U.S. Border Patrol Moved to Katrina Area, Border Vulnerable

NewsMax ^ | 9/1/05 | Dave Eberhart

[wagglebee]

U.S. Border Patrol officers are being shifted away from their posts guarding the U.S.-Mexico border to aid in the Katrina Hurricane disaster, leaving the country vulnerable to illegals and terrorists attempting to enter the U.S., NewsMax has learned.

The Bush administration ordered the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the federal agency charged with securing the border, to provide manpower, assets, and humanitarian support to Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, which has some border state residents nervous that the thin red line of protection from the plague of illegals, drug smugglers and gang members will be stretched even thinner.

CBP is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that, post-9/11, combined the inspection workforces and broad border authorities of Customs, Immigration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the entire Border Patrol.

CBP includes more than 41,000 employees to manage, control and protect the Nation's long and unfortified borders, at and between the official ports of entry. Recently, the U.S. Senate voted against fulfilling its pledge from last year to hire 2,000 more Border Patrol agents and fund 8,000 new detention beds for illegal aliens in fiscal 2006.

According to CBP, however, plenty of its scarce resources are now committed to rescue and law enforcement support in the multi-state areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Its fixed wing aircraft are being used for transportation and for surveillance/reconnaissance efforts to identify anyone in peril. CBP helicopters are also being used in transport and in search and rescue efforts.

The air support efforts are being coordinated through an airborne command center, which includes airborne radar and traffic management capabilities. Marine support is also providing transportation and rescue assistance. And CBP is sending over one hundred Border Patrol agents to provide law enforcement support to the impacted area.

As CBP pointed out to NewsMax, its relief teams in the New Orleans areas are not by any means gratuitous. The proliferation of ports-of-entry in the area means that the agency has a large number of CBP personnel regularly on the ground. Many of these CBP personnel were hit by the storm and are in need of relief.

In other words, the agency to some measure is riding to the relief of its own troops.

Indeed, an agency relief team has been established and is working to provide food, shelter and funds to CBP personnel displaced by the hurricane. Furthermore, an 800 number has been established to provide information on the status of recovery efforts and to serve as a support line for CBP personnel, their relatives, and other members of the DHS family. The number is 1.888.546.3727.

CBP says it is also working in coordination with several other government agencies to bring relief to the devastated area. CBP has staff on the DHS Interagency Incident Management Group (IIMG) Command Center, the FEMA National Command Center, and the on-scene Emergency Operations Center. In addition, a CBP senior manager is serving as the FEMA Regional Air Coordinator.

The agency also emphasized its twin goals: "CBP's priority mission is preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States, while also facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel."

With regard to that latter goal, CBP points out the large number of key ports in the hurricane zone: Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Gulfport, Pascagoula, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Gramercy, Morgan City, New Orleans, Lake Charles, and Shreveport.

Some of these ports above have been 100 percent knocked out in the wake of Katrina.

[bayourod]

"Operational Assets
AMO (part of the Customs and Border Protection) has a staff of more than 1,000 dedicated individuals with a broad range of experience. The AMO staff operates a fleet of 140 aircraft, including UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, Astar helicopters, as well as C-210, C-12, and long-range P-3 Orion fixed-wing aircraft.

The P-3s conduct air detection and monitoring missions in drug source and transit zones, including South and Central America, the Eastern Pacific, and the Caribbean, under the aegis of the Joint Inter Agency Task Force-South, a unit of the U.S. Southern Command.

AMO will be taking delivery of its first two PC-12 aircraft in the near term. The PC-12s are single-engine turbo prop aircraft that will replace the aging C-12 aircraft currently in the AMO fleet.

The Marine Division of AMO operates 68 vessels. The marine fleet includes 39-foot interceptor vessels, 33-foot SAFE boats, various utility craft, and larger ocean-going support and radar platform vessels. These AMO vessels operate mostly along U.S. coastlines and in U.S. seaports. AMO marine crews and assets work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, and other state and local law enforcement organizations. "

[Salvation]

good move!

[joesnuffy]

where are the vigilantes when you need them...

[joesnuffy]

Well there is a million or so without jobs or homes to go back to..

I am guessing the enlistment rate will be pretty high the next few months..

There will be no shortage of volunteers for the military
perhaps some of them will relieve the boys in Iraq and then
we can have veterans on the borders

[BIRDS]

Obviously, the U.S. cannot count on Mexico to assist us in these concerns.

It's a sad statement when a massive disaster such as this creates a default border vulnerability and the neighboring country (Mexico) instead perceives a vulnerability that can be increased in exploitive value.

