Despite new technology, Border Patrol ov erwhelmed

“Despite new technology, Border Patrol overwhelmed

Wed Feb 23, 9:41 AM ET Top Stories - USATODAY.com


By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY

Across an expanse of desert where nothing marks the Mexican border but a flimsy line of barbed wire, Border Patrol agent Mitch King flies his helicopter low to search for signs of illegal entry into the USA.

He spots footprints and tire tracks and hovers to get a better look. If the sandy impressions are fresh, he'll radio agents on the ground. But King's experienced eyes tell him these prints are at least a day or two old. Now, they serve only as evidence that more people have crossed the border illegally without getting caught.

More than three years after the terrorist attacks in 2001, the 11,000 men and women who serve as the border's front-line defense are overwhelmed. Despite an influx of new technology, such as underground sensors and cameras that pan the desert, agents catch only about one-third of the estimated 3 million people who cross the border illegally every year.

Most of the illegals are poor Mexican laborers looking for work. But officials are alarmed that a growing number hail from Central and South America, Asia, even Mideast countries such as Syria and Iran. In 2003, the Border Patrol arrested 39,215 so-called "OTMs," or other-than-Mexicans, along the Southwest border. In 2004, the number jumped to 65,814.

Those figures worry intelligence and Homeland Security officials, who say al-Qaeda leaders want to smuggle operatives and weapons of mass destruction across the nation's porous land borders. James Loy, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress last week, "Several al-Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons."

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, says the Border Patrol has "reliable intelligence that there are terrorists living in South America, assimilating the culture and learning the language" in order to blend in with Mexicans crossing the border.

"We really don't know who comes into this country illegally over the Southwest border," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., says. "This is a big problem."

A steady stream heading north

The independent 9/11 Commission's report warned in August that "the challenge for national security in an age of terrorism is to prevent the very few people who may pose overwhelming risks from entering or remaining in the United States undetected." And that's a daunting task along these stretches of border in the Southwest.

In Mitch King's territory of remote south-central New Mexico, 109 agents work a 53-mile section of border. They patrol 14,000 square miles of rugged terrain using helicopters, horses and all-terrain and sport-utility vehicles.

Much of the area is far out of reach of the Border Patrol's cameras and sensors. It's easily accessible, however, to Mexicans and others who head north illegally across miles of sand dotted with nothing but the occasional cow or coyote. Forced east by tighter security along the California and Arizona borders, migrants cross here on foot and in cars, morning, noon and night - as many as 200 a day along this relatively small stretch of land.

"It goes on all day long, 24/7," says Richard Moody, the agent in charge of the area. His agents often work 14- to 16-hour days under stressful conditions. Late last month, the driver of a car full of people crossing illegally hit a Border Patrol agent with his side mirror while trying to run him down.

The agents who work for Moody in Luna and two other New Mexico counties caught 170 non-Mexicans in 2002, 293 in 2003 and 678 in 2004. Most are from South and Central America. But the agents also have picked up illegal border-crossers from China, southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Moody's agents are up against increasingly sophisticated smugglers. Even as the Border Patrol has gotten new high-tech equipment, so have the people they're trying to catch. Smugglers use two-way radios, cell phones, global positioning systems and other high-tech equipment to watch agents' movements and alert each other when the coast is clear.

"Ten years ago, they probably could not have bought a pair of infrared night-vision goggles on the open market, but now they can," says Robert Boatright, assistant chief of the Border Patrol in El Paso. "We see them changing tactics as we change tactics."

That can be unsettling out in the desert where, unless there's a full moon, the nights are so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. "We're under 24-hour surveillance by them," Moody says. "They have a very extensive counterintelligence operation. It certainly keeps us on our toes."
Ironically, the war on terrorism abroad has slowed the government's ability to secure the border in some areas.


Along King's helicopter route, roughly 7 miles of the border are marked by car barriers - 3- to 4-foot high, cement-filled pieces of casing pipe sunk deep in concrete and set every couple of feet. The barriers are in place mostly around the little town of Columbus, the start of a well-traveled smuggling route north to Deming.

The Border Patrol would like the barrier extended, but the Army engineering units and National Guard troops who did the hard work of installing the pipes over the past two years are no longer available.

"We'd like to get the whole area done," Moody says. "But there are two fronts in the war, and everyone's out of pocket now in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites)."

High technology, low staffing

Agents say new technology - remote video cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles, more underground sensors, radiation detectors and access to criminal databases and terrorist watch lists - has helped them do their job.

