Updated at 6:41 p.m. ET: When the next Papal Conclave meets behind closed doors to replace the retiring Pope Benedict XVI, the United States will have an unprecedented voice in the process.

Eleven cardinal electors, almost 10 percent of the conclave, will be Americans -- the largest share the country has ever had, even though it has historically had a large Catholic population.

The retiring pope gets credit for the greater influence of the U.S.

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Last year, he named three new American cardinals, increasing the U.S. total to 19. Only 11 will be electors because in order to vote in the papal election, the cardinals must be under 80 when the pope being replaced dies or leaves his seat.

With 11 votes, the U.S. is now the second-largest bloc, behind only Italy, which has 28 electors, according to the Holy See press office at the Vatican. Germany is third, with six. The new pontiff is expected to be elected by the end of March, according to Vatican officials.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York who was elevated to cardinal last year, is considered a longshot candidate to succeed the pope.

When asked about the qualities necessary for the next pope, Dolan told TODAY that "a good place to start would be to look at Pope Benedict."

He added: "There's a learning, a savviness about the world, there's a theological depth, there's an unquestionably personal piety and holiness, there's a linguistic talent, there's a knowledge of the church universal."

When asked whether he would be allowed to vote for himself, Dolan laughed. "Crazy people cannot enter the conclave," he joked.

The shift in power toward the U.S. “reflects the vitality of the Catholic Church in the United States,”  John Paul II biographer George Weigel said in November.

"But I don’t think it likely that any American will be elected pope for as long as the United States remains the world’s pre-eminent power," he added.

Alessandro Speciale, Vatican correspondent at Religious News Service, echoed Weigel’s opinion, adding that “coming from the world’s only superpower could still be seen as a negative factor in a global church.”

What the increasing U.S. presence among the cardinal electors might mean is that Benedict XVI was very much aware that Catholicism is no longer a predominantly European religion.

The U.S. has as many as 78 million Catholics, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. For comparison’s sake, Italy, despite having the largest share of electors and being primarily Catholic, has a total population of fewer than 61 million residents, according to World Bank estimates from 2011.

"It remains to be seen whether this numerical weight will actually translate into influence at the conclave," Speciale said in November. "Though national links are powerful, many other factors ... play into the secret voting at the Sistine Chapel."

Some experts have suggested that the next pope might be from Latin America.

Reuters noted Monday that Latin America now "represents 42 percent of the world's 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population, the largest single block in the Church, compared to 25 percent in its European heartland."

Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, who now holds the pope's old post as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is among the senior Vatican officials to suggest that it might be Latin America's turn.

"I know a lot of bishops and cardinals from Latin America who could take responsibility for the universal Church," he told Duesseldorf's Rheinische Post newspaper in December.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, announced in a statement Monday that he will help pick the next pope: "I look forward to traveling to Rome soon to help thank Pope Benedict XVI for his gifted service to the Church, and to participate in the Conclave to elect his successor."

Mahony's announcement that he'll participate in the decision came despite documents revealing he was complicit in protecting priests accused of sex abuse during his tenure as head of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Related:

Pope Benedict XVI to step aside on Feb. 28

'Heavy heart but complete understanding': Pope's resignation stuns church leadership

From prisoner of war to pontiff: A timeline of Pope Benedict XVI's life

Back-to-back earthquakes rattled northern California Monday morning, triggering an early start to the work week for some in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area.

The stronger quake -- at a 4.0 magnitude -- was centered one mile north of El Cerrito in the East Bay and 10 miles north-northwest of Oakland. It struck at a depth of 5.7 miles at 5:33 a.m. PT, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It came about seven seconds after a 3.5 temblor -- known as the foreshock -- hit in nearly the same location at a depth of five miles.

"There were two earthquakes … and since then there have been a lot of little aftershocks, which is totally to be expected, down in the magnitude 2.0 range,” Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the USGS' National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, told msnbc.com.

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The USGS website initially appeared to show two quakes, then one temblor in the immediate aftermath -- and some people wrote on Twitter that they felt two.

