Thanks....

Blogwise.com has reviewed Border Watch and added it to their site.
To this we say thanks.

That is only the half of it......

Scott Johnson has a typical media column about the border in Newsweek International. It is a broad view of the border and border problems. A 50 percent article dealing with only half of the land border, once again failing to acknowledge Northern border issues.

Mr. Johnson correctly recognizes the present system of immigration enforcement is not working. He dances around the issue of Congress, but in truth, that is where the problem resides. Do they really want enforcement, have they ever? Who will pick the crops or work manual labor, surely no one related to them. Guest worker programs have worked in the past (The Bracero Program 1942-1964) and they can be effective again. To deny the need is foolish or ignorant.

He properly raises the issue of the shoot-out in Nuevo Laredo, which by the way ended on one of the bridges into the United States. Bullets from assault rifles (real assault rifles, as opposed to the media definition-black guns) flying into the port of entry. Ports of entry, where we station Officers, give them a badge, a gun, a vest, but don't think they deserve law enforcement retirement. Where as previously stated, trainees can be in their sixties or older, and often are.

What he fails to recognize is the 4 Canadian Mounties killed during a raid on a BC (British Columbia) bud operation (Canadian marijuana) and the increase in violence on the Northern border. The leaky Northern border where OTMs (other than Mexicans) are being smuggled into the country daily, and not to perform manual labor. The same border, where the union representing Canadian border agencies is continually raising the issue of arming their Officers.
The same border where Lucia Garofalo attempted to smuggle in Algerians. Garofalo, linked to people and groups commiting terrorist acts. Yes, the same border where Customs Officers interdicted Algerian terrorist Ahmed Ressam with over 100 lbs. of explosives. This, as opposed to the dubious intelligence about the Mara Salvatrucha group smuggling in terrrorists. Mara Salvatrucha, the group whose leader was recently apprehended by U.S. Border Officers, as usual doing the job.

So explain to me again, why does the media continue to focus on the "The Border War" down south, when there is a northern front?

Minimizing the threat.....

I read with interest an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the story of illegal immigrants being smuggled into the US. Two men drive across the border at a remote port of entry, noting some discrepancies, the port Officers contact Border Patrol to follow the vehicle as it leaves. As so often happens, the Officer's instincts were correct. Soon after, Border Patrol stops the vehicle and finds seven illegal immigrants.

A typical story on the Southern border, seven illegals crossing to find work in the fields, or maybe move to the big city and get a job working construction..... An everyday occurrence, right? Coyotes moving human contraband. Except one thing, it happened in Lynden, WA, not on the Southern border. Two Canadian men smuggling illegal aliens, but not Mexicans wanting to find a job, but illegals from India and Pakistan. Pakistan, yes that same Pakistan that trained and harbored terrorists. The same Pakistan that provided nuclear secrets and technology to those we seek to prevent from harming our country.

And what of our two "Canadian Coyotes", described in the article as not knowing the seriousness of their crime, and only receiving $750.00 each to smuggle the illegal aliens. They will receive no jail time, as they apologized for their actions, saying they had learned their lesson and of course, they will never do it again.

Can you honestly equate the threat of terrorists from Canada with that of laborers from Mexico?
Can you honestly say that coyotes from the South would have been described in such endearing terms? Minimizing the threat shows a lack of proper perspective from the author of the article.
It does, however, show the vigilance and teamwork of the border agencies.

How serious can they be????

Officers who work the border carry a weapon, wear body armor, display a badge, and carry credentials authorizing arrests for violations of federal laws. For years if you wanted to see the who's who of narcotics interdiction and arrests, you didn't look at the DEA, FBI, or the Marshall Service; you went to the border agencies. That doesn't even cover the millions of dollars seized leaving the country by these same officers.

In order to succeed at the above, sometimes you have to fight someone who doesn't want to be arrested. You might have to crawl under a vehicle or on top of a container, or belly crawl to the front wall. You might have to chase someone, conduct a vehicle extraction, arrest a murderer or in the case of Port Angeles stop, pursue, and catch a terrorist. You might have to enter the hold of a ship after stowaways, or board a ship alone in the middle of the night.

As the focus has moved to the interdiction of terrorists and preventing weapons of mass destruction from entering the country, the question arises.... how serious can they be?

How serious can they be when they continue to hire people in their sixties and yes even older? How serious can they be when candidates for employment couldn't even pass muster with some security agencies? How serious can they be when they hire someone you wouldn't even consider to be a night watchman at your business? How serious can they be when they threaten discipline for failing to greet those entering the country with a smile and hearty greeting, rather than steely eyed vigilance and matter of fact professionalism? How serious can they be when they continue to depend on high tech gadgetry instead of utilizing these tools while cracking more containers? How serious can they be when they fail to provide incentives to keep the young officers they do hire from leaving to other higher paying jobs with better retirement systems at other agencies?

How serious can they really be?