http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_3977432

Article Launched: 6/25/2006 12:00 AM


Guard slices crossings near Columbus on the border

Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times

DEMING -- In their other lives, they are students, cooks, prison guards, firefighters. Some of them are married and have children. Many of them are immigrants, or their parents were immigrants, and at least one entered the United States illegally years ago.
For the past two weeks, the 170 soldiers of the 2-200 Infantry Battalion of the New Mexico National Guard have lived inside a teeming Deming armory packed with army cots. Day and night, they took turns sitting in Humvees perched on hilltops, scanning the desert near Columbus for illegal border crossings.

For some guardsmen, it was a lesson in the realities of immigration.

"It's been interesting. I didn't think so many people would try to cross on any given day," said Sgt. Ray Martinez, a corrections officer in Radium Springs, N.M., with 16 years in the Guard.

Spc. Veronica Ortega, a prep cook and a student in Las Cruces, already knew something about illegal immigration. She was carried across the Rio Grande by family members when she was 11. She obtained immigration papers soon after and has been in the Guard for about 10 years. Her border-watching mission, in support of the Border Patrol, hit close to home, she said.

"It seems a little ironic," she said. "I guess it's something I have to do."

The soldiers' annual two-week training was renamed Operation Centurion and was used as a precursor to Operation Jump Start, the borderwide, yearlong deployment ordered by President Bush. New Mexico Guardsmen from around the state can volunteer for Operation Jump Start. About a third of the soldiers from the 2-200 have volunteered to stay on for a few more days to a year, officials said.

The deployment, now limited to Columbus, may soon include Lordsburg and Santa Teresa, officials said.

In El Paso, 30 Texas National Guard soldiers arrived Wednes day, and more are expected this week. Officials said they may start working in a couple of weeks and are likely to be doing the same kind of work as their counterparts in New Mexico.

The strategy -- to use the guardsmen in a support capacity while more Border Patrol agents are trained -- seems to be working, Border Patrol officials said.

Apprehensions of undocumented immigrants were down in New Mexico from 3,765 in the first 20 days of June last year to 3,065 in the same period this year. Border-wide, apprehensions decreased by 21 percent, to 26,994, in the first 10 days of June, officials reported.

The desert region's blistering June temperatures typically drive down the number of migrants, but not so drastically, said Mario Martinez, a spokesman with the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C.

Home away from home

In Columbus, residents saw little of the soldiers, who merely drive through town on the way to their posts in the wilderness. But many residents took note of a recent decrease in immigrant traffic.

"I have to admit that it has slowed down," Columbus resident Glenda Sanchez said. "There was a routine. Like clockwork, they (migrants) would pass by my house at 5 p.m. They were always seven of them, guaranteed. But not anymore. They changed their route or something."

In Deming, home of the armory where the soldiers spend a few hours of leisure time between shifts, residents reaped more economic benefits from the Guard's presence.

Sgt. Martinez regularly patronized Irma's Restaurant, which he declared the "best restaurant in town."

"I don't eat these," he said pointing at his MREs, or Meals Ready-to-Eat.

Spc. Carletta Lee of Shiprock, N.M., also had plans to eat out last week. "I heard about a steakhouse with big juicy steaks I'm going to try."

Lee, a student, volunteered to stay with Operation Jump Start for a year, hoping to make money to pay for law school. Martinez volunteered to stay an extra week to train his replacement driver.

Those who stay, and the new volunteers, will "live on the economy," as they will be paid extra to rent apartments and hotel rooms, and to shop and eat locally, said Sgt. David Strobel, a National Guard spokesman.

Hilltops

The soldiers' job has been to help the Border Patrol cover the 14,000 square miles that are the responsibility of the Deming station.

The soldiers helped the lone Border Patrol mechanic, responsible for the maintenance of 100 vehicles, and, most important, they occupied small peaks in the so-called Johnson Mountains across from Las Chepas in Mexico and in the Radar Hill area West of Columbus.

"Radar Hill is a blind spot in the (surveillance) camera system, so it took a lot of manpower to cover," said Jack Jeffreys, Border Patrol field operation supervisor at the Deming station.

The armed soldiers scan the hilly terrain with binoculars or sit in Skywatch Towers and act as a highly visible deterrent to would-be migrants on the Mexico side.

"They have Humvees. It's really impressive. They've established a footprint here," Jeffreys said.

On Radar Hill, Sgt. Janilee Whiterock, a student in Albuquerque, looked for suspicious vehicles. "Usually it's quiet during the day."

Whiterock is part of a group of 25 guardsmen with the 11-16 Transportation Company from Gallup, N.M., who volunteered to be part of Operation Jump Start for the next two weeks.

The information gleaned on the hilltops was relayed by radio to the Tactical Assessment Center in Columbus, an army tent propped up next to the Border Patrol substation. Staff Sgt. James Jackson of Las Cruces sorted through the tips.

On his first shift two weeks ago, he received 10 calls. Last week, he was down to about three per shift.

"Today we had four individuals in the back of a white pickup truck spotted east of Las Chepas -- for follow-up," he read from his notes.

Immigrant guards

The special immigration-centered mission required only cursory training from the Border Patrol because the soldiers acted in a support capacity and used their honed surveillance skills, the soldiers said. But Operation Centurion prompted many to reflect on immigration and some to make mental adjustments.

Spc. Ortega, the former undocumented immigrant from Delicias, Chihuahua, said she tried to focus on the humanitarian aspects of what she calls a "good mission."

"On top of everything they (Border Patrol) are trying to save lives. People are coming over with very little water, and they die. That's what I'm focusing on so I will feel less uncomfortable," she said.

Spc. Rebecca Cuylear, an immigrant from Hong Kong who came to the United States legally as a child, remembered the year she stayed behind in China while her mother fixed her papers in their new country.

"I understand why people cross. But I don't think it's fair that they would get amnesty. It took a lot for us to get our papers and then our citizenship," said Cuylear, an NMSU student.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.






In their own words
Some of the 180 New Mexico National Guard soldiers posted near Columbus, N.M., last week talked about their duty.

"I know why they come here. They're trying to better themselves. It's hard to get your (immigration) papers, but they're hurting themselves by coming illegally. They are risking their lives."
Pfc. Rosy Alexander of Santa Fe, who came to the United States legally at the age of 14

"I think we're being very effective here."
2nd Lt. Troy Reister, an El"Paso firefighter

"(Iraq) was a lot further away from home and you had a lot more chances of getting killed. It was a lot hotter over there. But the hardest part was being far from home."
Staff"Sgt. William Duffer, a Las Cruces machine-shop manager, comparing his border mission with his tour in Iraq last year

"It reminds me of home. I live on the (Navajo) reservation. The only difference is that nobody is trying to cross into our reservation."
Spc. Carletta Lee of Shiprock, N.M., a student

"We like (Deming). It's nice. The community involves us. They ask us if we like what we're doing and what it is we're doing. And they say thank you for what you're doing."
Sgt. Ray Martinez, a corrections officer from Radium Springs, N.M.