"It’s always difficult to split quakes this close together," Blakeman said, noting that automatic systems first upload the information, which quake analysts then have to review.

“I think part of the interest today is the fact that it’s been a little while since we had even a 4.0 in the Bay Area," he noted. "I think (it) kind of reminded everybody that California still has earthquakes.”

No damage was reported, the California Highway Patrol's Central Division said on Twitter. Blakeman said they haven't had any direct reports of damage.

"For a magnitude 4.0 quake we’ll probably get some reports of things falling off of people shelves and ... maybe a window cracked here and there, something like that, but shouldn’t be anything major,” he said.

Christine Cosgrove, who lives in Berkeley -- about four miles north of the epicenter, told the San Francisco Chronicle that "a big chunk of our chimney fell down. For us, this was the strongest earthquake we've felt in 22 years in the house. Other items fell off window sills and broke."

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stopped all trains where they were for at least five minutes as part of standard procedure, said communications director Jim Allison. A later inspection of the 104 miles of track did not turn up any problems, he added.

The shaking sent many to Twitter to comment on the small tremors:

"Here in Mill Valley, heard rumble of quake 1, then a second later, the hard hit of quake 2. Both were sharp pops with little after-roll," wrote Stephen Bové.

"(W)orked better than coffee 5:45am," quipped Maritza Ruiz-Kim.

"My shaky wake up call seemed to last for 30 sec+," said Amanda Walter.

"Was in airport shuttle during the quake. But now everyone else in SF is awake obscenely early, too!" exclaimed Zoelle Egner.‏ 

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The Texas Highway Patrol, which works alongside the U.S. Border Patrol to stop illegal drug smuggling from Mexico, is getting new means to chase down the black hats: six 34-foot gunboats, outfitted with automatic weapons and bulletproof shielding, according to a report by KHOU television in Houston.

The vessels, which are similar to U.S. Navy gunboats used in rivers during the Vietnam War and are capable of operating in as little as 2 feet of water, are scheduled to launch in March.

Officials quoted in the story said that drug cartels increasingly were using the river to smuggle drugs into the United States, or fleeing safely back to Mexico if detected.

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The new vessels, emblazoned with "Texas Highway Patrol" logos, are part of a growing presence on the border by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which also has a $4 million reconnaissance helicopter which was purchased with seized drug money, according to KHOU.

"It sends a message," Jose Rodriguez, Texas DPS Regional Commander told the station. "Don't mess with Texas."

The boats -- costing about $3.5 million -- were funded with a combination of Texas legislative money and federal grants, according to DPS spokesman Tom Vinger. They will operate on the Rio Grande and lakes that feed it as well as on the Intercoastal Waterway, a narrow channel between the coast of Texas and South Padre Island.

He said they were in part a response to the "splashdown" strategy that drug traffickers have used in recent years to avoid arrest and confiscation of the drugs. When pursued, some smugglers drive into the river where they are met by boats that take the people and cargo back to the Mexico side of the border river.

"Just like any patrol unit, the (gunboat) patrols give higher visibility to deter and, if necessary, to interdict," said Vinger.

The nonprofit Texas Border Coalition said resources to stop drug smuggling and other illicit activities -- including smuggling of illegal immigrants -- would be more effectively utilized by investing in legal border crossings.

The border checkpoints are "woefully lacking" in technology and personnel, said Julie Hillrichs, spokeswoman for the organization, which studies a range of issues that affect border communities. The result is not only continued smuggling, but hours-long wait times for legitimate commerce, she said.

In a recent report, the coalition said an estimated 90 percent of the cocaine, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine and MDMA smuggled across the border comes through checkpoints alongside legal commerce.

"We're not suggesting that these vessels would not be needed," said Hillrichs. "We’re just saying that we have identified what we believe to be a weaker link. Drug cartels don’t send drugs through the river; they smuggle it through the border crossings," she said.

The federal government has spent more than $90 billion over the last decade to secure the U.S.-Mexico border — a significant portion of which has funded use of the U.S. military, including the National Guard, to bolster U.S. Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection forces, the coalition said.

