 Border Patrol agent Jeff Mielke secures plastic handcuffs on a group of suspected illegal immigrants caught in the Otay Mesa Mountain Range, south of El Cajon, Calif., Oct. 12, 2005. The Border Patrol has concluded morale is suffering because immigrant smugglers that agents catch in this mountainous region near San Diego rarely face more than a slap on the wrist, according to an internal Border Patrol document obtained by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Sandy Huffaker, File) |