At official ports of entry along the border and at checkpoints set up along highways heading north, the Homeland Security Department has stepped up security since the Sept. 11 attacks. Foreigners who need a visa to enter the USA must be photographed, fingerprinted and checked against terrorist watch lists. Cars and trucks are checked with dogs and radiation-detection equipment.

As a result, those seeking illegal entry have gone elsewhere. "When you crack down in one area, they're going to try to exploit weaknesses in another area," Bonner says.

President Bush (news - web sites)'s proposed 2006 budget calls for more high-tech gear for the Border Patrol, including $125 million to test and buy more radiation detectors and $51 million to improve sensors and video equipment.

Those who use the equipment, however, say there's also a desperate need for more "boots on the line" to track and catch illegal immigrants. "The technology is great, but it doesn't actually go out and get the bodies," says Jim Stack, an agent in El Paso. "We are extremely short-staffed."

Although the government has added about 1,300 agents to the force since 2001, there still aren't nearly enough to patrol the 6,900 miles of border with Mexico and Canada.

Recognizing that need, Congress late last year authorized a near doubling of the size of the agency by adding 2,000 agents a year for the next five years. But this month, the Bush administration's budget requested $37 million to pay for one-tenth as many agents - 210 - in 2006.

Critics are calling that a grave mistake. "Until we make the investments necessary to protect the border, the country is seriously at risk," says former congressman Jim Turner of Texas, who was the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee last year.

"The holes that remain in our border security systems are not small," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, says. "They are gaping, and they are glaring to our terrorist enemies. They are coming for us.


I applaud him for standing up for this!!
last edited: 2/24/05 9:36:20 AM”

“More grim news from the border. Notice the government cover-up (bolded):

Guardsmen overrun at the Border

12 News
Jan. 4, 2007 02:44 PM


A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

LINK”

“I saw on TV last night that there's a new bill so that an illegal can work for 8 years on Mexico, sneak across the Rio, get false papers and SSI card, work for 18 months and then they can collect SSI. WTF?”

“LOL, well the more we "emasculate" people for REACTING to danger the more we are going to get this. Two Border Patrol agents were charged for doing their job.

I wonder how much trouble it would have been to have a couple of National Guard Gunships standing by. What 30 minutes to be over the embattled position, pursue the WETBACKS across the border and cut them apart.”

“Cross Border Ops?

Give that man a CEEGAR!

Time to stir up the Mexican Gubmint...maybe we establish a security corridor on the MEXICAN side of the border....

NEW Motto for the Border Patrol:

"WE FLY, YOU DIE"”

“Carefull guys.
The libbies will be calling y'all racists.”

“After having done more reading into the matter I can say that the issue of illegal immigration is a bit blown out of proportion and is being used as an alarmist issue for votes (which backfired btw). But at the same time it drives me up a damn tree how scared our leaders are to enforce our simple laws and actually try and STOP law breakers. and don't even get me started on the people who think their's nothing wrong with Mexicans or anyone else coming in illegally. Those people just make my eyes bleed!”

“ST, I figure since they call me a Gringo....its all fair, but then I would like to see some of the Federales when they face down an Apache and the 30 MM Chain Gun. LOL Pedro pulls his 9mm and his car disappears.”

“Gringo? No dude, it was Me estoy putiando a tu hermana.”

“The guns need to be pointed at the employers that hire them and a government that has no idea who is or is not legal. Mexico city is where the troops in Iraq should be.”

“LOL...sale trust me we DON't need to be in Mexico. But I do agree we need to fry the sheet out of employers.

I would like to see the US pass a law that allows legal workers but they have to return to their country of origin, get the slip and then work for one of four "monitored" companies who will contract them out. The companies will ensure proper pay (since the employers will have to pay the companies and not the foriegn workers).
If an employer is caught with illegals the minimum will be $100,000 plus enforcement charges (start that at $1mil) Any money, property or what not will be confiscated from the Illegal and they will be returned to their country of origin.”

“lone democrat here....

however, one democrat who lived 20 minutes north of nogales (southern arizona) for a year. something really does need to be done about the illegals...i used to work in real estate, and it was pretty common to find vacant houses broken into to be used as way-houses for the illegals crossing the border. i know of several women widowed because some drug-runner thought her husband's life (as an border patrol agent) was less important than the load of drugs that was being transported.

mark me down as a democrat who thinks that big ol' wall might just solve the problem.”