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BEIJING – Wenzy Duan dreams about becoming a delegate to the United Nations.

“I know this [ambition] is pretty high,” said the 17-year old Beijing native.  “But I think I can give it a shot.” 

To prepare, Duan wants to study international relations at an American college – someplace like the University of Washington. “I hear [it] is good at social science," she said.

The University of Washington is one of approximately 10 U.S. universities Duan plans to apply to in the coming year with the help of an education consultant she hired last summer.

“I know that the scores is not the only thing that the university will consider whether you can get in or not,” said the high school senior.

Duan is not alone.  Today, China sends more of its students to America than any other country. During the 2010-11 academic year, 157,588 Chinese students were studying in the U.S. – an increase of 23 percent from the previous year, according to the Institute of International Education. 

The growing market of Chinese students wanting to go to the U.S. has created various cottage industries in China and the U.S. –  among them are education consultants who help students navigate the maze of college applications and "brokers" representing American universities who seek student candidates paying full tuition. But it's also fueled anxiety among American students and their parents about increased competition from abroad.

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Education consultants: the main cottage industry
“When [Chinese students] decide to come to the U.S. and study in the U.S. school, they have no idea,” said Steven Ma, president of ThinkTank Learning, the consulting group with which Duan is working.  "What do colleges in the U.S. look for anyway?  What do they want?  What type of students they want?  And that’s where we come in.”

ThinkTank Learning, based in Santa Clara, Calif., offers tutoring and college counseling.  Most of the students contracting its services have been Asian-American, but Ma said increasingly his firm began fielding calls from mainland Chinese families wanting their advice. 

Eventually ThinkTank Learning opened a branch in Shenzhen in 2009 and then in Beijing a year later.  It charges anywhere from $17,000 to almost $40,000 for tailored consultation packages lasting six to 12 months, dispensing advice on choosing the right schools, writing essays, or preparing for interviews.  

“They’ll just tell you when you need to get something done by what deadline and how do you prepare your application to the school’s standards,” said Julia Yin, Duan’s mother, a petroleum engineer who hails from Hunan province.  “Basically, everything is DIY [do it yourself.]"

Go West, Young Man (and Woman)
China sent its first student to an American college in 1850: A native of Guangdong Province named Yung Wing earned his degree from Yale University, paving the way for thousands more over the following century.

The flow of students from China to America dried up in the 1950s when the establishment of the People’s Republic of China gave way to tumult and isolation, and did not re-start until 1974 1978.

From then until just a few years ago, "It was almost all graduate students, most of them funded by the host universities through research assistantships or teaching assistantships," said Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the president at the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Now, Chinese undergraduates drive the growth, particularly in the past two years.  At the start of the 2006-07 academic year, 9,955 Chinese undergrads were enrolled in U.S. schools. The following year, that figure jumped to 16,450.  By the 2010-11 academic year, 56,976 undergraduates made up a third of all Chinese students living in the U.S.

“What you’re seeing is the growth of the middle class of China who can really afford to send their kids to the U.S.,” said Blumenthal.  “The Chinese undergrads are all coming virtually self-funded.”

The fact that so many students pay their own way has not gone unnoticed.

"Foreign students spend about $21 billion a year in the U.S. in tuition and living expenses for them and their families,” said Charles Bennett, Minister-Counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. embassy in Beijing – where Ambassador Gary Locke has made among his top priorities the expansion of visa processing capacity in China.

“That’s a very large sum of money for U.S. academic institutions,” continued Bennett, especially as so many face shrinking endowments or reduced state funding.

The Chinese comprise at least 21 percent of all international students newly enrolled in American schools, which means that they and their families contribute roughly $4 billion to the American economy, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Edging out American students in America?
Recent reports, however, have suggested mainland Chinese students and their ability to pay full tuition are costing American students placement in American colleges. A bankrupt state school system in California – one of the most popular destinations for Chinese students – has meant that its well-regarded schools are seeing record enrollments from out-of-state and international students. 

