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The Border Patrol management doesn't like talking about "got-aways". They claim they're catching at least half. The agents say otherwise: the most optimistic say one in three; the most pessimistic say one in ten. Most say one in five.

Part of the problem is that the prescribed procedures are inefficient and seem designed to tie the agents up with processing instead of apprehensions.

Let's say a team from Naco catches a dozen or so in my neighborhood. They do first line processing on the spot, triage for health problems, and then transport them to the station 30+ miles away. Then they do the real processing -- time consuming. Finally, they saddle them up again and drive them a few more miles to the Port of Entry and send them back into Mexico. Literally hours off patrol.

And what happens during those hours? I nearly found out the hard and unpleasant way.

A couple of months back, American Border Patrol put out a max effort on the San Pedro River. We camped out on an adjacent ranch and were using every technological trick we had at the time. (This was before the UAVs and ground sensors.) We turned in 96 to the Border Patrol in a six hour period. One of the local ranchers got another 85 all by himself in the same area. He was on horseback and herding them like cattle.

About the time we thought the area was cleaned out, I decided to film the trash they had left behind and damn near stepped on half a dozen holdouts hidden in the brush. They were not happy to see me at all, but did notice the holster on my thigh and stayed calm.

Just as fast as the Border Patrol left with a load, another group would come traipsing up the river bed. It was unreal. That night was even crazier. We watched as one vehicle after another dumped people off on the south side of the border -- it was like watching taxis at an airport and it went on for hours.

We were using infrared spotlights and night vision scopes and people were still making it past us and past the Border Patrol -- and the Border Patrol had a nicely equipped helicopter overhead helping out. All we could do was call in sightings and hope a BP team could get there.

I agree with the agents. We got maybe one in five that night.