“We'll see what happens to Mel Kaye of Golden State fence hear in Cal..If he goes to jail and pays the fines, we may see an advancement in that area. Mexico needs the same reforms this country needs- remember the word 'responsibility'?”

“Since Mehico is pretty much supporting this...I say sieze Mexican Government assets to use for funding the war.”

“People can gripe all they want, but...

How, exactly, are you going to stop millions of people from coming across such a long land border? A fence can only do so much.

And, what are you going to do to deal with the economic void that these immigrants fill? They obviously are getting jobs..

This is an issue just like abortion. The Republicans will do just enough showy things to keep the far right happy without really doing anything at all.

That's why we are spending millions to build an incomplete fence. A little piece of candy for the right wing nutjobs.”

“This is an issue that affects us all. reform lurker, how about a man-up? Your name calling is quite adolescent. This is an important conversation we need to have - all of us. Otherwise, leave the room, k?

I've been ran out of the construction industry by the illegals. American Ingenuity has always found a way to overcome the difficulties we've encountered in the past. Cheap labor is not the answer, I'm affraid. A good old fashioned recession, and consequent building slowdown, would be an overall blessing, imo. Until then, disgraceful builders will continue to feast on their childrens' future.

"They're hardworking mofos." you say. Nonsense. Give them amnesty and they'll sit down, cock their sombraros, and fall into a generations long siesta. Wanna know the real Mexican? Go to Mexico, see for yourself.

I would be at risk of going to jail if I were caught hiking with my dogs in some of the public lands that they're destroying. WTF?”

“Ask the former Soviets how to put up a wall. They built a pretty good one.”

“Sorry, gojo, I was in a flip mood.

But, seriously, is there anyone with a legitimate plan to actually enforce the borders? I've personally skipped across rocks back and forth into Canada and taken little boats to and from Mexico. I just think it would take something on a grand scale to even make a legitimate claim of policing the border.

And I don't see any kind of consensus in Washington on spending large amounts of money on this. In fact, there is probably a majority now - Bush included - for amnesty.

So, what is going to happen is that we'll spend a billion dollars on something that has no chance of working but it'll make a nice background for a campaign photo during the next election season.

BTW, I do think that we need tougher border security. But we also need a more functional INS. My dad is a naturalized citizen and he has been blindsided by INS bureacracy on a couple of occasions. I've also had several friends who have found it to be a woefully inadequate system.

If our legal process of naturalization were more adequate, maybe the illegals might consider it.”

“When the backpacks that cross the border from the south are filled with; PHDs, MSs, MDs, MAs , MBs and not work gloves and work boots, then concern will strike the hearts of 'americans of power'.”

“leave the room, k?

i hate people that end sentences with "k?" thats so hello-kitty cute”

“Who sayed ^kittykitty^?! They better be carfull aroun heer if they do not wont no ressel ups from me and my hubsand Gissmaeiuox!!


Well I gess I will confets - I like kittykittys usely. Some of them are ok I gess. But some times them Tommys will get aroun and me and Gissmaeioux will rund them oft. That is the fun sport!”

“LGGKD!

Just open up the phone book. If my town is anything like yours, half the doctors were born and raised outside the country.

Large scale immigration has helped make America great.”

“"How, exactly, are you going to stop millions of people from coming across such a long land border?"


The answer is easy. Mexico needs to bring their standard of living up so that there is no need for workers to come to the US for work with a good wage. Also, let's include the central American countries in this, because a fair amount of illegals come from that area, too.”

“Yes RL, you are right if you mean great in the since of being large and immigration meaning something 'good' for the rest of this country.
I'm not questioning your facts about the doctors, but wonder what affect the coutries of their(MDs)origins have sustained.
If this country is to continue drawing the talent from the rest of the world in our quest to become , 'bigger better bader',then, when do the brakes need to be applied.
When then, does our population so over balance that resources have to flow toward this country with illegal immigrates riding on the tankers ,the trains and trucks to fill the needs of the almost useless classes which require all the services they can't thenselves provide.”

“Some understanding of immigration can come from the weekend immigration problem that crosses the western border of Nevada from all points in the great state of Cal'E'fornia.That an imaginary line in the desert sand can cause such a mass migration each weekend is illustrious of the powers the sheephearders can only dream of.Mexicans cross from the south to make money, but what makes californians burn the oil output of Iraq to just turn around and come home poorer each weekendend?”

