Illegal border crossers major trespassers in once-quiet backcountry

The discarded water bottles, clothes and backpacks that Joe Brown often finds on his property by the border are just a part of his life in East County.

The land in Boulevard where Brown grew up is now a piece of the playing field for a daily game of cat-and-mouse between Border Patrol agents and the illegal immigrants they are trying to apprehend.

Brown accepts that he regularly has to repair the breaks in his barbed-wire fence, just north of the 12-foot corrugated steel fence separating the United States and Mexico. But that doesn't mean he's happy about it.

"We're being invaded, our property is being trashed, and we're not being protected," said Brown, 71.

Since Operation Gatekeeper took effect almost 10 years ago, cutting the flow of crossers in the urban areas of San Diego County and pushing illegal immigration east, Brown and other backcountry residents say they no longer have the serene enclaves they most love about living in rural East County spots such as Boulevard, Campo or Jacumba.

"We went from having a nice, quiet, peaceful life with lots of privacy to being invaded by thousands of illegals," said Donna Tisdale of Boulevard. "We don't have any privacy anymore."

People in the backcountry see the immigrants dehydrated from the summer heat or freezing in the cold of winter. They'll offer a drink of water or a warm blanket – but then they call the Border Patrol.

"I do have compassion for them individually," Tisdale said. "It's the numbers that are overwhelming."

Before Gatekeeper started in October 1994, little separated East County border-town residents from their neighbors in Mexico. People in Jacumba freely visited an adjacent village, Jacume, in Mexico.

Then the fence went up, the Border Patrol increased its presence in East County, and life changed in the backcountry.

Near the coast, the corrugated steel is backed by a concrete fence, making an imposing barrier. In East County, geography and the persistence of people trying to cross the border have created gaps in the fence.

In some spots, the fence is only half as tall or holes have been dug underneath it. Steel poles welded together are the only barrier at some rocky stretches. Border Patrol agents say the weaknesses in the fence are well-known and often used by illegal immigrants.

Before Gatekeeper, 109 Border Patrol agents were stationed in East County. Now there are 531 agents in the backcountry. As a comparison, the Sheriff's Department has 42 deputies patrolling the same area.

Almost 70,000 people have been apprehended by the Border Patrol in East County since October. The Border Patrol figures about one-fourth of the people trying to make their way north are being caught.

Many residents say that being a portal to illegal immigration is usually little more than a nuisance.

"It's just something you know and accept," said Jim Callahan of Jacumba. "You know when your dogs bark a certain way to call the Border Patrol. If you see someone speeding down the road, you know it's the Border Patrol. You lock your cars at night, but not for theft. You lock them to keep people from hiding in them."

Others are less complacent. Bob Maupin, who owns a 250-acre ranch in Boulevard, says he can't rent the land out for pasture because his barbed-wire fence gets cut several times a week.

Maupin, who owns a gun shop in Alpine, said he regularly patrols his land for trespassers. He said it's nobody's business whether he carries a gun while on his property.

Maupin said he doesn't leave his three young granddaughters alone on his property because he once found an illegal immigrant carrying a butcher knife.

"With Operation Gatekeeper, the flood started," Maupin said. "It hasn't slowed down. It goes on seven days a week, 24 hours a day."

Sometimes the encounters with illegals can be violent. Kimberly Hope of Jacumba was beaten to death in April 2003. Daniel Berumen, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is awaiting trial for in that slaying.

Immigrant smugglers occasionally take the deadly chance of driving the wrong way on Interstate 8 with their lights off in an attempt to avoid the Border Patrol checkpoint on the freeway.

That has resulted in fatal collisions, like the one in June 2002. Six people were killed and 31 were injured then when a van filled with illegal immigrants crashed into a Ford Explorer and a Toyota van.

Despite the wave of immigrants passing through East County, sheriff's officials say the crime rate has not fluctuated in the last decade. Most backcountry residents said they aren't fearful of the illegal immigrants who show up on their doorsteps.

"They're pretty harmless," said Brian Goldsby, night manager of the Lux Inn in Boulevard. "All they want is to get a ride north. They're pretty tame."

Many backcountry residents have more dealings with Border Patrol agents than with the sheriff's deputies who cover the region.

Leon Herzog, owner of the Barrett Junction Cafe, said he calls Border Patrol agents several times a week to pick up illegal immigrants. He sees a sheriff's deputy less than once a week.

When a girl was injured by a horse near the cafe, Herzog said it was Border Patrol agents who got treatment for her.

"They're good to have around," Herzog said. "They're the first ones I call if I have a problem."

Making a trip north through the scrub and sagebrush of the backcountry can be treacherous. Last year, the Border Patrol rescued 152 people there. Twelve people died after crossing the border in San Diego County.

A sign at the border, just north of the steel fence, warns in Spanish: "Don't Expose Your Life to the Elements! It's Not Worth the Risk!"

But few immigrants pay heed to the sign as they try to make their way through the thick brush, hoping to avoid the sensors that alert Border Patrol agents to their presence.