For the 2010-11 academic year, California welcomed the most international students – 96,535. And for the tenth year in a row the University of Southern California was the leading host U.S. institution for overseas students, enrolling 8,615, according to the IIE.

But the IIE argues adding mainland Chinese students is helpful for diversity.  “Most Americans will not study abroad. On the other hand, their careers will be global,” observed Blumenthal.  “They need to learn how to interact with professionals from other countries, and many of them will be from China.  There are very few industries or business not affected by China.”

Moreover, at the graduate level, Chinese students aren’t competing against American students for a seat in the classroom, according to Blumenthal.  “There still aren’t enough Americans in the pipeline wanting to get graduate training in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math,” she said.

But detractors note other challenges have surfaced as a result of so many Chinese students going to U.S. schools.  Among them is whether some applicants from the mainland are cheating their way into admissions by falsifying their academic records or achievements. 

One consulting company in Beijing that works U.S. universities, Zinch China, says 90 percent of Chinese undergraduates submit false recommendation letters for their U.S. college applications and that 70 percent enlist someone else to write their essays.

The dishonesty works the other way, too.  A growing number of “education brokers,” who work on behalf of U.S. institutions to solicit Chinese students, have led to misrepresentations and predatory fees, according to a revealing report from Bloomberg News. Some agents promise admission to top-flight schools, charge exorbitant fees, in some instances including a portion of scholarship funds, and students can end up at schools that are a far cry from the "dream schools" they hope to attend.  

Can China produce innovative thinkers?
The desire among Chinese students to seek an American college degree has grown stronger over the years owing to a number of factors.

Above everything else, there is the fierce competition for gaining admissions to a preeminent Chinese university. The selection process is decided solely by the gaokao, an annual national college entrance examination that lasts nine grueling hours over two to three days.

This past year, more than 9 million students across China took the gaokao.  And believe it or not, that number has been declining since 2008 as more students opt out of the gaokao and sign up for exams like the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), both of which are generally prerequisites for applying to any U.S. college or university.

A lively debate is growing about whether China’s education system can produce innovative thinkers who can enable the country to lead – not just catch up with or follow in the footsteps of industrialized economies like the U.S. or Britain. Such concerns triggered a widespread discussion online when Steve Jobs died earlier this year.

“The students here are not as robotic as Americans think,” said Gene Hwang, a 27-year-old Taiwanese-American, who has been working in China for ThinkTank Learning for almost two years.  “But they are held back by some of the systems in schools, which emphasize rote memorization….  We work with them on [developing] critical thinking.”

Broadening those horizons
“When I get into America, I can get [a liberal] education [that] could open my mind,” said Zhang Yuqi, a soft-spoken but intense 17-year-old high school senior.

He’s been working with a ThinkTank Learning consultant for three months, reviewing which schools to apply to and working on his essays.  A possible math major, he has his eye on Carnegie-Mellon and Emory where he hopes to find a climate that differs from his elite Beijing high school, which he says has too many “planned activities.”

Duan wants to study in the U.S., because “they accept all different kinds of different ideas.  You can dream about anything,” she said.  “In America, I can experience more…maybe all kinds of things I will never experience in China.”

For high school junior Dolly Luo, it's simply about getting the best education.  “The U.S. has the most well-developed college education," said the 16-year-old Beijing native who loves Harry Potter and dreams about attending an Ivy League college.

Her parents have similar faith in the U.S. college experience.

“She will have more opportunities, and it will broaden her horizons,” said William Luo.  In fact, Dolly’s father had harbored his own U.S. scholarly ambitions, but he didn’t have the financial resources to enable him to pursue his graduate studies in America.

“I hope when Dolly goes abroad and she learns American values or Western values that she can absorb the Western education – the good parts: the culture, the education,” continued Luo.  “In China, we would need that.” 

EDINBURG, Texas – While flying an afternoon patrol along the twists and turns of the Rio Grande, Lt. Johnny Prince, a veteran pilot for the Texas Department of Public Safety, spotted something suspicious: "Look here, we got a raft, a raft right here." 