“The border problem is a many faceted one and it probably will not be solved in our lifetime. Two major issues come to mind.

A. Central & South Americans would need to change an entire mindset. There is a lower class, an upper class and no true middle class.

B. Americans need to decide that they no longer need dirt cheap labor.

Until they are ready to step up and take care of their own and we are ready to buck up and pay our own people to do the jobs that the illegals are now doing; this border problem will continue.”

“But Pamela, we then wouldn't have the energy to go to the gym or eat handsfull of diet pills and that would kill the economy by putting service workers out of bussssimess.”

“How many of you work so hard you have to force feed to maintain weight?LwayOL”

“Without Julio no lawn food would be used.”

“Welllllllll, let's see. I was a fulltime stay at home mom with parttime work for years. When I started at Office Depot fulltime 3 1/2 years ago I weighed 149lbs. Eighteen months later I weighed 100lbs.

And no, I did not diet or change anything else in my life.

If I want to weigh 105, I have to drink Ensure 3x a day in addition to 3 meals a day. Though I'm not certain it counts as force fed since there is no ng tube being snaked into my gut.
last edited: 1/06/07 2:31:51 PM”

“You probably sleep better and feel alot better and feel better about youself anda,anda......I love hearing things like that, thanks.”

“You probably sleep better and feel alot better and feel better about youself anda,anda......I love hearing things like that, thanks

?”

“I've always been in that situation myself and find so few people without the opposite it makes me feel good to not be alone. It is a shame that work has become the thing that ,'they do' which causes so many health problems in this sit a the window and watch your lawn be mowed easy chair world.”

“"The border problem is a many faceted one and it probably will not be solved in our lifetime. Two major issues come to mind.

A. Central & South Americans would need to change an entire mindset. There is a lower class, an upper class and no true middle class.

B. Americans need to decide that they no longer need dirt cheap labor."

CAFTA will screw us worse than NAFTA has.

You hear that big ole sucking sound?????”

“Just have never understood people who don't do their own yard work. Our whole family did it together when I was a kid. Good to work the earth. Teamwork. Many hands make light work. Over in just a few hours and you can be on your way to something else.

I was just glad to have earned true health insurance for the 1st time. (I refuse to call what the VA provided for me real health care.) Because after the myriad of tests done on me, we found that the low white cell count they found was NOT leukemia, but some kind of anomoly. YEAH! I'm not dieing! At least not anytime soon, :O) lol”

“This whole issue just has the Law of Unintended Consequences written all over it.

The United States has an incredible advantage over nations in Europe and much of Asia.

If we want low wage workers, we can import them at will.

Mexicans want to come. Americans want to pay them. And while there is some cultural alienation in places where the illegal immigration is greatest, these millions of Mexicans are able to largely assimilate into American culture. We get peaceful protest marches, not France-style car burnings.

Of course, this only works if we keep going with the "Don't Ask. Don't Tell" approach. Companies need legally plausible deniability.

I do not see a crackdown on illegal immigration. And I don't see a wholesale amnesty either. My guess is that we'll end up with something much like we have now because it works.”

“
Large scale immigration has helped make America great.”
reformed lurker
12:07:51 PM
1/06/0


Large scale legal immigration has helped make America great, not just immigration in general. Illegal aliens are a drain on our social services.

Punish illegal aliens severely for entering the country, and punish those who employ them just as severely.”

“Hey Stick!

I'm not sure if that's true.

It sounds good to say that they are a drag, but presumably there are many illegal immigrants paying into social security under fabricated numbers. I'd bet many are paying taxes.

Of course, I'd need to do more research on that. But I don't think that it's just a given that illegal immigrants are a net negative.

And these illegal immigrants do make it possible to have a low wage workforce in a modern, industrialized society.

That can't happen in Japan. It can't happen in much of Europe. The U.S. has an advantage.

Of course, in the interests of being at least a little bit fair, there has to be some kind of reasonable path for these immigrants to achieve legality.”

“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?ex=1270353600&en=78c87ac4641dc383&ei=5090&partner=kmarx

That's a neat little article about how much illegal immigrants pay into the system. Apparently, the estimate is that 3/4ths of illegal immigrants pay taxes.”

“They are a drain when they enter our health care system for certain!!!

If they want to enter the USA, then they need to leave first, and then attempt to enter legally through the system set in place for just that.

Btw, I'd also like them to LEARN ENGLISH! If I go and live in Central/South America I promise to learn Spanish, OK?”

