Thread: Border duty an eye-opener for National Guard troops

http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2060343

Border duty an eye-opener for National Guard troops
By MICHELLE TAN
August 30, 2006
NOGALES, Ariz. — Immigration is hard to ignore here.
For many residents, Mexico lies almost literally in their back yards.
Shoppers cross into the United States from Mexico in a steady stream looking for deals on shoes, clothes and toys. Lines at vehicle checkpoints are long and slow.

And all day and night, Border Patrol agents in green uniforms chase illegal crossers through thick brush and unforgiving terrain.

“We’ve been dealing with this since 1924,” said Gustavo Soto, a supervisory Border Patrol agent who’s been on the job for 10 years.

The difference now is that there are about 6,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen scattered along the U.S.-Mexico border to help.

Just like in other border towns, teams of four Guardsmen dot the hills here, scanning the mountains and valleys for illegal activity. The soldiers and airmen, armed with rifles and binoculars and clad in body armor, alert Border Patrol agents to what they see, and the hunt begins.

“Living here in Arizona you see a lot of migrants coming across,” said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Newlin, of the 258th Engineer Company in Phoenix. “These people will save money all their lives for one chance on that border run.”

Newlin is the noncommissioned officer in charge of a road construction project conducted by the 258th’s Detachment 1. The road runs parallel to the fence that separates the two countries near downtown Nogales, and the mission to build it is the 258th’s two-week annual training on a hot afternoon in late August.

President Bush in May announced an initiative to send up to 6,000 National Guard members to the Southwest border for two years. Many soldiers serving along the Arizona border said they were surprised at the number of people who try to jump the fence into the United States.

“CNN and all the major media keep reporting that it’s not a big deal and it doesn’t happen in our back yard,” said Capt. Brian Watson, of the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Stanton, Va. “I got down here and realized it’s a major problem.”

Watson is in charge of the Virginia Guard’s entry identification teams in Tucson and Ajo.

“We’ve effectively shut down this valley to any major foot traffic and vehicle traffic,” he said. “As for the people who’re trying to make a better life for themselves, I can understand that, but they’re starting their life here with a commission of a crime.”

Watson said his time in Arizona has erased his indifference to illegal immigration. “Now I think there needs to be more national attention to this,” he said.

Spc. Ross Booth, of the 29th Infantry Division in Richmond, Va., said he’s amazed that so many people will risk their lives to live in America.

“They’re that desperate,” he said. “They have nothing left that they’re willing to risk it. I can’t blame them, but they need to go through the proper channels.”

Booth mans an entry identification team in Sasabe, a small, remote town west of Nogales. The area is so desolate that Booth and his teammates have to hike a quarter-mile up a steep hill to get to their post.

Pfc. Aram Christopher, of the 183rd Cavalry in Norfolk, Va., mans a more central entry identification site, right at the edge of downtown Nogales.

“I’m very surprised at the number of crossers, especially in broad daylight,” he said. “If it really was that bad out there I’d probably do the same thing and jump in broad daylight, but I’m not in their situation so I don’t know.”

The soldiers on duty in Arizona expressed appreciation for the area’s Border Patrol agents. Agents have even provided some of Watson’s soldiers with thermal sights and radios.

“We’re making their job easier so it’s in their best interest to make our job easier and they’ve done that in spades,” Watson said.

The Border Patrol returned the compliment.

“The National Guard has proven to be more than what we expected,” Soto said. “They routinely spot illegal aliens [and] since the Guard first deployed here we’ve seen incremental drops in entries.”

Illegal immigration may not be a new issue, but it remains a difficult issue, Soto said.

“We must know who’s coming into the country,” he said. “We cannot have open borders. There are a lot of economic immigrants, but we have a lot of criminals, too.”

The Tucson sector

• Is one of the Border Patrol’s nine sectors along the Southwest border.

• Encompasses 262 linear miles.

• Has fewer than 20 miles of permanent fence. Marked, in many areas, only by barbed wire.

• Has 2,400 to 2,500 agents assigned, including 500 at largest station in Nogales.

• Agents have apprehended more than 350,000 illegal crossers so far this fiscal year.

• Agents have seized more than 596,000 pounds of marijuana so far this fiscal year.

Source: Customs and Border Protection

Maybe President Bush has inadvertenly caused something good to happen to our side in this illegal immigration debate. Our National Guard are now seeing what we have been seeing, now their eyes are wide open to what is happening in their country. Some of these Guardsmen need to be questioned and interviewed by Lou Dobbs as to what they see happening on our borders and now these same Guard can go home and tell their own families what is happening and keep spreading the word! Thank you Bush for helping our side a little bit .

“CNN and all the major media keep reporting that it’s not a big deal and it doesn’t happen in our back yard,” said Capt. Brian Watson, of the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Stanton, Va. “I got down here and realized it’s a major problem.”

Says much about the credibility of the main stream media.

The soldiers and airmen, armed with rifles and binoculars and clad in body armor, alert Border Patrol agents to what they see, and the hunt begins.

Glad that they are armed. I thought that many of the troops were NOT armed?