Agua Prieta is a community of about 120,000 people that is located in the far northern region of the northern Mexican state of Sonora.   Situated on the US- Mexico border, Agua Prieta is immediately south of Douglas Arizona; which is in the southeast corner of Arizona.   Agua Prieta means dark water in English.  The community  began as a cattle watering and crossing location between the US and Mexico.  Agua Prieta, (or A-P as it is often called,) grew because of the surrounding mining activity and the large copper smelter in Douglas.  In the 1970's Agua Prieta became a center for the Maquiladora industry.    The 1980's saw growth from the Maquiladoras and some other than legal exporting operations.  In the 1990's AP grew more as a result of US escalation of border enforcement activities.   Operation Gatekeeper began in San Diego and enforcement increased along the Rio Grande River in Texas.  As the fences and additional migration controls were erected, more and more would-be border crossers were funneled into Agua Prieta.  The small cattle, mining and blue collar factory town became the main starting point for the dangerous trip through the desert into the US.  At one point in the late 1990's, up to 1,000 people per day were arrested near Douglas and returned to Mexico thru Agua Prieta.  Currently there are 500 US Border patrol agents stationed in Douglas Arizona.   Today the number of migrants crossing from Agua Prieta into the US has decreased.  The fencing, cameras, additional Border Patrol agents, and infrastructure have influenced many would-be migrants to cross in much more more dangerous locations.  Some migrants have elected to stay in Agua Prieta and initiate the lengthy bureaucratic process to try and attain legal crossing and/or work permits.   More than 50 families from Salvadora Urbina  are working and living in Agua Prieta.  The Maquiladora industry that suffered and shrank in the early part of 2001 is rebounding and again there are some higher paying jobs, (about $1.00 per hour for labor) in AP.  Most of these families would prefer to find suitable work in their own communities, lands, and traditions.

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