Thread: AZ: Border Patrol Expecting Smugglers to Get More Desperate

Border Patrol Expecting Smugglers to Get More Desperate
March 11, 2008


The heat will be on in Arizona soon and that has the Border Patrol concerned about what's ahead this summer.

The Sonoran desert is among the world's most treacherous to cross. Just east of Yuma, an area known as the Devil's Highway, summertime temperatures top 115 almost daily.

Still people try to cross the no man's land. "That's what we're out here to do - not only to make apprehensions, but also no one wants to come across a dead body," says Agent Mike Scioli.

President Bush deployed the National Guard to the U.S./Mexico border almost two years ago and it paid off. Border apprehensions are down by 13 percent from last year.

Scioli says more boots on the ground and technology are helping agents stem the tide of illegal immigration. "In the beginning of 2006, there was nothing more in certain areas than just that border monument that let's you know one side is Mexico, the other side is the U.S. And in places that had somewhat of a border fencing had barbed wire, five strands of barbed wire."

Guard troops built roads, lighting towers and fence and most importantly freed up border patrol agents to man the border.

The National Guard's mission is scheduled to end this summer.

Scioli says while apprehensions are down because of beefed up border efforts, agents are encountering larger groups as smugglers get more brazen and desperate.

"One of them with 85 near the Douglas area . . . We had a group of 95 near Casa Grande."

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=759283

Yes summers coming and so are the illegals, many of whom have no idea of what a desert is like, they trust in their coyote to get them through and when they can't keep up they are left behind to die. Some have even had their boots and water taken by other illegals.