Thread: Wild West days of San Diego border now a memory

Wild West days of San Diego border now a memory
By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press Writer
News Fuze
Article Launched:07/13/2007 03:11:28 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO—Not so long ago, so many illegal immigrants huddled daily on U.S. soil just over the border from Mexico that vendors would show up to hawk tamales and tacos. Border Patrol agents watched from a distance, figuring it made more sense to wait for the immigrants to approach them than to chase them in the shrub-covered canyons and hills.
"We gave up a section of the border," said John Mulvey, who began working the five-mile stretch from the Pacific Ocean to Interstate 5 in 1978 and now works as an investigator for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As night fell, groups of dozens, sometimes hundreds, would dash farther into the U.S. With only about five agents assigned to a five-mile stretch, the Border Patrol was overwhelmed.

Jim Swanson, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor, remembers stopping a vehicle with about 10 suspected illegal immigrants in the late 1980s after the driver tried to speed away. As he waited for backup, he watched crowds race past him on the street.

"There were groups of 25, 15, 10 running by me and there wasn't anything I could do," he said.

A Border Patrol helicopter pilot who shined a light into the area would report spotting up to 2,000 people running into San Diego's urban sprawl at once, Swanson said.

Agents had to decide which group looked most promising and ignore the rest.

"We knew there were hundreds of people on either side of us but there wasn't much we could do," Swanson said. "We'd have to pick our spots."

A crackdown that started in 1994 brought more agents, fencing and lighting, pushing migrants east to Arizona deserts and dramatically reducing illegal crossings in San Diego.

Now smaller groups of migrants camp on the Mexican side of the border, waiting for their moment to scamper past the Border Patrol cruisers. Some look for other ways to enter the U.S.

More are attempting to swim across the border in the ocean or crawl through crude tunnels, said Raleigh Leonard, supervisor of the Border Patrol's Imperial Beach station. Others target cross-border storm drains, using Freon to crack underground metal grates that separate the U.S. and Mexico.

Agents arrest about 40 people a month who pretend to be mountain bikers, some wearing Lycra pants to fool agents, Leonard said.

It's a far different scene from the wild days of the 1980s and early 1990s.

"It was a war zone," said Leonard, who began patrolling the area in 1991. "Some (agents) consider them the good old times, some call them bad times. I remember them fondly."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6369113

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:36 pm Post subject: Wild West days of San Diego border now a memory

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wild West days of San Diego border now a memory
By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press Writer
News Fuze
Article Launched:07/13/2007 03:11:28 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO—Not so long ago, so many illegal immigrants huddled daily on U.S. soil just over the border from Mexico that vendors would show up to hawk tamales and tacos. Border Patrol agents watched from a distance, figuring it made more sense to wait for the immigrants to approach them than to chase them in the shrub-covered canyons and hills.
"We gave up a section of the border," said John Mulvey, who began working the five-mile stretch from the Pacific Ocean to Interstate 5 in 1978 and now works as an investigator for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As night fell, groups of dozens, sometimes hundreds, would dash farther into the U.S. With only about five agents assigned to a five-mile stretch, the Border Patrol was overwhelmed.

Jim Swanson, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor, remembers stopping a vehicle with about 10 suspected illegal immigrants in the late 1980s after the driver tried to speed away. As he waited for backup, he watched crowds race past him on the street.

"There were groups of 25, 15, 10 running by me and there wasn't anything I could do," he said.

A Border Patrol helicopter pilot who shined a light into the area would report spotting up to 2,000 people running into San Diego's urban sprawl at once, Swanson said.

And this went on night after night, week after week, month after month, and year after year. And NOBODY in a position of power did anything to stop it.