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At War on the Border:First drug dealers, next a wave of illegal immigration,then fear of terrorists
Tuscon Weekly ^ | Leo W. Banks

Posted on 12/24/2002 1:18:42 PM PST by sarcasm

First drug dealers, next a wave of illegal immigration, then fear of terrorists--and now the rise of vigilantism. It's just a matter of time until blood is spilled in Cochise or Santa Cruz counties.

This isn't good. Here's Glenn Spencer, chief of the private group American Border Patrol, standing on a lonesome dirt road near the Mexican border, where all his nightmares about the future of America play out, and he's stuck in a keystone moment.

His ATV, one of the vehicles he'll use to prowl terrain like this for so-called illegal immigrants crossing into this country without proper documents, will have to stay tethered to the flatbed. So much for a nifty photo op.

"I brought the wrong key," Spencer says, embarrassed. "It won't start."

Oh, well. Worse things happen in the border wars every day, and besides, the ATV isn't crucial to Spencer's mission.

But cameras and satellites are, and on this day, the 65-year-old tech-head with lots of money and a powerful anger at this human flood, demonstrates it.

His assistant fires up a generator rigged to a satellite on a trailer behind Spencer's truck, and begins videotaping the scene. Spencer's excitement grows.

"This is it. This is what we've demonstrated we can do." He points to the camera. "Right now, this image is being sent up to our satellite link and out onto the Internet.

"My idea is that if people around the country can go online and watch, in real time, illegals walking right into this country, maybe they'll ask why the government doesn't stop it. What's wrong with a little competition for the [U.S.] Border Patrol, right?"

In Spencer's view, this human traffic is overwhelming the country's health care and education systems. It is importing poverty. It allows within our borders an army whose leaders seek nothing less than the takeover by Mexico of the American Southwest.

"Plato said only the dead have seen an end to war," he says. "I think conflict is coming."

Ultimately, he wants to set up videotaping stations from San Diego to Texas, in the belief that outrage will brushfire around the country, forcing change.

Until then, it's Spencer to the rescue. When he talks about why he moved to Sierra Vista this past September from Sherman Oaks, Calif., he sounds like he's leading a cavalry charge.

"I concluded this summer that California was hopeless," he says. "The left has gotten what they want and the open borders policy is causing a meltdown there. I could either cut and run and go fishing in Idaho, or come to the belly of the beast and tackle this problem head-on."


ON ONE POINT, Spencer is undeniably correct, if behind the times. Conflict has already arrived, and it plays out every day in the mountains, in the pastures and along the roads and trails that crisscross the border country of Cochise and Santa Cruz counties.

Residents along this broad frontier report a skyrocketing number of illegals crossing their land, turning their daily lives into nightmares.

Some describe living under almost wartime conditions, with high levels of stress, fear, sleeplessness and especially frustration at the inability of the Border Patrol, or any law enforcement agency, to help them.

Ranchers say they've been howling about this for years. But no one has paid attention.

Reporters who took up the border chaos story viewed it mainly from one angle, hammered over and over again--the sometimes deadly suffering illegals encounter in their treks across the desert.

But now that a few ranchers, after years of frustration, have formed self-defense groups to protect themselves and their property, reporters won't leave them alone.

Suddenly, they find ranchers interesting--but only as vigilantes, men loaded down with Skoal and ammo, so dangerous they merit a Congressional investigation.

Both images--the harmless illegal and the out-of-control cowboy--contain some truth. But not enough. They're cartoon cutouts, easy renderings that frame a complex problem too simply.

Stuck in the middle--angry as hell, with nowhere to turn and wary for the future--ordinary ranchers and border residents, American citizens, try to hang on amid the chaos.

B.J. Kuykendall shares a ranch with her husband, Tommy, 34 miles north of Douglas. It has been in their family for six generations. She's not certain they'll make it to seven.

Her voice shakes with anger as she describes some of what's happened to her.

Illegals have chased her down the road near her home on foot, and used their vehicles to run hers off the road. On four separate occasions, they've piled boulders and debris across the road, apparently efforts to steal her truck.

They've tried to steal her horses, too. Two months ago, Kuykendall found her dog, a mastiff, poisoned with strychnine. The animal suffered for five hours before dying a horrible death, "for the crime of barking."

One of Kuykendall's neighbors found his dog dead, too, its throat slashed. Another has had four dogs poisoned.

"Every day of our lives, every facet of our lives is threatened," says Kuykendall, an ER nurse. "We can't leave here for any length of time because there might be nothing left when we come back. We're afraid of losing everything if this keeps up."

Kuykendall's neighbor, Gary McBride, tells a similar story. In a 100-day period beginning in January, he recorded 101 calls to the Border Patrol to report illegals crossing his property--not counting cell phone calls.

"I can pretty much guarantee that tonight there'll be 40 of them, maybe a hundred, going up the road here to Highway 80. You think anybody's gonna catch them? Nope.

"Night before last I had one hollering at the back door, trying to get in my house. It's unbelievable.

"What burns our butts is that the Border Patrol won't let agents on the ground do their job, and that's damn sure our biggest problem. They get their asses chewed if they make too many arrests because the chiefs don't want big numbers going to the higher ups.

