From - Sat Jul 27 17:23:48 2002 From: "George" Newsgroups: alt.politics.immigration Subject: Bush is weak on border security Lines: 247 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 15:13:12 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.229.109.20 X-Complaints-To: abuse@ptd.net X-Trace: nnrp1.ptd.net 1027696392 24.229.109.20 (Fri, 26 Jul 2002 11:13:12 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 11:13:12 EDT Organization: PenTeleData http://www.ptd.net Path: vienna7.his.com!news.lightlink.com!news-out.visi.com!hermes.visi.com!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!212.74.64.35!colt.net!kibo.news.demon.net!demon!news-xfer.newsread.com!bad-news.newsread.com!netaxs.com!newsread.com!ptdnetT!newsgateT.ptd.net!ptdnetS!newsgate.ptd.net!nnrp1.ptd.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: vienna7.his.com alt.politics.immigration:21105 Sign the petition to stop immigration now! http://www.stopimmigrationnow.org/ And, our new homeland 'security' bill does NOTHING to change the INS. Doesn't that make you just feel great? And check out this article: BORDER PATROL OPERATIONS July 25, 2002 I am a United States Border Patrol and I am writing this to tell you that you have been lied to and deceived. You have been lied to concerning the operations of the Border Patrol and have been deceived into thinking that they are effective. Well, they aren't. Let's begin with Operation Gatekeeper and Operation Hold the Line. They just don't work. If they did then why is it that when you drive around San Diego, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach or any southern city in Texas, Arizona or New Mexico you see hundreds if not thousands of illegal aliens asking for work on every comer? Simply put, these operations are a, "Dog and Pony show." The only thing that these operations have succeeded in are to make the voting public believe that they are working because apprehensions made by the Border Patrol have decreased in the sectors in which they are implemented. Mr. Johnny Williams, the Western Regional Director of the I.N.S., is very proud to point out that since the inception of Gatekeeper, the number of apprehensions has dropped dramatically. This is true but what he doesn't want you to know is that the number of illegal aliens that avoid arrest (gotaways) has increased even more dramatically. On a daily basis Agents working in the Western Region are being told to not patrol areas that contain a high number of illegal crossings. They are told this because Mr. Williams wants you to believe that nobody is crossing the border thus making Gatekeeper seem effective. Gatekeeper is based on the theory that if you place enough Agents in an area then nobody will wish to cross. This theory is called "deterrence." Agents are placed in certain high-visibility areas and then told to not move. This is called, "sitting on an X." Even if these Agents actually see illegal aliens crossing the border they have been ordered to not move and if they do, they face disciplinary action. Of course if these Agents are not allowed to move and apprehend the aliens, then the apprehension rate is sure to drop. Mr. Williams is also fond of saying that, "Since the number of apprehensions has dropped, this proves that not as many people are crossing and that they are being deterred." Can you possibly imagine the Commander of the Highway Patrol saying, "Well, we didn't issue any tickets last week so I guess nobody was speeding." Or, can you imagine the Chief of Police of any town in America saying, "We didn't catch anybody last week so I guess nobody broke the law." No, what's happening is that apprehensions are dropping because the people that shape the policies and direction of the Border Patrol have made it increasingly difficult for the Agents to perform their sworn duties. I can cite a myriad of examples and here are just a few: In the E1 Centro Sector, it is extremely easy for "load vehicles" (vehicles containing illegal aliens or other contraband) to drive across the border, enter onto the freeway and then abscond. As recently as a year ago, Agents were allowed to follow these vehicles and stop them. Flattening the tires was and is an extremely effective means of stopping these vehicles before a pursuit even started or before they became a danger to the public. Now however, the Agents have been told that if the load vehicle does anything that breaks a traffic law, then the Agents must stop following, turn around and head in the opposite direction. The order of, "Just let him go" is a familiar one and is used on a daily basis. In the San Diego Sector it's even worse. If a vehicle simply fails to yield to the warning lights of a Border Patrol vehicle, the Agents are instructed to turn around and let the load vehicle go. Not yielding to the warming lights of a law enforcement vehicle is also known as felony evasion of the law. But the Border Patrol does absolutely nothing about this and makes no effort to contact the owner of the vehicle, to monitor the vehicle's whereabouts or even to see if the vehicle actually continued on or caused a collision. This is because the I.N.S. is much more concerned with limiting its involvement and liability than allowing its Agents to enforce the immigration laws of this country. In this time of heightened security there is no doubt that liability must take a back seat to enforcing the law and providing