User:CaladriusCanary/sandbox

Draft for additions to page Coyote (person)

(In Relation to Border Patrol and Interactions)

Avoiding the attention of the border patrol and helping migrants avoid them is the primary focus of coyotes, because it is their job to guide their clients around these dangers. A skilled coyote will know the movements of the border patrol and when and how it is best for a person to sneak across. Some may try instead of getting over a border wall to slip past the patrol by pretending to be a valid, inconspicuous traveler. A trick that many migrates uses is to deceptively cross legally but stay and will work illegally. One trick they may use is to obtain a BBC (Borer Crossing Card) to enter the country by posing as a vacationer or a person who is seeking to visit people that they know in the country. Only to illegally stay in the country and work. Through this method they would work to hide their connections to employers and would use the services of coyotes to obtain information, the card or disguise, and possibly even their job or connections to use in the country if they are able to enter the country successfully.

Chávez, Sergio. “Navigating the US-Mexico Border: The Crossing Strategies of Undocumented Workers in Tijuana, Mexico.” Ethnic & Racial Studies, vol. 34, no. 8, Aug. 2011, pp. 1320–1337. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/01419870.2010.547586.

Increased restrictions on migrants, including ones from Mexico into the U.S. were primarily starting to be put into place in the 1920s, although there was not a national quota restricting Western Hemisphere immigrants until 1965. Increasing restrictions caused the demand for cheap migrant labor to exceed the legal ability for foreign workers to enter and work in the country. The conflict between the Nativist demand for restrictions and the many business owners who wanted less expensive labor, lead to a demand for unauthorized persons to be brought into the country. This led to an economic draw for desperate people to illegally enter as well as reasons for employers in the U.S. to use and support illegal methods to get more migrants into the country illegally to have more workers than the quota allows for. Therefor both groups required the help of guides to get migrants into America, requiring the help of the coyotes and similar groups

Sullivan, Michael J. “Keeping the Golden Door Ajar: The Business Case for Mexican Labour Migration to the United States in the 1920s.” Canadian Review of American Studies, vol. 49, no. 3, Sept. 2019, pp. 302–324. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3138/cras.2017.034.

Two Different Types of Coyotes

In the group of people that work as coyotes there are two important subgroups that have been categorized, the interior and exterior coyotes. Both groups work to get migrants illegally into the United States, however, they do it in different ways and will take different types of people. Which group a migrant uses (if they do choose to use a coyote and don’t go alone or with their own group), depends on many factors such as if they are familiar with what they need to do to get into the U.S. along with  what connections they have to both people in the U.S. and with prospective coyotes. These two broad groups are called Interior and Exterior Coyotes.

Interior Coyotes: Are usually known to the people they are taking and are more often used by people with less experience trying to cross the border or who lack strong ties to people in the U.S. Persons without connections to where they are going in America usually travel with interior coyotes because they tend to be people from their hometown or people that they otherwise have more of a connection to. This provides social capital for the coyote by being perceived as being more trustworthy due to being known in the area if not the prospective migrant personally. These connections also can help the migrants avoid being taken advantage of or being abandoned part way by an untrustworthy or inexperienced guide. These social bonds between the migrants and their guides help to provide increased safety for a dangerous and illegal undertaking for the travelers and bring customers for the coyotes.

Border Coyotes: Also called border business coyotes or exterior coyotes, they usually live near the border and will regularly take people across all year. Migrants with more experience trying to cross the border or who are traveling during busy times for crossings are more likely to travel with border coyotes. These guides due to living near the border will help people cross all years long as long as the customers are willing to pay their price and take the risk of traveling with them. Experienced border crossers will often go to the border on their own and travel across with the help of a border coyote.

Martínez, Daniel E. “Coyote Use in an Era of Heightened Border Enforcement: New Evidence from the Arizona-Sonora Border.” Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, vol. 42, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 103–119. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/1369183X.2015.1076720.