Technology aids Border Patrol in tracking illegal crossers

Posted: July 30, 2009 10:51 AM CDT

Updated: July 30, 2009 10:51 AM CDT







by BELO Border Bureau Chief Angela Kocherga

EL PASO, Texas -- Fewer illegal immigrants are crossing the border, but drug smuggling has not slowed. So to fight that threat, the Border Patrol is using new high tech tools to track smugglers.

As dusk falls over the desert, smugglers seek the cover of darkness.

"We have agents looking for what appears to be a group of people coming in," said Border Patrol agent Gerardo Mateo over the radio.

These days Border Patrol agents can cover more ground in a shorter period of time, thanks to technology.

"I'm scanning to see if I find them so I can help them," Mateo said. He is using a Mobile Surveillance System, which combines an infrared camera with Doppler radar to track and pinpoint illegal border crossers.

"Lots of time we are able to identify if the group that we're following has some type of narcotics or some type of firearms they're carrying which might be a danger to our agents," Border Patrol agent Joe Perez said.

The reach is 20 miles from where the system is set up each night.

"What we like to say, an angel right behind us," Perez said.

Right now the challenge is to find those people out in the dark before a storm rolls in and a torrential downpour washes away footprints or signs the agents use to find the smugglers. It is common for smugglers, especially backpackers carrying drugs, to try to disguise their footprints.

"Spongers. That's what we call them because they use sponges (attached to their shoes)," Perez said.

But it's not just low-tech any more for high stakes drug smuggling operations.

"We've had reports of them using night vision goggles or of them using some sort of infrared cameras. The counter surveillance is going to be there. But we always have to be or have that step ahead of them," Perez said.

A bird's eye view helps. Perched high on a mesa, an agent uses another new tool. It's a powerful night vision camera, and the agent keeps an eye on the area below patrolled by fellow agents.

It's high tech surveillance that helps secure the border after dark. The Department of Homeland Security has 38 truck-mounted Mobile Surveillance Systems roving the border.



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