Closing off borders


As U.S. spends on gadgets, town finds a fence works fine
October 21, 2007

BY KEVIN G. HALL

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

http://www.freep.com

COLUMBUS, N.M. -- While the Department of Homeland Security invests millions of dollars into an array of high-tech devices to stem the flow of illegal immigration, a low-tech effort appears to be paying off in the town made famous by the most notorious illegal immigrant of all, Pancho Villa.

Apprehensions of narcotics and illegal immigrants on this part of the border are down sharply for 2007, and local law enforcement officials and residents say new vehicle barriers and border fences are responsible.
The success of such low-tech efforts stands out against the difficulties the Department of Homeland Security is having in rolling out its high-tech game plan, which is being showcased in Arizona.

The department has given Boeing Integrated Defense Systems until the end of the year to fix the software problems that have prevented sensors, radars, cameras and mobile units from working together effectively in a project dubbed the "virtual fence."

Taking the low-tech approach, the Border Patrol erected 3 miles of fencing this year around Columbus, where a 1916 raid by Pancho Villa killed 18 Americans. The 15-foot-high metal fence extends west of town by about 2.7 miles and east of town by three-tenths of a mile.

To the west of Columbus, a waist-high, concrete-filled metal vehicle barrier extends beyond the fencing. Border Patrol officials wouldn't disclose how much of the barrier the National Guard constructed.

Fewer crossing

Few politicians envision fencing the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Plans call for just 700 miles of fencing, 370 of that by the end of next year. But the low-tech hardware near the main official border crossings in New Mexico seems to discourage crossings.

"It's like the toothpaste effect. They were squeezing them in Arizona, and now we're pushing them," said Sharon Mitamura, a Luna County sheriff's deputy and border veteran who said she has seen the flow of immigrants drop as immigrants are forced to cross away from inhabited areas.

"A lot of it is desolate desert, and we've had some fatalities, but as far as I can tell, it's made an impression. It's slowed it."

Statistics suggest as much. Border Patrol apprehensions in New Mexico during the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, are down about 44% from the 2006 fiscal year, when there were 73,518 apprehensions of illegal immigrants.

Cocaine seizures by the Border Patrol have dropped from 1,175 pounds in 2006 to 408 pounds this year through Aug. 31.

Working out the kinks

The high-tech tools against illegal immigration are being tested on a 28-mile stretch of the border near Tucson, Ariz., and around El Paso, Texas.

The $20-million project has fallen four months behind schedule because its remote-operated cameras, sensors and computers have had difficulty coping with moisture, distinguishing people from animals or wind and assembling their information in a single picture.

Boeing said it has solved most of the problems.

"I think there's disappointment about how it was overly optimistic on how long it would take up-front," said Brad Benson, a Washington spokesman for the Border Patrol's high-tech Secure Border Initiative.

"It's not that there's no function; it's the ease of use and is it an effective tool. Once it's seen as effective," it will be used.