http://cbs11tv.com/local/local_story_158212451.html

Video Clip at above link and you can watch the report. They actually caught the smugglers and it's in the video.
http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=10421@ktvt.dayport.com

"Drug Smuggling Increasing Along Mexican Border"

Jun 7, 2006 8:21 pm US/Central
Tracy Rowlett
Reporting

(CBS 11 News) SOUTHWEST TEXAS BORDER CBS 11 News spent last week with the border patrol in far southwest Texas and we were told there's been a marked increase in drug smuggling… especially marijuana.

The United States border with Mexico is so easily penetrated that drug smugglers, and undocumented workers, illegally cross over by the thousands.

“This is an area that if we're not here, right on this spot, people utilize this to illegally enter the country,” said Carry Huffman, U.S. Border Patrol.

Once a legal port of entry, a small footbridge near the west Texas town of Candelaria spans the dry bed of the Rio Grande, between Texas and Mexico.

There is a sign warning that the bridge is no longer legal to use, but when the border patrol isn't around, people continue to cross.

Many ask why the bridge hasn’t been torn down. Some of the answers include – folks would just continue to cross anyway, it's on private property, and, believe it or not, protecting the bridge is up to the U.S. Coast Guard.

“The Coast Guard has jurisdiction over navigable waterways. And just cause there's presently no water in the Rio Grande, it is still considered a navigable waterway,” Huffman said.

The sheer size of the U.S. border with Mexico is daunting. Between the two countries 2,000 miles are shared. Hundreds of those miles run through rural areas of Texas, giving the river hundreds of illegal unsecured crossing points.

Where the Rio Grande has dried up, all you have to do is drive across.

CBS 11 News witnessed one truck crossing illegally. The driver is an American citizen hauling alfalfa, but onboard was an illegal immigrant.

Last year, the border patrol says it captured 1.2 million people trying to get into the country illegally.

When you see how easy it is to cross the Rio Grande, you realize that untold thousands did make it into the country… many to work, many smuggling drugs.

The border patrol is increasing its use of sensors, that's what nailed the truck driver CBS 11 News witnessed crossing the border.

With the border patrol seriously outmanned, it's estimated that more than 500,000 people crossed into the U.S. illegally last year, and that figure may be low.


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