Private spy plane patrols border

USA Today ^ | 22 May 2003 | Kevin Johnson

[JackelopeBreeder]

For years, U.S. officials along the southwestern border have done a peculiar dance with local ranchers and other residents who, without the government's help, have captured thousands of illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Publicly, authorities have discouraged citizen patrol groups, which civil rights advocates and Mexican officials have accused of being abusive "vigilantes." But in an approach that the critics say encourages vigilantism, U.S. agents routinely accept immigrants caught by such patrols, and return the immigrants to Mexico.

[JackelopeBreeder]

As usual the open borders crowd could give a rat's hiney about the damage that illegal aliens and drug smugglers leave in their wake.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Ping!

[liberalnot]

now that the american birthrate has more than adequately repaired itself,

and, after 9.11,

no doubt we need control of our borders.

but the feds should be doing this, and not stopping me and wasting my time on the i-5 and i-15 at san onofre and temecula.

[ctlpdad]

we must keep these terrorists out. We need military patrols until the lazer fences get put up.

[joesnuffy]

when I see federal mandates and cameras to ticket seat belt violaters
but private citizens having to spend their own money to protect the borders
against terrorist infiltration..well I gotta axe myself...whatz up wit dat

[caisson71]

In spite of efforts to the contrary, this is still a country of the people, by the people and for the people. The people have the rights, government derives its rights from the people. If the government, so delegated, doesn't do their job, IMHO, the people certainly have the right to "uphold just laws" themselves.

[my4kidsdad]

Lets see: Year to date (April 8th) arrests = 331,141. Projected annually = 1,233,331. 4 year estimate = 4,933,324. Since April 1999 there have been 48 injuries in 4,933,324 attempts which is .000973%. Seems to me the odds of getting injured are quite small. Think the odds are higher for those perishing while trying to enter the U.S. ILLEGALLY?? Good work citizen patrols!!!!

[lady lawyer]

Escobar says that since April 1999, his office has recorded 48 incidents in which illegal immigrants have been confronted or roughed up by armed civilians on the U.S. side of the border.

These poor illegals have actually been "confronted." Oh, the horror. Oh, the humanity. No one sneaking into our country should be "confronted." Oh, the unfairness of it all.

[steplock]

They still have that check point before getting to San Onofre? Talk about a joke.
When stationed at Camp Pendleton, I used to get stopped there, the agents would come on the bus and ask "where were you born" of everyone (like an illegal would tell the truth).
But I would always tell them I was born in Cuba (I was). They would "escort" me off the bus, and I would show them my USMC ID, which thoroughly P.O.'d them.

I would tell them "Hey man, You're the one who asked the question. I simply told the truth."

[17th Miss Regt]

Even so, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans continue to try to slip into the USA. As of April 8, the U.S. Border Patrol had recorded 331,141 arrests in the southwest this year.

Those look like good estimates to me. Also note that in the above sentences the magnitude of the problem is deliberately understated by an order of magnitude (hundreds of thousands vs. millions). Also note that these are only the arrested illegal aliens.

[JSteff]

""All of these activities tend to inflame the climate here," Escobar says of the drone. "It makes this area all a bit more tense."

Uh, senior escobar, llegal immigrants or imigration are reason there is tension at the borders. Stop that in the climate will no longer be infamed.

This guy is just like a democrat; blame those who are against the breaking of a law for the anger at those who break the law. What an idiot.

[Thud]

Ridge says unmanned drones could be patrolling borders by end of the year

JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2003
©2003 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/05/22/national1603EDT0730.DTL

(05-22) 13:03 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Unmanned aerial drones similar to ones used in the war on Iraq could be patrolling the U.S. border by the end of the year to help stem illegal immigration and increase security, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday.

"We are very serious in looking at UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) for both border applications, land and sea," Ridge told the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.

Predators and other remote-controlled aircraft can watch over a potential target and fly for hundreds of miles with cameras, sensors, communications equipment or missiles.

Support has grown for the unmanned aircraft since their success during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Spy cameras aboard a drone allowed U.S. commanders to watch the capture of Palestinian hijacking suspect Abul Abbas and oversee the rescue of Army prisoner-of-war Pfc. Jessica Lynch. They also foiled an Iraqi ambush on U.S. and British troops. In November, an unmanned Predator drone killed suspected al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

Several Western congressmen have endorsed the use of the unmanned vehicles over the U.S.-Mexico border, including Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz.

"Helicopters are great but are phenomenally expensive," Shadegg said. "I think UAV would be key."

The Coast Guard is looking at new UAV technology that they can launch from their ships, allowing them to extend their patrols for hundreds of miles, Ridge said. But "where you have wide open spaces, it's a lot easier for us to take a look at some of the technology that is presently employed by the Department of Defense," Ridge said.

[liberalnot]

they still have both of them, san onofre and temecula, both 8 lane freeways at that point.

the 4 northbound freeways come to a standstill--sometimes backing up for miles. occasionally the border patrol just opens the whole thing up especially when they sense people are pissed.

it's bogus. it's a waste of time.

congressman daryl issa (rep. vista) told them that too.