A Mexican border snapshot from someone who knows

The Coronado National Forest shares a 53-mile border with Mexico. In 2010, the average number of illegals crossing through that 53-mile stretch were 35,000 per year, of which Customs and Border Protection (CBP) estimated catching about half. There was no effective barrier.  Most of those they would catch would be ten miles north of the border on or near Interstate 10, which effectively created a 500-square-mile-plus no man's land of public space, unsafe for entry by the general public. The ranchers who had private land within the area had significant security problems and property damage and were concerned about their families' safety. There was considerable evidence of heartbreaking human-trafficking of young women and a lot of drug-smuggling. We know that individuals who were being sent to illegally grow pot on the National Forests across the nation were coming across through this 53-mile stretch of remote border. Many were armed.

 

The illegals who were leading these groups would frequently light brushfires, which the Forest Service fire crews would chase. They were purposely lit as diversions so the illegals could move people without being caught. Any time the Forest Service firefighters responded to wildfires, they had to have armed law enforcement folks accompanying them, because many of those bringing the illegals had assault weapons.

 

Mr. Schiff is a retired Forest Service employee.  He has seen the border firsthand and represented agency law enforcement leadership on Capitol Hill, including developing testimony for hearings on the topic.  He also worked for the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee and heard the personal testimony of ranchers and on-the-ground law enforcement officers.

 

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CAIRCO Note

Links in the above article are to photos taken in 2004 on the border by Fred Elbel, Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform. See DesertInvasion.us