Below him, in the middle of the river which separates Mexico from the United States was a group of men frantically paddling back to the southern riverbank, their attempt to reach the American side thwarted by the helicopter patrol.

Prince said he suspected the men were a team of drug cartel scouts who were planning to search the U.S. side of the river to make sure there were no law enforcement officers nearby.  If they determined the area was clear, he explained, they would then signal others to sneak a load of narcotics across the river in a raft.

Mike Avila, the helicopter's tactical flight officer, said that this was happening near an area nicknamed "Smugglers' Alley," because of all the illicit activity here.  Well-worn trails and a narrowing of the river have made this area a favorite for Mexican drug traffickers.

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‘That car's loaded to the gills’
Earlier that same day, Prince and Avila found themselves flying inland in hot pursuit of two vehicles –a car and a truck –loaded with Mexican marijuana.  As the vehicles sped through city streets on the American side of the river, Avila trained the helicopter’s high-powered camera on the fleeing smugglers and Prince called out their locations by radio to pursuing troopers on the ground.

One of the drivers sped along the wrong side of the road, then he raced through an intersection, almost striking two cars with his pickup truck.  "Oh no, oh no," groaned Prince.  Avila described another close call as the driver raced through a school zone before crashing into a building: "He nearly struck two school buses."

In both cases, the drivers – a man and a woman – were apprehended and troopers seized loads of marijuana from both their vehicles. Even from the sky, the pilots could see that one of the cars was carrying a lot of drug bundles.  "That car's loaded to the gills," said Prince. 

Increased aggression along a ‘porous’ border
For the helicopter teams, chasing smugglers along the Rio Grande in South Texas is virtually a daily occurrence. Pilots say they've seen the Mexican traffickers pushing larger amounts of illicit drugs into the United States over the last few years and have watched them become more menacing toward law enforcement officers and U.S. citizens.

"I've been working along the border for 14 years and in those 14 years I've seen the level of aggression increase exponentially.  The sheer volume of narcotics that's being pumped into our border has risen," said Capt. Stacy Holland, of the Texas Department of Public Safety Aircraft Section.

It's not unusual, Holland said, for smugglers to take only a couple of minutes to move more than a ton of marijuana across the river, up the U.S. side of the riverbank and into a vehicle which then heads north. "Our border is very open, our border is very porous," he said.

The pilots said they are convinced traffickers are much more likely now than they were a few years ago to confront U.S. law enforcement officials.  "We have video of them carrying AK-47's and side arms during these operations and they are not afraid to use them," said Holland. 

While flying in his helicopter, Prince has more than once been eye to eye with smugglers on the ground upset with his presence above.  "I've seen guns pointed at me, long guns.  I've seen rocks thrown at us.  One of the things they do is use sling shots with ball bearings in them," he said.  "A ball bearing with a good slingshot can do damage to this helicopter and that's been done."

Another serious concern is for the safety of Texas troopers and U.S. Border Patrol agents who have to tangle with the traffickers on the ground.  A particularly dangerous scenario involves agents coming upon a large group of smugglers loading a car with illegal drugs on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. 

"Usually there's only one or two officers that first arrive at the particular vehicle on the river and they are encountering 15 or 20 cartel members," said Prince.  "On the other side, you will see another 10 to 15 cartel members, and if you see them armed they are going to be trying to cover the guys on the U.S. side."

Splashdowns
A highly unusual technique used by Mexican smugglers to elude capture by American authorities involves them driving trucks loaded with drugs into the waters of the Rio Grande.  It happens after Border Patrol agents or Texas troopers spot a drug-laden vehicle on the U.S. side of the river and give chase. 

If the smugglers can't elude their pursuers – either by speeding up or by throwing spikes into the road to flatten the tires of the officers behind they – they will then head back to the same spot along the river where traffickers brought the drugs ashore after floating them across from Mexico.