On duty one recent evening, Border Patrol agent Ramiro Lizarraga slowly drove along the dirt road by the fence, looking for footprints in the dust that indicate someone has crossed the path. He said immigrants sometimes try to foil trackers by tying carpet scraps to their shoes as they cross the dirt path by the fence.

Lizarraga is vigilant in his search for illegal immigrants, but he also has sympathy for many of them. He recalled a woman who'd been wandering lost for several days before he found her.

Near sunset, Lizarraga responded to a radio call about a van that had rolled over off a two-lane road in Tierra del Sol. Roll-overs sometimes mean the vehicle is filled with illegals, Lizarraga said.

But when he arrived at the accident, he saw that the driver, a local resident, had gone off the road when she was blinded by the evening sun. The driver, Gina Vitale, was shaken up.

Even so, Vitale's first words when she saw Lizarraga were to thank Border Patrol agents for their help when her 11-year-old son was injured in a bicycle accident several weeks before.

Lizarraga waved and smiled as he passed by people standing in their yards, but said he has little contact with residents.

"There are some property owners who don't like us going through their land," he said. "But if I'm tracking somebody, I'm gonna just do it."

Other agents caught a group of illegal immigrants who had become lost in the brush, and Lizarraga stopped by the van where they were being held. One of the immigrants, a middle-aged woman, said she had lived in Los Angeles and was trying to return there from Mexico to work.

"If somebody asked me to sweep the street, I do that," she said in English. "If somebody asked me to wash dishes, I do that."

Around 9:30 p.m., Lizarraga got a report that a resident had seen people on his property. He sped to the area, and along with a half-dozen other agents, scrambled through the brush tracking footprints. The agents' flashlights were the only beacons illuminating the trail.

Lizarraga said the group of illegals appeared to be circling around as the agents tried to track them.

"They know we're on to them, so they're doing all kinds of funny stuff," he said.

Almost three hours later, Lizarraga parked his truck along with three other Border Patrol vehicles beside Interstate 8. He climbed up the hill by the freeway, and saw tracks indicating the group was nearby.

A few minutes later, two other Border Patrol agents emerged from the darkness with their prey: five young men wearing baggy jeans. Sitting by the road, they gulped down the water the agents poured for them.

The men would be fingerprinted, then returned to the border. They could very well be back the next day.

Asa Hutchinson, showing the size of the fence he plans to use to protect America,
said to those Americans burglarized, assaulted, raped or murdered
by the hordes of terrorists and illegal aliens entering America
under HIS watch: "Shove it".

I lived Boulevard for a short time. That was in the early 90s and was well before Operation Gatekeeper. ILLEGALS were tromping through my yard then, picking fruit off my trees and filling their water jugs with my garden hose. They also stole my neighbor's truck.

The one small Border Patrol station there is far too small to handle the high number of ILLEGALS who pass through the area both day and night.

"it's their bosses political superiors who are screwing things up."

I disagree somewhat. Purposeful lack of enforcement is a purposeful wage depression policy supported by big backers in both parties. Inflating lower to middle paid wage markets with more hands depresses the market power of American and legal resident workers. Depressing the wage rates even one or two dollars means $billions$ in short term profits via cutting the "cost" of labor.

If the border jumpers were qualified CFO's and journalists the border would be shut and controlled, just as Mexico does with its southern border - or like most any country in the world.

The Cheap Labor factions have coopted, even created "immigrant" groups to push their agenda and provide viable voices to reflexively shout "racism" to all arguments to enforce immigration laws. For example, Caesar Chavez was anti-illegal and high immigration. His self-proclaimed followers today, among their leaders, are ensconced and allied with the corporate-left and corporate-right elites.

Next target: transportation industry. Mere unenforcement of border security cannot eviserate American's wage earning power in driving jobs due to one other barrier: drivers licenses. With international DL's one can't drive commercially. Per course the transportation industry is increasing donations to groups like the National Immigration Forum.

We need to get others involved in enforcement.

Pull over an illegal with no license or insurance ? Impound his car, take him immediately to jail, and deport him within 24 hours.

Signing up for free lunch at public school ? No SSN ? La Migra follows the kid home, detains the family, and deports them all.

Showing up for free medical care at the emergency room ? Either the hospital does it without reimbursement as charity - or if getting goobermint dough, the patient is treated, turned over to La Migra, and immediately deported.

Applying for Section 8 housing, or food stamps, or...

You get the picture. Deport them all, and jail those who return for a lengthy felony incarceration.

I just had my Suburban that was parked in my driveway have about $4,000 in damage done to it by a tree service that has nothing but illegals working for it.Of three of them only one had an ID.The stupid owner of the business started crying that I called his workers illegals. He said they were all American citizens. I almost died laughing. Trashing the Suburbans Americans won't trash.And the sheriff was completely useless.Big surprise!

"I disagree somewhat. Purposeful lack of enforcement is a purposeful wage depression policy supported by big backers in both parties."

And that is why the politcos are screwing things up. But thanks for the rundown; it can't be stated enough.

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