Smugglers in sunglasses and muscle shirts reclined on withering patches of grass in a tree-covered plaza, blending into clusters of migrants and offering them "safe" trips into the US.
But on this sweltering day, there were no takers. None of the Mexicans hoping to reach the US could pay the US$3,000 the smugglers demanded to hide them in a car and drive them across the border, a trip that just weeks ago cost US$2,000.
The sharp increase in smugglers' fees is due to the arrival of US National Guard troops at the border and plans by Washington for even greater border security, all of which will make the sometimes deadly trip into the US even more difficult and dangerous. The higher fees have convinced some to cancel plans to sneak into the US, while others have decided to go it alone.
Mexico and the US have already seen a drop in illegal migration, but it isn't clear if that will last.
Border experts argue that the downturn may be temporary while smugglers search for new routes through deadlier terrain and migrants come up with the money to pay the higher fees.
"With all this new security, it is obvious the migrant flow will have to move to more dangerous routes, and smugglers are using this argument to increase their prices," said Francisco Garcia, a volunteer at a migrant shelter in Altar, a farming town of 7,000 that has become a major gathering point for those heading to the US state of Arizona.
Smugglers' fees jumped in 1994 after the US sent more agents to illegal crossing points along the Texas and California borders. The measures funneled migrants into the hostile Arizona desert, making smugglers even more valuable and transforming them from an underground network to a booming illegal industry.
In the past 12 years, the average price for helping migrants move north through the Arizona desert increased sixfold, from US$300 in 1994 to US$1,800.
Suddenly, smugglers are charging as much as US$4,000, migrant rights activists say.
Despite all the risks, Andres Flores, a 29-year-old construction worker who was deported to Tijuana from Los Angeles a week ago, planned to cross by himself through the desert near San Luis, Arizona.
Sitting in the central plaza in San Luis Rio Colorado, Flores said smugglers offered to guide him through the hills near San Diego for US$2,000, a trek that previously cost about US$1,200.
Flores chooseo San Luis Rio Colorado because he believed it would be cheaper.
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