USA illegal immigration report

When U.S. authorities put up a steel fence through this tiny Arizona border town -- the hope was to prevent illegal crossings from Mexico, but the smugglers on the south side were ready.

They burned a rectangular gate in the barrier large enough to drive a truck through, then they sealed it with a padlock to use it at their leisure, leaving the border police too patch things up.

Border Patrol agent Dove Haber.

SOUNDBITE: Dove Haber, Border Patrol agent, saying (English):

"The profits are huge in smuggling and to the smugglers they see this as their territory. They have an entrenchment philosophy about it that this is their area and they don't want to give up the operations that they've had ongoing for some time."

Border officials say smugglers are trying and, in many cases succeeding, in breaching every kind of barrier.

When steel posts were erected to stop vehicles crossing north, drug traffickers responded by building ramps to drive cars over the top.

Others simply jump the fence and run. Those that are caught -- are dropped off at the border after being processed. Some say it is worth the risk, others not

SOUNDBITE: Man caught crossing the border, saying (Spanish):

"After what we've seen these past day's, it's not worth it. There is too much suffering, too many risks in the desert. You are hungry, thirsty, and cold,"

The Pew Hispanic center says an estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants live and work in the United States, roughly one in every 20 workers.

Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters