On this recent day in Las Chepas, at least 50 would-be border crossers are scattered among the dilapidated houses and few stores that sell crackers, chips and canned goods to the immigrants staging here before they head north.

Las Chepas gained notoriety on Aug. 12 when Gov. Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency in four border counties and asked the governor of Chihuahua to bulldoze the town.

The town is a surreal mix of farmers and transients heading north. Untended horses saunter through the streets, and here and there, next to abandoned graffiti-covered houses, are piles of tin cans and empty water bottles.

The immigrants on this night have no way of knowing that just three miles north, along east-west N.M. 9, soldiers from Fort Lewis, Wash., have set up observation posts. Their Stryker armored vehicles are equipped with long-range surveillance cameras able to spot immigrants in the dark.

''We just want to work for the season and then go back,'' he says. This group is experienced. Galicia and his friends crossed the desert last year, and have been caught by the Border Patrol before. Each man plans to carry a gallon container of water and refill it on the way.

Another group of four men, friends from Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, tried crossing from Las Chepas the previous night, were caught within four hours, and are back to try again.

They hope to make it to New Orleans to get work in the post-Katrina rebuilding. They carry water and small blankets in their backpacks. From their wallets, they pull out photos of their wives and children.

Oscar Morales, 39, was living in Atlanta, Ga., until he was recently deported. He plans to return to his wife and two children in Atlanta. Another member of his group, Manuel Martinez, 17, says he is trying to reach his mother and brothers in Tampa, Fla.

The group's third member, Daniel Tellez, 30, is trying to rejoin his wife and three children in Longmont, Colo. Tellez's wife used someone else's ID to cross.

Morales says he has been caught by the Border Patrol about 10 times, but never when he crossed from around Las Chepas. He knows the area, and his two companions depend on him.

One recent morning just after dawn, a Border Patrol vehicle dropped off a small group at the Columbus port of entry. Among those caught the night before was a 19-year-old woman, who identified herself as Carolina, from Mexico's southernmost state, Chiapas.

Carolina, a slight woman, said she walked north for three days and two nights before giving up, still short of Interstate 10. She had been left behind by fellow immigrants in her group. She waited half a day by a tree until Border Patrol agents found her.

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