safety and security to the citizens of the U.S. Not too long ago an Agent began following a suspected load vehicle near E1 Centro. As it often does, the load vehicle drove through the median of the freeway and began to travel against oncoming traffic. The Agent was immediately ordered to turn around and head in the opposite direction. An Imperial County Sheriff's Deputy was monitoring the Border Patrol's radio traffic and soon began to follow the vehicle. For an unknown reason the vehicle suddenly drove across the median again, then began to travel across the open desert. It stopped a short distance north of the freeway and the occupants fled into the desert. The Deputy notified the Supervisory Border Patrol Agent that had instructed the Agent to turn around of what had occurred. The Supervisor quickly realized that the I.N.S. was now free of any liability and instructed several Agents to apprehend the fleeing illegal aliens. In El Centro it is now a common practice for the load vehicle to enter onto the freeway and then immediately travel in the opposite lanes of traffic creating not only a danger to the aliens in the vehicle, but also to the motoring public. However, when this happens, the Agents are always ordered to turn around and go in the opposite direction. There have been numerous instances where the load vehicle will travel in the wrong direction for over ten miles. As long as this current policy is in effect, load drivers will continue to utilize this extremely dangerous practice. Radio transmissions have been intercepted from various smuggling organizations instructing their drivers to, "Don't stop. If you just don't stop there is nothing they can do." The smugglers know our policy and use it against us nearly every day. This policy is a farce and a danger and must be discontinued. Recently, an Agent in the El Centro Sector was using an infrared scope unit when he saw a group of 100 aliens crossing the border through the Imperial Sand Dunes. The Agent radioed for assistance from the ATV Rove Unit (The Rove Unit utilizes all-terrain vehicles for areas that cannot be reached by 4-wheel drive vehicles.) The response that he received was shocking: "Sorry, we're not allowed to go there." In yet another instance involving the Rove Unit, the Agents of the unit were instructed not to travel north of Highway 98 (which is located approximately 1 mile north and parallel to the border) even if they were able to actually see the illegal aliens north of the highway. Last year, the El Centro Sector utilized a unit made up of Agents that were told to go out and count the number of gotaways on a daily basis. The numbers were alarming. Counts as high as 200 were being tallied every day. Realizing that these numbers were unacceptable, the unit was quickly disbanded. However, before the unit was disbanded, and Agent assigned to the unit arrived at the El Centro station to log in his numbers. A supervisor walked by, saw what he was doing and noticed that the numbers were extremely high. As the Agent watched, the supervisor actually changed the numbers right in front of him so as to make it appear as if less people had avoided apprehension. When the Agent questioned this the response he received was, "How do you know that these people didn't turn around and head back to Mexico? How do you know that they actually got away? Did you see them? (meaning the illegal aliens) Now, the Agents of the E1 Centro don't bother to log gotaways because they know that the numbers mean absolutely nothing. If no gotaways are counted, then it makes Gatekeeper seem very effective. The El Centro Sector operates two immigration checkpoints. However, these checkpoints have been shut down for over a year. The Chief of the Sector recently stated that the checkpoints would remain closed for another 18 months citing manpower problems. Amazingly the Chief also saw fit to send 16 of its Agents to a Border Search Trauma and Rescue unit and to never work on the border again. The point is that it only takes 4 Agents to effectively operate a checkpoint. This appears to be an oxymoron because the checkpoints are unmanned due to a manpower shortage. This also seems to coincide with the known fact that over the last three years there has been an effort to place more and more Agents strictly on the border to attempt to deter the aliens from crossing. However, without an effective interior enforcement force, once an alien escapes apprehension, he is basically free to go because he knows that there is no chance of getting apprehended. Between the two checkpoints an average of 70 illegal aliens were apprehended every day. Now if you were to take that number and multiply it by 365 you would come up with 25550. These are 25550 illegal aliens each and every year that should have been apprehended but were allowed to travel unimpeded because of the failed attempt to deter them and the fact that the checkpoints that surely would have apprehended them are now not operational. It is now very easy to see why there has been a decrease in the number of apprehensions over the last couple of years. If Agents are not allowed to patrol where the illegal aliens are, then of course apprehensions will drop. This is exactly how the I.N.S. has deceived you into thinking that deterrence is working when in fact, it is not working at all. Deterrence is simply a theory that doesn't work. We're not talking about putting