I was travelling home after visiting the hardware store and on the way home I saw what looked like a border intruder. He was entering a residential area and looked lost. He didn't fit the typical profile because a.)he wasn't wearing a hat, b.)he wasn't carrying a plastic bag, and c.) he wasn't too dirty. He was carrying a bottle of gatorade and a water bottle. I eyed him really closely and wasn't sure, so I thought I'd follow him at a distance to see what he'd do.
He took a turn further into the residential area and then I realized that he might end up walking right past the American Border Patrol Headquarters. I followed him until he hit the same road ABP is on and then I decided to talk to him to see what he was doing. I drove up to him, rolled down my window, and said, "You look lost. Do you live around here?" His answer was, "No speak Englais. No speak Englais." I said, "Thank you." and called Border Patrol on my cell phone.
I was still speaking to Border Patrol as I pulled into ABP's HQ and knocked on the front door. Glenn Spencer answered and I told him that he'd have a border intruder walking right in front of his headquarters in about 3 minutes.
He grabbed his shoes, cell phone, and video cameras and we headed out. Unfortunately, he couldn't find a charged vidcam battery or ready tape to record the intruder walking right past the HQ. We followed the intruder up the road and saw him turn onto another street. We followed him up that street and he turned into someone's driveway and headed for their house.
The house was behind a few trees but our view was not obstructed too badly. We waited in front of the house and observed his actions for a minute. Glenn expressed his doubts about the intruder when he noticed the wheelbarrow in the front yard and wondered if he was doing work at the house. The intruder stood around in the yard for a couple of minutes right by the house, then went to the front door. But, no one was home. He stood there trying to decide what to do and he cast a few nervous glances in our direction.
He then decided a course of action and walked to a location to the side of the house, putting a large pine tree between him and us. When he thought he was out of our view he ran like hell behind the house.
We turned around and zipped over one street and there he was walking down the street. We got Border Patrol on the cell phone again and told them that the intruder was moving in a different direction now and was about to run out of civilization and head towards the mountains.
The street we were on quickly became a dirt road, but we still followed about 50 feet behind the intruder hoping that the Border Patrol would show up. Noticing that we were not going to give up pursuit, the intruder turned 90 degrees and headed of into a Mesquite-dotted field, towards the mountains.
We tried the same thing and went to the next dirt road and circled back, but we could not locate him. He might have holed up under a Mesquite, deep in the field. Or he may have turned again and entered someone's back yard.
Border Patrol hadn't showed up and Glenn decided that we weren't going to get the intruder as my vehicle had no offroad capability and we'd lost the guy. We told Border Patrol his final location and heading. Glenn did get some video and photos and said he would post the story on his website later.