The Chicago Stop on the New Underground Railroad

The mud-caked Ford van slid to a stop in front of a crumbling brick apartment house on Chicago's 18th Street. Eight young men darted out of the van and into the building, and were barely inside when cries of "!La migra! !La migra!" echoed down the hallway. The warning that immigration agents might be near by sent the eight scurrying into an attic hideaway. After an edgy two hours, the men found out the cry had been a false alarm and they breathed a bit easier.

They were not apt to feel secure for long, however, since they were Mexicans who only 35 hours earlier had illegally crossed the border into the U.S. to take up life as mojados, or "wetbacks," as they call themselves. The men were passengers on a modern underground railroad, a burgeoning smuggling network that has immigration officials perplexed as to how to stop it.

Until recently most illegal Mexican aliens have sought work and haven closer to home; generally they went in search of agricultural jobs in the Southwest. But now aspiring immigrants have started to head for the industrial cities of the Midwest. The majority aim for Chicago, where they can quickly fade into the city's Latin population of 300,000. One observer close to the Mexican community estimates that as many as 75,000 mojados are now in the Second City.

Stowaway Vans. No one knows for certain, but current estimates are that 50 to 100 men arrive every day. It is no easy trip. Often the mojados cross the border on their own and meet up with a smuggler on the other side. Then, for fees as high as $400 each, they are driven the 1,400 miles to Chicago. They hide out on the illegal journey in the smugglers' cars, trucks and vans, sometimes stowing away in cardboard boxes or disappearing behind loads of watermelons and sacks of potatoes. One smuggler tucked his stowaways in his trunk, and supplied them with the needed air circulation by connecting fans in the trunk to the car's cigarette-lighter outlet.

Smugglers are wary of sharp-eyed immigration agents and highway patrolmen, and must frequently take back roads and lengthy detours. Sophisticated smugglers, some of whom make $75,000 a year, employ two-way radios, lookout cars, and rented vehicles that are hard to trace. A few unscrupulous operators have even been known to recruit willing mojados, load them into a waiting vehicle at $250 a head, and then renege on the contract by dumping them 15 miles north of the Mexican border for a tidy profit with no risk involved, since their victims can hardly complain to the police.

Usually, however, the smugglers deliver their man north as promised, and even undertake to find a job for the alien once he has arrived. But for their employment services, the smugglers sometimes demand in addition up to half of a man's salary for his first two months at work. Some smuggling rings also operate decrepit rooming houses and charge a man $35 a week to share a two-room apartment with four others.

Still, most of the new arrivals gladly pay the extorted money for a chance to live clandestinely in the U.S. and earn wages that are from two to five times what they could get at home. Most are in their 20s, and have a wife and several children back home. A few manage to earn as much as $150 a week in suburban industries. The majority, however, end up at menial labor--washing dishes, mowing lawns or changing tires. Chintzy employers have been known to pay them as little as 90-c- an hour. Says Father Peter Rodriguez, a Chicago priest who serves the Mexican community: "They are holding jobs that nobody in this country wants, but happy to be doing it because of conditions in Mexico." It is not against the law to employ illegal aliens, and Representative Peter Rodino of New Jersey thinks that is precisely what is aggravating the problem. Rodino has introduced a bill that would fine an employer $500 if he was caught more than once hiring an illegal alien. The bill was passed by the House, and is now being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Most of Chicago's new arrivals are concentrated in one South Side barrio--a belt of rundown housing and storefronts that extends 36 blocks west along 18th Street. They confine themselves to the area's seedy rooming houses, pool halls and movie theaters and, for fear of discovery, seldom leave their rooms except to go to work. Among the first words the new arrivals learn are "I am hungry" and "Bud" and "Schlitz." Few ever acquire much English, since they almost never venture outside the barrios. Even a trip to the doctor can be risky. Says Ilinois Parole Officer Eriberto Campos: "The mojado quickly learns that he has no voice, and can't afford to get busted or to get a traffic ticket. He can't even afford to complain."

How can the influx be halted or at least slowed? The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service admits it is understaffed, and says it is fighting a losing battle to stem the increase in illegal alien traffic--even though its raids are netting 35 illegals a day in Chicago. When found, the aliens are rarely put through the time-consuming process of deportation. They are simply shipped back home by bus at a cost of $50, which they must pay. A large number lose little time in organizing a trip back to the U.S. for yet another try.

Some observers, including many Chicanos, say the problem begins at the border and must be halted there--by tighter controls. Others insist that the thousands who are already in the U.S. should be granted legal status. But most illegals simply hope to elude authorities long enough to earn a stake. The continued risks, harassment and exploitation do not deter them. Says one laborer: "If the police catch me, I will keep trying to come back, again and again. This life is better than any I can hope to have back home."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.