[BIRDS]

I agree that this is a very bad move by Bush. Command some highway patrol from North Dakota or troops from Guam or Iowa but pulling BP officers into the disaster area suggests to me an even worse developing disaster.

I can't believe Bush is...I am getting tired of writing this but he sure does look like he wants chaos.

[BIRDS]

So, you're alluding to the potential for U.S. firepower upon our borders from the Gulf?

Otherwise, what?

[Looking4Truth]

The whole damn govt is engaging in treasonous behavior. What's going to be next?

[bayourod]

No, I'm just pointing out some of the assets the border patrol has available to help in NO.

The border includes 105,000 miles of shoreline and navigatable waterways that they have to patrol in addition to the Mexican border.

And some of the drug smugglers are sophisticated. For example this submarine:

"Police in Colombia say they have found a half-built submarine in a warehouse in a suburb of the capital Bogota. This is huge - we're talking about being able to load up to 200 tonnes of cocaine in this submarine US Drug Enforcement Agency He said the 30 metre (100ft) vessel would have been capable of carrying huge quantities of cocaine or heroin.

" Bogota is landlocked and lies 2,250 metres (7,500 ft) above sea level, but is a source of high-quality building materials - which may explain why it was chosen as a submarine boatyard. ""

[Not A Snowbird]

This is a load of crap. If you go to the CBP home page at www.cbp.gov, you will see that "just over 100" are being deployed. That's hardly "moving the Border Patrol".

I hate it when people write deceptive articles.

[judgeandjury]

The border includes 105,000 miles of shoreline and navigatable waterways that they have to patrol in addition to the Mexican border.

The border perimeter of the United States is less than 20,000 miles.

[joesnuffy]

Or there is a method to his madness....

[joesnuffy]

Al Qaeda should have no problemo smuggling in any WMD
they desire now...the word is out...

The Mexican Red Meth will really be flowing up into ole
el Norte now..

Midwest HIGH schoolers...be zipping all over...

Welcome to the new world odor...

The big bayou be backing his cattle trucks up to the border tonight...

I betcha...

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

The Bush administration ordered the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the federal agency charged with securing the border, to provide manpower, assets, and humanitarian support to Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts

If anybody believes there is hope for this nation they are insane. This is ludicrous.

[TLI]

SEND THE MINUTEMEN TO THE BORDERS IN FULL FORCE!!!

We would love to send them BUT it is a volunteer situation.

http://www.txminutemen.com/vform.php

We are speculating that October will see a flood attempting to cross to get at perceved construction jobs in the damaged areas. Join the Border Watch and help to prevent that.

http://www.txminutemen.com/id17.html

[swampfox98]

This means Bush can have even more Mexicans come into America illegally, since he has moved what little enforcement we had on the Mexican border. Guess now he and the Republicans wished they have voted more money for border patrol. Not.

I'll bet there were millions of Mexicans in New Orleans, and they'll get billions in relief funds. Even if they were still in Mexico when the storm hit.

[BIRDS]

Thanks for clarifying that.

Yes, the truth describes a far different reality than the now-identified-fictitious inflammatory declaration that suggests that the Border Patrol (as an entirety) has been relocated to the damage areas, also wrongly suggesting that the border is now not monitored.

[usurper]

Just to put this in historical context; this is hardly a new mission for the Border Patrol.

As part of DOJ before being moved to DHS, the Border Patrol has always been the “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” agency of the federal government.

The Border Patrol has responded to virtually every significant event in this country since its inception in 1924.

They were at the Selma, Alabama riots in the 1960s, Wounded Nee, The LA riots, Atlanta Prison riots, immigration detention facilities riots in Krome, Florida and Oakdale Louisiana just to mention a few. Fortunately, they were not deployed to Waco or Ruby Ridge. But they were ordered to snatch Elian.

Its important to remember that if you need federal boots on the ground you are talking about the Border Patrol with is by far the largest uniformed law enforcement agency in the federal government. FBI and IRS suits are not going to impress rioters.

As far as leaving the border open, they will draw down resources from around the country so no one area is adversely impacted. I suspect they will leave Arizona agents out of this deployment as that is the current hot spot.

[Not A Snowbird]

I usually avoid these threads, but I just couldn't let this one get a pass. :-)

[RnMomof7]

How nice of the president to leave the door open and unguarded for our Mexican "immigrants". His friends must need new nannies


The military is stretched to the limits so we have to drop border protection in one area to cover another.