http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4016983

Article Launched: 7/06/2006 12:00 AM

Smuggling, drug-running, violence defines Mexican border: testimony

Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

SAN DIEGO - Narcotics syndicates operating along the southern border are a threat to the security of the United States, and not enough is being done to close the nation's borders to would-be terrorists, government witnesses told U.S. congressional leaders Wednesday.
Photo Gallery: Congressional border hearing in San Diego

Download PDF: Border hearing testimony from T.J. Bonner

The House Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Non-proliferation held the first of several field hearings on border security and terrorism at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station in San Diego.

During testimony, law enforcement agents, researchers and federal officials said they lack the funding, manpower and technology to fully secure the nation's northern and southern borders.

"Drug cartels, smuggling rings and gangs operating on both the Mexico and U.S. sides are increasingly well-equipped and more brazen than ever before in attacking federal, state and local law enforcement officials," said subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, at the opening of the hearing.

"Border Patrol agents are being assaulted in increasing numbers. Some border areas can be accurately described as war zones."

Outside the station, more than 100 people from both sides of the immigration debate stood on the street in protest. Immigrant-rights activists placed 4,000 crosses in a field alongside the road leading to the Border Patrol station, while border enforcement activists waved American flags and held signs asking asked congressional leaders to tighten the borders.

Each cross represented a migrant who died crossing the southern border, said Enrique Morones, president of Border Angels, a non-profit organization that advocates for illegal immigrants crossing into the United States.

"It's very sad that nobody is here speaking for the migrants," Morones said as he placed small white crosses into the ground. "The (lawmakers) don't have their side of the story. It's a terrible thing."

Inside the Border Patrol station, witness testimony focused on the relatively low prosecution rate of smugglers, weapons of mass destruction, and the "catch and release" program that allows illegal immigrants -- including those from nations of special interest -- to be released into the nation on their own recognizance, with a notice to appear in immigration court. The vast majority never show up.

Concerns also were expressed about Mexican military incursions into the U.S. during the past several years. The incursions -- more than 200 since 1996 -- were first reported by the Daily Bulletin in January.

Partisan bickering ate up the first hour of the hearing, as members of the committee debated dueling House and Senate immigration reform bills, leaving limited time for witnesses to testify. The infighting left some witnesses upset and caused restlessness in the audience.

But by the time witnesses were called to testify, audience members -- most of whom were in support of more enforcement -- cheered periodically as lawmakers were called upon to protect the nation's borders.

"I hope this is not a dog and pony show," said Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, after the hearing. Napolitano, whose district includes Pomona, is a member of the subcommittee. "These hearings should not be all talk, but action."

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, said the hearings would serve as a warning to the American public that not enough has been done to secure the U.S. from a future terrorist attack, and that cooperation from the Mexican government is very unlikely.

"My opinion is that we should expect no help from Mexico on this issue," Poe said. "The Mexican government policy is to promote entry into the United States, not stop it. We have to do this on our own, and if we don't, we place the people of our nation at risk. This is not acceptable."

San Diego Border Patrol Chief Darryl Griffen, the first to testify, said lack of uniformity in border states' prosecution of smugglers has made it difficult for Border Patrol agents, who sometimes catch the same illegal immigrants three or four times in the same day.

Guidelines set by district attorney's offices are sometimes too lax, and smugglers take advantage of the ineffectual regulations, he said.

Sheriff Rick Flores of Laredo, Texas, gave passionate testimony about the war raging along the border of his community, spilling over from cartel violence in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Flores, along with sheriffs Lee Baca of Los Angeles County and William Kolender of San Diego, told committee members counties are struggling to pay for catching and jailing illegal immigrants.

The millions of undocumented immigrant crossings put agents at a disadvantage because they cannot focus on their primary mission, which is national security, said TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing more than 10,000 border agents.

"Of course, the lack of conclusive evidence that terrorists have successfully entered the United States in no way proves that they have not done so," Bonner said. "It merely proves that we have not been successful in interdicting any of them. This is hardly something to boast about."

Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol, asserted that the Department of Homeland Security is "broken," and that cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies is all but nonexistent.

Ramirez also testified on the demise of Project Athena -- designed for the Border Patrol to monitor shipping along the U.S. coastline -- as emblematic of the nation's security problems.

"We cannot fight terrorism on the border when the Border Patrol itself is terrorized from within the Department of Homeland Security, coerced into silence and afraid to tell the truth," Ramirez said.

The committee will hold its second hearing in Laredo on Friday.

Video: Sara A. Carter on Rep. Dreier's cablecast

Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8552.