"If the loads get compromised, they will drive around in the United States, in Texas here, until they get their recovery teams set up on the river, to return the drugs back to Mexico," said Prince. 

The Texas Department of Public Safety has shot numerous helicopter videos of Mexican smugglers paddling over to the American side of the river to await the arrival of the truck racing toward them.  When the truck reaches the riverbank, it keeps going – right into the water. 

"Bam! All units, we have a splashdown, a splashdown in the river," a pilot on one of the videos can be heard transmitting on the radio. 

Before the truck sinks, the driver climbs out through the window and the recovery teams move quickly to save as much of the drug load as possible, throwing the tightly-wrapped bales into rafts. 

"Ok, we've got rafts in the river, a bunch of people on the U.S. side; that thing is loaded," said a pilot watching from above in one video.  "Suspects are in the water, trying to unload the vehicle," said another pilot hovering over a different scene.

As soon as the rafts are filled with off-loaded drugs, the smugglers paddle back to the Mexican side of the river where they are safe from arrest by American authorities.  Sometimes, the traffickers are so brazen they will make obscene hand gestures toward U.S. agents watching from across the river, or from above in helicopters.

The agents' only recourse at that moment is to notify Mexican authorities and hope they arrive in time to apprehend the smugglers.  Or, they can hope to catch the loads of drugs next time, when inevitably they are floated back across the Rio Grande during another smuggling attempt – sometimes on the very same day the drugs are recovered after a splashdown.

No end in sight
The pilots who routinely fly along the Rio Grande said they see nothing that would suggest there is any let up in the amount of smuggling along the river.  In fact, they predict increased violence on U.S. soil.

"You get a lot more home invasions, a lot of crook on crook crimes, a lot of kidnappings, the cartels coming over here maybe trying to collect money and then retreating back over to Mexico," said Holland. 

Texas newspapers have reported recently on cartel shoot-outs in Houston and McAllen, the wounding of a deputy, the arrests of alleged cartel leaders in the Rio Grande Valley and the seizure of cartel property in the U.S.—along with the almost daily news of major drug seizures.

Statements by the Obama Administration and by some local officials that the U.S.-Mexican border is safer than ever are derided by many of the pilots.

"Our citizens in our border towns are caught in the crossfire, and I mean that in the most literal sense sometimes," said Holland.  "It's important that our citizens, not only in the state (of Texas), but in the United States are aware of how porous our border is and what the threats are, and could be."

More coverage from Mark Potter: Along Mexican border, US ranchers say they live in fear

See more of Mark Potter's reporting on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams Tuesday evening.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO and EL PASO, TEXAS – Twice a week in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Araceli Duran closes the small store she operates from her home and heads to what she considers “her other job.”  

“The economy is really bad,” she said. “One job is not enough to feed a family.”  For Duran a single mother of four, her other “job” is not in Ciudad Juarez, but over the U.S.-Mexican border in El Paso, Texas.

After a three-hour journey by foot and bus, she arrives at the Talecris Plasma Center in El Paso, Texas where she and thousands of others, including Americans, legally sell the plasma in their blood.

Plasma is the protein-packed liquid portion of the blood, it is mostly water, but also contains proteins that protect the body from infection and clot blood to control bleeding. Plasma is used in medical therapies to treat life-threatening conditions such as hemophilia, immune deficiencies and other blood disorders.

Due to its medicinal benefits, there is big business in both buying and selling plasma.

"It helps paying bills,” said Texas- born David Salas as he recently left a plasma center in El Paso. He said he has been earning $220 a month for the past year selling his blood. And there are big companies buying it. 

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Big blood business
Grifols, a Spanish blood products firm, is the third-biggest supplier of plasma products in the world and has over 147 centers across the U.S. Earlier this year, Grifols expanded its reach with the purchase of Talecris, a network of 69 plasma collection centers across the U.S. Almost 40 of Grifol’s plasma centers are in states bordering Mexico; including four in El Paso that are run by Talecris, just blocks from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

At a diner near one of those centers, ads in a local flyer promise $130 to potential donors and extended hours of operation to help lure potential clients to sell their plasma.