up a fence around your back yard to keep your dog from getting out. We're talking about trying to deter human beings. Human beings that will stop at nothing to illegally enter the United States, set up residence and then wait for the next amnesty proposal. People aren't deterred by the mere presence of a Border Patrol vehicle. They just move down the road and try somewhere else. If you truly wish to deter them, then begin by implementing employer sanctions again. When was the last time that you heard of any employer being convicted of hiring illegal aliens? It just doesn't happen and the people that employ illegal aliens know this. It's a matter of simple economics; If you are an employer and have the choice of hiring a legal resident, paying him or her minimum wage, providing health benefits and unemployment insurance or hiring an illegal alien (all the while knowing that if you are caught you face absolutely no penalty) paying him or her much less than minimum wage with no benefits, which would you choose? The concept of deterrence has also taken the initiative and drive out of the Agents. The attrition rate in the San Diego Sector is 1 Agent per day. A company that loses one employee per day is one that is failing miserably. Recently, an Agent in El Centro was utilizing an infrared Scope and saw a group of 12 illegal aliens exit from a mountainous area. He watched as the aliens continued on their path until they neared a house. He then saw a man exit the house, motion for the aliens to come inside and then quickly close the door when all of the aliens were safely inside. The Agent radioed his station and told a supervisor of what had occurred. The supervisor told him to just watch the house and to let him know if he saw the aliens again. The sector Anti-Smuggling Unit and the sector Abatement Team were notified of what was happening but amazingly, not one single arrest was made. When asked why a search warrant was not obtained, the answer from the supervisor was, "Well, there's just a lot of paperwork involved. Besides, what's twelve more illegals living in L.A.?" Today's date is January 11, 2002 which is exactly 4 months after terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center complex and another into the Pentagon. Immediately following these horrendous attacks, both the President and the Attorney General issued statements concerning national security. In their statements they said that the security of the United States is of the highest priority and that all law enforcement agencies will do their part and step up their efforts to ensure the security of the U.S. However, the checkpoints in the E1 Centro Sector are still unmanned and now the Agents have been told that if they wish to chase illegal aliens north of Highway 98. they must ask for permission to do so. Let me repeat that last part, if an Agent wishes to chase illegal aliens north of Highway 98, they must request and receive permission to do so. So, if an illegal alien (or worse yet, an illegal alien terrorist) can walk for a mere mile without being detected by an Agent that isn't allowed to move in the first place, then they are free to go. It is quite obvious that our efforts to secure our borders are failing. This is a problem that is hiding in plain sight yet the Immigration and Naturalization Service seems to want to do nothing about it. It is also quite obvious that the I.N.S. is much more interested in limiting its liability and looking good in the public eye than it is in enforcing the law. Consider this: A couple of years ago an Assistant Chief Patrol Agent in the San Diego Sector named Doreen Kennedy had a meeting with an immigrant rights group activist. The activist demanded that the Agents in the San Diego Sector should have their flashlights taken away because of their potential to be used as weapons. Even though the Agents are issued pistols, batons and now pepper-spray, ACPA Kennedy went along with the idea so as to not upset the activist. The Agents in San Diego soon had to turn in their flashlights. It must be noted that the Border Patrol functions 24 hours a day 7 days a week and half of that time is spent working in nighttime conditions. How can anybody possibly be expected to work at night without a flashlight? This not only placed the Agents in a very dangerous position, it also underscored their efforts to apprehend illegal aliens. It must also be noted that between the time that the Agents turned in their flashlights and the local union stepped in to buy new lighter-weight flashlights for the Agents, the apprehension rate plummeted to almost zero. Enforcing the Immigration Laws of the United States is the job of the U.S. Border Patrol. The men and women of the Border Patrol will perform their sworn duties with earnest and vigilance, but they must be allowed to do so without being artificially restricted by faulty theories. Once again, deterrence is merely a theory on how to control the border and to curb illegal immigration but it is a theory that has been proven extremely ineffective. You will notice that I did not include my name on the paper. Others before me have tried speaking out and have been severely punished for doing so. It is for this reason that I am withholding my name for the time being. However, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this brief paper you can address them to: B.P. Agent P.O. Box 373 Imperial, CA 92251