"We don't lie out here. I'll tell you exactly how it is. These Border Patrol chiefs are the sorriest SOBs I've ever seen."

Not all ranchers suffer the same predicament. Some, even those a few miles from the Kuykendalls and McBrides, are largely exempt from these problems by the grace of geography.

Illegals generally avoid wide-open land, preferring the shelter of trees and deep canyons.

But for those who live on heavy crossing routes, whether outside Douglas, to the west in the Huachuca Mountains, or in the Patagonias near Nogales, the story is the same: Water lines cut, cattle gates left open, pastures and canyons full of garbage and human waste.

"They use the canyons as toilets," says Carrol Bercich, who lives near Parker Canyon Lake. "We've got three semi-loads of garbage to haul away right now."

Ranchers also report a change in the illegals they encounter. Five years ago, a group might approach and say, "Excuse us, Señor, could we work for water or food?"

Now, many demand food and water, demand rides and show a profound lack of respect for people and property.

"Every fence they hit they destroy, and that was before they discovered wire cutters," says Anna Magoffin, a Douglas area rancher. "Last year was the worst. We had huge groups, but the destruction, I mean, we still haven't gotten the fences back up. Every acre of the ranch is impacted."

McBride says their level of aggression has increased markedly.

"They make remarks, give you the finger and won't go away," he says. "Sometimes they go into your house and you have to pull guns to get them out."

Numerous ranchers contacted for this story wouldn't speak publicly.

They're afraid of being branded vigilantes and targeted in a possible police investigation on the one hand. And on the other, they fear reprisal by Mexican gangs that operate drug rings and increasingly powerful and nasty people-smuggling rings.

A few ranchers said they've received such threats and are clamming up for good.

Arizona ranchers have always carried guns, mostly for snakes, and to put down injured animals.

But in this siege atmosphere--with law enforcement response times ranging from 20 minutes to forget about it--ranchers now carry weapons for self-defense.

As one said, "Before, maybe a .22 plinker. Now we carry .38s and .357s."

One ranch has a weapons instructor on retainer. The owner requires that employees have a concealed-carry permit, allowing them to keep guns in trucks and other places.

As for the widespread belief that border country is crawling with armed ranchers seeking out illegals, that's more Hollywood than it is reality. The vast majority do precisely the opposite. They do everything they can to avoid them.

"If I see illegals in a ravine, I'll wheel my horse away and call the Border Patrol," says retired Marine general Bud Strom, a Hereford rancher who estimates that a thousand illegals cross his land every week.

"If I see drugs, or what I think are baled backpacks, I might call Customs. I don't have a vigilante mentality and neither do any of my friends."

But when you turn around and find illegals standing in your kitchen, how do you avoid them? When you're a woman alone and you step from the corral and suddenly find yourself surrounded by 35 men, how do you avoid them?

That happened to Kuykendall, who never goes to her corral without a sidearm, a two-way radio and a cell phone.

She quickly called the Border Patrol in Douglas and was told only three ranch patrol agents were on duty, the nearest two hours away.

"Sorry, B.J.," said the supervisor sheepishly.

"They were between me and the house and I couldn't get back there," she says. "I didn't know what they were going to do."

After yelling at them, radioing her husband and making sure they saw her sidearm, which she kept holstered, they retreated.

But with such a volatile mix now pouring across the border--job seekers, drug runners, gun runners and human traffickers, who pull down a reported $30,000 apiece to bring across Asians and Mideasterners--Kuykendall can't know what she'll encounter next.

"A neighbor told me he stepped outside and found 80 Iranians in his backyard," says Kuykendall.

Greg Nicholson, former manager of the Lone Mountain Ranch, which ranges from the Huachucas east almost to the San Rafael Valley, says his ranch used a secret code to communicate with a rancher in Sonora, Mexico.

This rancher, when he saw crossers, would call Lone Mountain headquarters and say, "You've got a red cow out," then identify the canyon by the mile marker. This triggered a call the Border Patrol.

The Mexican rancher had received threats for trying to run off the intruders, and feared traffickers had tapped his phone.

Nicholson spent 10 months at Lone Mountain, but quit over rising concern for his safety, and his family's.

"It's not a legal issue anymore. It's a military issue," says Nicholson. "Whether it's drug runners or illegals, we're being invaded down there."

(Excerpt) Read more at tucsonweekly.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: immigrantlist; jihadinamerica
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To: WarHawk42
It is going to take a lot of light shed on this subject to get the powers that be in Washington to do anything about it.

IMHO, enough light has been shed. The U.S. Government does not intend to do anything. The Ranchers need to proceed on their own, doing what is in their best interest, without attracting the attention of the media.

61 posted on 12/25/2002 7:08:28 PM PST by bimbo
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To: 11B3
Whatever happened to being able to protect your own land?

Only this: It must be done without public scrutiny.

62 posted on 12/25/2002 7:17:24 PM PST by bimbo
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To: bimbo
The U.S. Government does not intend to do anything.

