Human smugglers operate intricate networks whereby people are led to the border, across the border by car or on foot and then are delivered somewhere in the United States.

But along the way, travelers are robbed, beaten, held hostage and sometimes left to die, according to interviews with officials and dozens of illegal immigrants.

"The exploitation of people victimized by coyotes is a real concern for us because people are getting killed," said Doug Moser, customs and border patrol spokesman. "These smugglers are ruthless."

"Angel" made his way from Jalisco, Mexico, to Utah 10 years ago. He paid $300 and traveled with his uncle's family.

"It's always good to have references," he said, "because a bad coyote will kill you and take your money."

The men who smuggled him were college-age. They wore Reeboks and trendy clothes. Those who operate the human-smuggling networks now charge an average of $1,200. The most organized — those with men working cell phones in Mexico and the United States — can bring three groups of 10 people across daily. They earn $36,000 a day.

There is no chit-chat with the coyotes, Angel said. "We know that sometimes smugglers will send a group out as a sacrificial lamb to keep the border agents busy while other groups get through. It's a very scary business."

Meanwhile, all across Mexico, poor people like Rosa Mendoza and Magdalena Calzadillas weigh the dangers of crossing into the United States illegally. Even the possibility of making more money looks better than the choices from where they stand today, Calzadillas said.

There is some evidence of recent economic improvements in Mexico.

• The government of President Vicente Fox indicates "extreme poverty" — defined as income for a person of $52 a month in rural areas and $70 in urban areas — dropped from 20.3 percent in 2002 to 17.3 percent in 2004, according to the ECLAC report.

• The overall poverty level fell from 44.2 percent to 37 percent between 1992 and 2004.

• The proportion of people living on less than $1 a day shrunk from 24.2 percent to 20.3 percent between 2000 and 2002.

Mendoza and Calzadillas say they might be slightly better off than that 20 percent of people living on $1 a day — but not much.

Like so many in Mexico, school ended for Mendoza and Calzadillas at age 11. They've been living hand to mouth ever since, and now they combine their resources to feed Mendoza's two daughters.

For them, everything is so expensive — $32 a month for school, $50 for rent — and they have no income except the occasional cash raised by housekeeping or odd jobs for others.

They have a ramshackle camper from which they sell hamburgers at the ranches, but they haven't had money to buy meat to cook.

The women are eight months behind on rent for their row house. There is no yard, only a dirt parking area where a couple of dogs, a rabbit, a rooster and some scraggly cats scratch around all day.

This fall, Mendoza sent her 12-year-old daughter, Cecilia, to a ranch school that is cheaper than the school in town but still not free. The girl travels one hour each way on the bus to get there.

"She is shy at school," her mother said.

She is also embarrassed. Books and the school uniform cost extra. Cecilia is the only student with no uniform.

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