Border Battle: Billions spent on security, but drugs, people keep coming

10:36 PM, Nov 2, 2011

PROGRESO, Texas - There is no typical day for U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley. Supervisory Agent Daniel Milian knows a quiet period can quickly become chaotic.

"You just don't know what you're going to come across. So that's why you have to be alert all the time, be extra vigilant," Milian said.

The border fence is a prominent fixture on the landscape. While the design varies depending on where the fence is located, the fence in Progreso, Texas is about 18 feet tall with a base of concrete and steel rods near the top.

The U.S. government spent billions of dollars on the border fence, with the goal of making the southern border more secure.

The border wall spans about 700 miles, leaving the other 1,300 miles with no wall at all.

"It's not a continuous barrier. It's placed in strategic locations," Milian said.

Milian explains the gaps in the wall are supposed to channel smugglers into areas where they're easier to catch. He calls the wall a valuable tool.

"It'll slow them down. It's making an impact," Milian said. "Basically, what we're trying to do is just protect the American public and the people."

Some members of border law enforcement say there's more drug smuggling now than before the wall was built, leading them to question the wall's effectiveness.

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), also a former presidential and gubernatorial candidate, says the fence is only effect in areas where double fencing has been installed - which he says is only 33 miles.

"Where we've got that, we've found it to be pretty darn effective," Tancredo said, adding that the other 700 miles of fencing "is not effective whatsoever."

Drug seizures along the border are unprecedented. In the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector, which stretches just 200 miles, agents have seized a record 1 million pounds of marijuana this fiscal year.

Fred Burton is a former state department special agent, who now works in Austin, Texas as a vice president of STRATFOR, a private think tank that monitors global threats.

Burton is also the author of two books, "GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent" and "Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice."

Burton says the cartels take full advantage of the smuggling routes from the border into Colorado, and that drug trafficking is common along Interstate 25 and other interstates.

"Marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth is flowing through that very lucrative Mexican supply chain and ending up in the streets of Denver," Burton said. "It's much closer to your home than you realize."

Burton says the cultivation of medical marijuana in Colorado has done little to hurt the illegal pot trade.

"As you look at this from the medical marijuana perspective, it's really a drop in the bucket," Burton said.

The drug business is worth an estimated $25 to $30 billion a year. Most of that cash goes south, along with many of the weapons cartels are using to equip their private armies.

"The bulk of the stolen firearms in the United States are bound for Mexico," Burton said.

The FBI and DEA say they recently broke up a terror plot devised in Mexico and backed by Iran. Homeland Security documents show an Iranian American wanted to hire the Zeta drug cartel to carry out bomb attacks in Washington.

Burton and other analysts at STRATFOR feel it is unlikely that a Mexican cartel would actually agree to carry out a terror attack, because it the profits would not outweigh the risk of government retribution.

However, Burton does acknowledge the threat of terrorists entering the U.S. from Mexico.

"We have pushed the terrorist groups back to predominately the southern border," Burton said.

In 2010, Border Patrol agents caught illegal immigrants from 73 countries - including some known to be state sponsors of terrorism.

"The main threat is we're trying to prevent [is] terrorism," Milian said.

Sigifredo Gonzalez Junior is the sheriff of Zapata County, Texas, a place he calls "the front line."

"America does not really know what happens on the border. It is wide open," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez pointed to an uptick in violence incidents against border law enforcement, an indication the drug cartels have become more desperate.

"Three border patrol agents getting killed, one of them getting repeatedly run over. One of them repeatedly shot," Gonzalez said.

The U.S. government spent $3.1 billion between 2005 and 2009 to fight drug traffickers in Latin America, only to see drug smuggling increase, along with the power of the cartels.

As part of our week-long 9Wants to Know series "Battle on the Border," 9NEWS hosted a debate Tuesday on some of the major issues facing the border and Colorado.

Tancredo squared off with Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Director Julien Ross.

9NEWS reporter Will Ripley moderated the discussion, which touched on topics such as the effectiveness and impact of the border fence, border security, United States immigration law, the removal of illegal immigrants, citizenship and amnesty for illegal immigrants, employment of illegal immigrants, E-verify, The DREAM act, and calls for comprehensive immigration reform.

Tuesday's 30-minute debate has been condensed to just more than nine minutes for 9NEWS.com viewers. The full debate will be available online later this year to coincide with a 9NEWS special report. Portions of this debate will also appear during various 9NEWS newscasts.

On Sunday, our 9NEWS "Battle on the Border" investigation began with a look at Mexican cartels operating in Colorado.

On Monday, we profiled an illegal immigrant who was being sent back to Mexico and promised to cross the border illegally again.

On Tuesday, 9Wants to Know brought you exclusive undercover video of a Colorado drug ranch taken down by federal law enforcement.

On Thursday, we visit a rancher who lives north of the border but feels his property is a battleground in the fight against smugglers.

And on Friday, you will hear why the family of a Colorado man killed in Mexico says the U.S. government has blood on its hands.

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