Business is booming, according to a Talecris patient coordinator who did not want to be identified. Wearing a blue Talecris uniform, she said plasma bank handles around 1,500 donors per week and that “30 to 40 percent [of the donors] come from Mexico.” She added that their goal is to have up to 1,800 donors per week.

Grifols spokeswoman Dr. Marilyn Rosa-Bray said that safety for the donors and the plasma are one of the companies’ top concerns. “It is a priority for us to make sure that the donor is healthy, that the donor is safe when they go through the process because its part of the circle to make sure that the product is safe,” said Rosa-Bray. She added that the donated plasma undergoes rigorous testing to insure it’s safety.

Few options
After hours of waiting in line at the border, Duran, who has a visitor’s visa to legally enter the U.S. for the next eight years, finally made it to the plasma bank. Like hundreds of others, she spent 90 minutes hooked to a plasma machine while she donated and then returned home to Mexico when she was done.

“I can’t get used to this ...If I had a job I would not do it,” said Duran. “But we have no other choice.”  She has been making around $65 a week for the past two years. 

She said she donates her plasma twice a week – the maximum permitted by U.S. law. “I feel fine, I even gained some weight since they tell you to eat more,” she said. 

Duran’s take home pay of $65 a week for two donations is the average pay – although rates vary depending on the center. And some centers, like Talecris, offer “bonuses” for new donors, as well as old donors who recruit new donors.

Outside another plasma center in El Paso, Lluvia Soto counted her money.

“This means, I will be able to buy food for my children in Juarez,” she said, adding that she makes more money donating plasma here than working full-time as a teacher back home in Mexico.

Although the practice of buying and selling human plasma is legal and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the plasma for money business is stirring controversy on both sides of the border.

“What I am concerned about is the donors’ losing their own body defenses, they might be losing coagulation factor,” said Dora Meraz, Professor of Clinical Chemistry at the University of Texas in El Paso.  She was referring to the fact that plasma helps form blood clots – which are critical to prevent excessive bleeding.  She added that she was concerned about possible side effects on individuals if they do not eat or drink enough fluids after donating their plasma.

“It is a violation of human rights, it may be legal, but it is immoral,” said Elizabeth Flores, an attorney for the Diocese of Juarez in Mexico who runs La Pastoral Obrera, a church funded social assistance agency. She believes people should have the right to work to provide for one’s family, without being reduced to selling their blood to eat. But because of the violence of the drug war in Mexico and the damage it has done to the local economy, “people have no choice,” Flores said.

Ciudad Juarez has been labeled one of the most dangerous cities in the world with one murder almost every two hours Since Mexican Pres. Felipe Calderon declared war against the drug cartels, the Mexican-U.S. border has become their battle ground. The Mexican government estimates that 35,000 people have been killed in the drug war, but others believe the number is higher. 

And the once-thriving industrial city of Ciudad Juarez has taken a major economic hit as a result of both the U.S. recession and violence of the war on drugs – city officials estimate that it has lost as many as 120,000 jobs as factories and businesses have moved away.

“People should not have to survive by donating their plasma” says Flores.

As Duran made the dangerous trip back home she told us that just the night before a shootout between rival drug gangs left six people dead just blocks from her house. “I am always afraid to step out,” she said.

Grateful recipient
But what probably she doesn’t know is that 3,000 miles away in Miami, Florida someone appreciates her effort.

Bob Campbell is a spokesperson for the Alpha 1 Foundation , a plasma-patient  advocacy group that receives charitable contributions from Grifols. He suffers from genetic emphysema and says that weekly plasma therapies have stopped the degeneration of his lungs.

“I tell [the donors] I appreciate it. I know it’s time-consuming, I know they need the money. And it is not just ‘like taking the bus,’” said Campbell referring to the dangerous journey these donors must undertake to reach donation centers in the U.S.  

“I appreciate the fact that plasma supply is available and it would not be unless people would be willing to donate,” said Campbell.