Replies

It's interesting to me to note that the Border Patrol has a Special Operations unit called BORTAC, which is apparently equipped with all the goodies anyone could want:

BORTAC

And while I support virtually everything Tancredo does, I do have one question for the BP/INS/Customs employees here: Is BORTAC underutilized? Are they too far from the fun in So. AZ to respond quickly?

Some people are always trying to condemn having the military on the border, but it seems like we already have a capable paramilitary unit. So, does it make more sense to expand BORTAC and make them more pervasive along the border?

My own interaction with the Customs Air Unit in Tucson 20 years ago made me aware that they had some fairly decent assets, but they aren't that big of an operation, and I wonder how quickly they can respond to an emerging situation. Comments?

The stated mission of the U.S. Border Patrol Tactical Team is " to provide the Immigration and Naturalization Service with a specially trained and equipped tactical unit to address unusual situations within the service by use of special techniques. This team has deployment capability to any location on short notice."

Illegals crossing the border is not unusual, so they probably don't get used much.

ajnin is the BP expert, so he can answer this question better than I can.