Posted on 10/06/2006 12:45:54 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Border Patrol agents, “trapped” between two layers of border fencing could be sitting ducks for Mexican drug smugglers and coyotes, warns T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
A 700-mile double-layer fence approved for construction along the U.S.-Mexico border, including a Brownsville-to-Laredo stretch, makes patrolling agents vulnerable to attacks.
“The agents get trapped,” Bonner said, adding that the gates to exit the fence corridor are about a quarter-mile apart. “You can see where the gates are. It’s very clear. The smugglers know that there is no exit for our agents.”
The agency does not keep statistics on incidents that occur between existing border fences.
President Bush on Wednesday signed an appropriations bill for $1.2 billion to go toward fence construction through parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. A similar fence has been built near San Diego, Calif., with a Border Patrol access road sandwiched between a solid metal fence and a wire fence.
Bonner said agents in San Diego have been subject to rock throwing, gunfire and Molotov cocktails tossed over the Mexican side of the fence as they traveled the access road in between.
He said smugglers and others sometimes wait for agents to move away from the access gates, then send a barrage of rocks to divert other agents to the area. In the confusion, smugglers move their drugs, people or other contraband through.
“Officer safety concerns are clearly issues that should be thought about before you construct these multiple fences, which have not proven effective in stopping people from crossing the border,” Bonner said, estimating most are only deterred a couple of minutes by the extra security.
He suggested other options as more effective deterrents to illegal immigration, including requiring employers to swipe a Social Security card embedded with biometric data for new hires.
“Crack down on employers,” he said, “and if people can’t find jobs, they don’t come across the border. It’s that simple.”
Meanwhile, he worried that 700 more miles of fencing could potentially go up soon along the border, putting more agents in danger, he said.
“Why put up something that is going to result in needless injury to the men and women that are out there doing a job that is tough enough as it is?”
sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com
Sitting Ducks vs. Coyotes Ping!
“Crack down on employers,” he said, “and if people can’t find jobs, they don’t come across the border. It’s that simple.”
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Do you think they're all just going to go back? Maybe crime would rise?
They need to be stopped at the border. They need to be sent back when found.
The only real immigration is LEGAL immigration.
Both fence length will be on US territory, ergo that would be an act of military narco TERRORISM and make some Mexican folks subject to military COUNTER-ATTACK.
Why put ANYONE'S life at risk now that we DO NOT NEED TO?
The fence is meant to slow them down to where they can be detected and apprehended.
When there's a sizable hole in the ship's hull, it does little good to bail out a little water without first stopping the rest of the ocean from entering.
Didn't I just read somewhere that there are twenty million illegal aliens in America? Imagine how many would be here if these people weren't doing their job. We need a fence.
Don't patrol between the fences. The space between the fences is for yellow scorpions, rabid jackals, crocodiles, robocop, infrared megawatt lasers, and electrified mesh.
The answer is even more simple - build a barrier like that of Israel's.
The biiiig wonderful contract went to BOEING, which is going to use these expensive totally LAME blimps whose positions are KNOWN and therefore will be AVOIDED.
Predators can appear out of nowhere. They are persistent, easily maintained, never tire, are highly efficient, are stealthy, quiet...
Much too easy a solution for Washington, apparently.
Actually, yes, most of them would go back. Most illegals left homes/families/jobs to come here, and they would go back to them if we cut off the dinero.
They need to be stopped at the border. They need to be sent back when found.
While I don't disagree, you have to remember that only 60% of the illegals come across the Mexican border. The rest come here by plane and then overstay their visas. It's the jobs that draw them.
It's like illegals are bugs and jobs are your porch light. You can stand outside all night swatting the bugs, or you can TURN OFF THE LIGHT.
Why have them patrol between the fences?
Why not on the American side of the fences?
Don't use logic when debating Washington. It doesn't work nor apply...;)
To attack US agents attackers would a priori be attacking into US territory.
(That's what I meant anyway).
The premise is somewhat faulty and irrationally alarming. Yes being sandwiched in the proposed fence would make our agents vulnerable to attack, but that vulnerability is not necessarily the same as saying that our agents will be attacked.
Only a stupid coyote or drug runner will attack Federal agents, and if our agents do come under fire, our reaction will be to increase presence and security along that border, which will be the last thing the criminals along the border would want.
But yeah, if we're going to put our agents into a vulnerable position, we should give them armored vehicles, the latest body armor, and the ability to strike back. A couple armed predators flying in support of the border agents would do wonders to deter most violence.
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