Shedding light on boundaries

‘Border Wars’ producer visits UTPA students

By Roxann Garcia
Published: Thursday, April 21, 2011
Updated: Thursday, April 21, 2011 14:04

BORDERLINE - Nick Stein producer of National Geographic's seies "Border Wars" speaks to a group of UTPA students Wednesday afternoon in the library auditoriu. They are currently filming episodes for the series along the border.

Nick Stein says he has likely spent almost 75 percent of the last two years away from his home in California.

A series producer for the hit show "Border Wars" on the National Geographic channel, he and Border Patrol agent Henry Mendiola visited a group of communication students on campus Wednesday afternoon in the Library Auditorium.

With the National Geographic headquarters located in Washington and the television channel offices' based in New York, much of the "Border Wars" crew spends considerable time away from their homes in Los Angeles, and along the 2,000-mile long U.S.-Mexico border.

Now in its third season, 12 episodes deep and counting, the hit show follows agents and officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection as they enforce U.S. regulations including immigration and drug laws.

"Border Wars is really the first show to ever get embedded with these types of law enforcement and capture these incredible moments," Stein said. "We're very lucky to get a seat at the table."

Stein along with Mendiola, who is from the CBP Office of Public Affairs and Community Outreach, acknowledged the danger they face when intercepting illegal entrants out in the rural terrain.

This is especially true considering current crisis conditions on the border. It is not uncommon for agents to come across drug smugglers along the border, often young teens. Many drug cartels will single out young people to get the job done for them because the U.S. system is less likely to convict a minor, Stein said.

Many aspects of the job have changed, Mendiola acknowledged, from the increased number of agents, technology now used to track aliens, to the an even more evident danger factor.

Mendiola recalled that when he first joined the Border Patrol in 1998, there were only 4,000 agents nationwide. Now there are nearly 17,000. On top of that technology has also changed. Sensors are now lined up underground and arrayed in unique patterns in heavy areas.

"So much of their success is based on sensor activation," Stein said of the agency's apprehensions. "They're set up in certain patterns so you can figure out where or which direction someone attempting to cross is going."

This is where the film crew and agents "lay in" or stake the scene out, which requires time and patience.

During one shoot Stein recalls an active interview with an agent by the name of Lopez in Nogales, Ariz. Before long the crew heard gunshots over their heads and quickly realized the gravity of the situation.

In his 40 years in the media business as a writer, film editor and producer, the closest Stein has come to staring death in the eye happened recently in Nogales when he and the crew spun uncontrollably in a Huey helicopter between steep canyon walls.

"There were nine or 10 folks on the run below and we wanted to get someone on the ground to get a shot of the Huey landing so we ask the pilot if he can do this," Stein recalled. "He says, ‘no problem!' Then before we know it we have something called LTE, loss of tail effectiveness. We've got no place to go except for somewhere bad!"

This didn't stop Stein and the gang from getting their shot, however. Soon after, they landed and immediately began filming and assessing the situation. There was no time to think about what just occurred, he stressed.

"Once it was all over we loaded up into the helicopter, put on our headphones and then it sunk in," the producer said. "Of course then there were all these jokes about ‘soiling the seeds.'"

Nonetheless both the guests to UTPA Wednesday believe awareness that the show has fostered has only benefited the agents and their families.

"My wife had no idea what I did as far as being out there," Mendiola commented. "Now she knows why I'm cranky, upset or down on a particular day."

During a clip from the show Stein brought along with him to let students watch, a Border Patrol agent expressed a different side most don't get to see.

"A lot of people ask me if I have compassion for these people," the agent said. "But a lot of people mix up compassion and the legal aspects of my job."

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