That's the botton line. If the government cannot or will not control the borders, it too will eventually become illegitimate. It's just not in their agenda, not part of their plan. It will be up to the people themselves, once they have enough and the crisis becomes more volatile. It will happen.

63 posted on 12/25/2002 8:31:36 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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To: Joe Hadenuf
There is a degree of schadenfreude in seeing the CA state government in financial collapse. It demonstrates the utter incompetency of the socialists that control the state government. The lucrative welfare benefits are a major league draw to illegals and homeless. The great weather encourages the "urban outdoorsman" to come to southern CA. San Diego even spends a pile of the taxpayer's money to open "cold weather" shelters to keep the homeless comfortable and "in town". The poverty pimps don't want to encourage them to find nicer digs elsewhere.

What seems odd is that you would welcome it. You are living on the battlefield. All those people living on the dole are going to find an alternative means of survival if the state can't provide it. Insurrection and increased property crimes are a likely outcome. The illegals streaming in from Mexico aren't reading the papers. They are mostly illiterate. They don't understand the impending collapse. Los Angeles is ripe for some major league gang violence. Living on the government dole provides spare time for dealin' and stealin'.

64 posted on 12/25/2002 10:17:03 PM PST by Myrddin
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To: Joe Hadenuf
I did leave a point out about Idaho. Even though our revenues are way down, we have a constitutional requirement for a balanced budget. The legislature and governor are required to cut services if the money isn't there to spend. A budget with a deficit is unconstitutional in the state of Idaho. If California played by the same rules, they would admit that there is only $60 billion available to spend and cut services accordingly. There would be no "deficit". There would be quite a howl from the lefties.
65 posted on 12/25/2002 10:24:17 PM PST by Myrddin
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Shoot.

Shovel.

Shut up.

66 posted on 12/25/2002 10:32:26 PM PST by Wormwood
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To: Myrddin
What seems odd is that you would welcome it. You are living on the battlefield.

Actually no. I am in a very good area, and have the means of going to a very remote alternate hideout if required. Got a big family and lots of support here. We intend to stay on the front lines. Being in the rear always bored me.

Somethings need to hit the brutal rock bottom before they ever get better. This is my tough love for Cal. That's why I welcome it. Bring it on.

67 posted on 12/25/2002 11:35:00 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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To: *immigrant_list; eye for an eye
ping
68 posted on 12/25/2002 11:58:53 PM PST by gubamyster
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To: 185JHP
Perhaps it is nonsense to you "fella", but here in Idaho, and particularly in Limhi county (and in a groing number of counties throughout the west) it certainly is not.

The Sheriff there was not "cuffed" or "stuffed". Similar events have occurred in Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and Nevada.

No one wants an end to our Federal government. We just want it to operate within the bounds it was established.

69 posted on 12/26/2002 8:46:19 AM PST by Jeff Head
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Comment #70 Removed by Moderator

To: Joe Hadenuf
I tend to agree with you on that, although I hate to think about all the real American citizens that will and are suffering because of it. There is a song about the destruction of California, and a line in it goes, "the only way to fix it is to flush it all away...."
71 posted on 12/26/2002 4:24:56 PM PST by Morrigan
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To: MarkL
I think to be a member of the left, thinking ahead to the consequences of your actions is prohibited.
72 posted on 12/26/2002 4:36:31 PM PST by Republic of Texas
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To: Paulie
Rome?
73 posted on 12/26/2002 4:41:34 PM PST by Republic of Texas
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To: sarcasm
"A neighbor told me he stepped outside and found 80 Iranians in his backyard,"

If this is true, our government should be held responsible.

74 posted on 12/26/2002 4:43:29 PM PST by thepitts
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To: 185JHP
Sheriffs don't "order" Federal Law Enforcement to do much of anything, fella. Unless they want to experience being cuffed and stuffed. This "county authorities rule" idea is nonsense.

Like hell it is, the sheriff is an ELECTED oficiall.

75 posted on 12/26/2002 4:45:18 PM PST by thepitts
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To: thepitts
official
76 posted on 12/26/2002 4:46:35 PM PST by thepitts
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To: madfly
funny how this stuff always ends up out of sight in the back room huh? We have fluff pieces on the" news page "and Governemt watch dog articles get hidden ..sure says something
77 posted on 12/26/2002 4:55:01 PM PST by RnMomof7
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To: Paulie
Can I repeat this?

They aren't going to do anything about it because illegal aliens are a tool they are using to destroy our sovereignty,and to create a new nation composed of Canada,the US,and Mexico."

No other explanation. This is reprehensible beyond words. Is there any time in history when any nation deliberately destroyed itself?

And what is sad, that some people out their actually think they can run or move to the next state to avoid this titanic invasion. This thing has been going nation wide, outside of the southwest, for 15 years now.

78 posted on 12/26/2002 6:17:23 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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To: sarcasm
Thanks for the ping!
79 posted on 12/26/2002 6:19:48 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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To: Joe Hadenuf
And what is sad, that some people out their actually think they can run or move to the next state to avoid this titanic invasion.

Out there, there, there, jezzz.

80 posted on 12/26/2002 6:20:59 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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