Thread: National Guard does double duty at border

http://khastv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7397

National Guard does double duty at border

By Corinne Hautala Nebraska National Guardsmen have been part of apprehending nearly 700 illegal immigrants since their mission began three months ago along the Arizona– Mexico border.

“I think we should have started years ago, because it is really really bad,” said Sgt. 1st Class Hickman.

“At first I was very shocked,” David Neth said.

Shocked not by the thousands of people trying to enter the country…

“We never really thought of the drug thing until we started to do the border patrol mission,” said Hickman. “All we thought we would do is get people crossing the border and then this drug thing something different that we also got.”

Since National Guardsmen began supporting the border patrol agents in June, over 37,000 pounds of marijuana have been stopped from entering the U.S.

The Nebraska National Guard has helped in seizing 2,558 pounds of it averaging to about 750 pounds of marijuana a month since they joined the mission in August. They have caught hundreds of smugglers coming across with truckloads of drugs at a time.

“Vehicles can drive up across, drop off their load whether it is people or drugs someone else comes in and picks it up either with a vehicle or packing it out on backpacks,” said CWO3 Daniel Hill.

The backpacks can weigh anywhere from 25–50 pounds and patrolmen say it is full of nothing but marijuana.

On one patrol a suspicious vehicle caught their eye when the driver sped up to the border and when they flew overhead they turned around.

“They are smart about the way they do it so it tends to happen quick and a lot of time they do not go very far,” Hill said.

This southeast region of the state is a popular spot for drug trafficking. That is because it is just minutes away from the border.

“There are people that help. That is how they make their money.

You have trails that lead right to the back of villages,” Hill said.

If the drug smugglers are spotted before they can get that far, they do not give up easily often dispersing throughout the region.

“If it is people who are UDA's - undocumented aliens - there gonna more often just stop moving and hide,” said Hill. “Where as the coyotes, the smugglers, the drug people they are a lot bolder and tend to know the area and are a lot more confident they feel more comfortable busting out and being alone in the desert.”

When pounds of drugs are prevented from coming into the country, it is a different sense of accomplishment than normal for the member of the Nebraska National Guard.

“Illegals are a big concern but the main focus is on the illegals that are repeat offenders and drug smugglers which people really take pride in themselves is catching the dope loads and the bad people,” said Neth.

I think we should require ever newly elected politician to go and spend a month along the border, and tag along w/ the Guard and the BP to see how bad it really is. Maybe that would open their eyes.