Thread: Latino group criticizes border cameras

http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor ... ion=Valley

Latino group criticizes border cameras
June 10, 2006
Elizabeth Pierson
Monitor Staff Writer


AUSTIN – A Latino advocacy group this week said Gov. Rick Perry’s plan to allow the public to patrol the border online for illegal activity is a waste of tax money and could encourage civil rights violations.

Perry recently proposed spending $5 million to place cameras on private land along rural stretches of the Texas-Mexico border. Landowners could deny consent.

The footage would be available for anyone to view in real time on the Internet, and anyone could call an 800 number to report suspicious crossings to law enforcement, Perry said.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, said the idea could overwhelm Border Patrol by forcing agents to check Border Patrol will have to waste their time addressing "frivolous violations" viewers may call in to further their own agendas, Figueroa said.

Or an angry viewer could decide to take the law into his own hands and head for the river to confront an immigrant, said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for MALDEF in San Antonio.

"We feel that immigration is a federal issue that should be addressed through Congress and the Senate and the (former) INS and the Department of Homeland Security," said. "People watching over the Internet don’t have the training or the skills to recognize immigration or any other federal law violation."

A spokeswoman for Perry said the cameras are simply an expansion of the Neighborhood Watch program already successful across the country.

Viewers will not know the exact location of the cameras, making it impossible for them to go to the site, said Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Perry.

"The idea of these cameras is to position them so that there is no distinguishing landmark identifying them," she said. "They’ll be identified by a randomly assigned number, and only law enforcement has access to the tapes."

Law enforcement can view the tapes citizens see online and determine who, if anyone to dispatch to the scene. Some calls may be handed to Border Patrol, others to local law enforcement, Walt said.

The cameras will run 24 hours a day and use night vision, Walt said. She did not know how far from the border they would be placed.

Gee hardley figured we'd get a thumbs up on this.

WHAAAAAAAA!!! *sniff* *sniff*

This is probably one of the best ideas yet.

Empower the people who actually care by giving them real time view of several spots along the border.

"We feel that immigration is a federal issue that should be addressed through Congress and the Senate and the (former) INS and the Department of Homeland Security," said. "People watching over the Internet don’t have the training or the skills to recognize immigration or any other federal law violation."

these arguments just floor me -- every citizen has the right to report criminal activity and repel invasions. It doesn't take training to "recognize immigration" -- immigrants have visa's and passports. Nor does it take training to "recognize" foreigners illegally entering the country in violation of federal or state law