Posted on 04/19/2006 2:32:50 PM PDT by Marine Inspector
PHOENIX — Public-safety officials from across the Southwest gathered here Tuesday to learn about new strategies needed to control the borders from both illegal immigrants and potential terrorists intent on making their way into the country.
But they heard mostly shocking statistics and dire predictions on the cost and complexity of controlling the 2,000-mile border with Mexico, with tales of understaffed law-enforcement agencies, overwhelmed fire departments and increasing violence on the border.
The story wasn't unexpected — law-enforcement officials in Arizona and elsewhere on the border have been complaining bitterly about the numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the border for years. But a presentation by top officials from several agencies to hundreds of first responders at the Southwest Homeland Security conference showed that the problem is increasing and as varied as the West.
The U.S. Border Patrol's Yuma Sector chief said he loses sleep at night worrying about attacks by bandits on migrants, and on American citizens. The sheriff in Cochise County told tales of small rural fire agencies being overwhelmed by traffic accidents involving vehicles packed with migrants.
New Mexico's Homeland Security director spit out statistics on the number of illegal border crossings in 2004 — 1.4 million — and the estimated number from countries outside Latin America crossing via Mexico that year — between 11,000 and 14,000.
"Those are mostly people that are from countries that are of interest to us as a counterterrorism office," warned Tim Manning, New Mexico's homeland security director.
The presentations were part of a two-day conference designed to help workers from law enforcement, fire departments, health departments and others plan for the worst, and make contacts so they know each other when they need to coordinate efforts.
The event concludes Wednesday, with sessions featuring an Army general talking about the military's role in catastrophes and presentations on suicide bombings and recovery from natural and man-made disasters, among others.
Such meetings are critically important, said Ron Colburn, the chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border Patrol's Yuma Sector.
"You come away from it with commitment and capability to work together," Colburn said.
Manning agreed. "The senior federal official may not know what the captain of the Douglas (Ariz.) Fire Department knows. So it's important to come together like this," he said.
Hundreds of officials heard Colburn, Manning, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and Richard Saunders, police chief of the Tohono O'odham Nation, discuss problems agencies face along the border.
Colburn said smugglers, those who deal in drugs and those who bring migrants into the country, are adapting quickly to increased deployments by federal agents on the border and moving from entry point to entry point to counter Border Patrol deployments.
Saunders said his 60-officer department struggles daily with the needs of its citizens and the requirements to keep track of immigrants and drug smugglers who cross the 75 miles of border on the reservation.
Dever said the only way to stop the potential terrorists and the criminals from the flow of migrants is to make the border iron-clad.
"The question is, how do you ferret them out?" Dever said. "And the answer is, you don't — you stop everyone."
But with politicians in Washington divided on immigration reform and a bill stalled in the Senate, Dever didn't have much hope that more help is on the way.
"Anybody who wants to cross the border can," Dever said.
"These are mostly people that are from countries that are of interest to us as a counterterrorism office."
But Bush wants amnesty for all...
We've lost America.
It sounds to me as if the only solution is the twin 15 foot steel fences with sensors, and backed by the border patrol here and there.
ping
Just how much detail does anyone have to "know" to recognize we have a serious problem? These people are just beating their gums.
We haven't lost yet, but unless we stand up and fight for it, it will be lost.
Sounds good to me.
They are afraid they will be called racist if they act.
Agreed. Why take action, when you can just talk about it!
Ping...
Spoy on. The time is now.
Bump!
Well, I figured that it's not in the best interest of the officials and politicians to act to secure the border. Never mind the best interests of our country, that doesn't matter to them anymore.
Failed President bump
A failed People, the President is doing just fine. It's us who don't have the cojones to close the border using our deer rifles and pickups.
This situation may not last too long before we find a cure for our spinal erection disfunction.
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