevented immediately, can with time cause
irreversible harm to plant and animal life in the park," she said.