“Oh, another interesting fact from that article. We could probably take those neat little files in Washington and pinpoint exactly who 75% of the illegal immigrants in the United States are.

Illegal immigration is an open secret that our policymakers have consciously embraced. It's not something that just happened underground.”

“Pamela!

It would be interesting to match up the costs of Mexican immigrants in the health care system with the taxes they pay into that system.

My gut level bet would be that they are still net contributors.

Apparently, a large chunk of illegal immigrants from Mexico move back to Mexico when they reach retirement. So, they pay in when they are healthy and leave the system when they become ill.

If you take away the moral residue, that sounds like a good system for America.”

“What about all the babies born here? Are you remembering to count all the kids they bring into emergency rooms for snotty noses because they don't have insurance for regular doctors visits? And the ones intelligent enough to use public health for regular doctors visits, well that is free to sliding scale. We are paying through the nose for health care for these illegals.

I don't know about you, but I am paying $173 dollars every two weeks for the privilage of health care, that does not include dental and vision. And I STILL pay taxes. Why should I take care of them too? They are illegal.”

“One more idea and then I'll shut up.

One of the solutions to this problem is to make the naturalization system more efficient and welcoming.

By refusing to increase legal immigration, we take a hands-off approach in trying to influence who exactly comes across the border.

If we made much of this immigration legal, we could cherry-pick the smartest and healthiest and most productive immigrants.

Because we don't do that, the illegal, male, Mexican immigrant is lower than average in terms of educational attainment.

So, not recognizing the reality of this mass migration stops us from influencing it and making it more beneficial for the country.”

“Pamela!

I am no expert, but just a quick look at web material on the subject suggests that 32% of illegal immigrants DO have health coverage.

And, I also saw a stat that suggested it cost the U.S. about a billion dollars each year to provide health care for illegal immigrants.

During the next ten years, we have budgeted 30 billion dollars to build the wall along the Mexican border.

I am not expert enough to pull all of these numbers together, but it is my belief, based on what I have read on the subject that illegal immigration has contributed more to our system - including health care, than it has cost.

That, of course, does not make the line item in the hospital's budget for indigent care any more comforting.

I'm just saying that this subject requires a close look at the stats.”

“I worked building houses to sell for 20 years. The locals that worked for me would always ask why, with your means, do you work so hard doing the dumb clean up and carrying that labors should do. My answer was always,'Besides keeping an illegal immigrate from having this job, I really enjoy it'.In that 20 years, little by little I couldn't afford to hire locals or do the work myself, because ,well, I think most of you can answer that. Most subcontractors payed cash and demanded cash as for payment.It got so bad , that I through in the towel and let the illies have it. The enforcement of licences, works comp., tax deductions is all but non existent.”

“32%? I find that difficult to believe. I am not doubting that you found it on the web mind you. It's just that I don't see them in the doctors offices when I go there. However I do see them in the emergency rooms and free clinics.

I'm not saying that the wall is the best idea or even a workable one at this time. Like I said before in my earlier post, it's not going to change in our lifetime because the two larger mindsets have to change first. Immigration reform may be nothing more than a bandaid at best without this adjustment. However I do have to admit that most of the money earned by the individuals here now goes back to Mexico and possibly immigration reform would change that, but. . . would that be better for us, Mexico or both?

Anyways I don't have to pretend to be happy about what is going on in the meanwhile.”

“"I am not doubting that you found it on the web mind you. It's just that I don't see them in the doctors offices when I go there. However I do see them in the emergency rooms and free clinics."


Personal experience does not = knowledge and can not be presented as fact to support a claim.

"I'm just saying that this subject requires a close look at the stats."

As Mark Twain once said, there are three types of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics.”

“Really Q? That doesn't leave a witness much of a leg to stand on in court.

And just to play devil's advocate, what the heck is knowlege, if it is not something gained by personal experience?!
last edited: 1/06/07 6:06:47 PM”

“Of course, in the interests of being at least a little bit fair, there has to be some kind of reasonable path for these immigrants to achieve legality.”
reformed lurker
3:21:31 PM
1/06/07

How did everyone who came through Ellis Island do it? They didn't seem to mind doing it the legal way.

I haven't bothered to look up stats to support my earlier statement, although I am confident it wouldn't be hard, but based on my own personal experiences, I stand by my earlier statement. I can tell you that coming into the country illegally is not the only crime many of them commit.”