Category Archives: homeland security

Camping Near a Battle Zone

About five AM yesterday, both Mary and I were wakened by a muffled thumping. I thought it might be some wild pigs messing with our propane grill so Mary yelled out the window while I got some shoes on and put the leash on Penny, who was barking and trying to get out the door. Mary said, “I think something’s hung up,” since the noise was so steady.

Flashlight in hand. I cautiously went out to the yard, just in time to hear a loud explosion in the distance. “They’re fighting over in Mexico,” I said as we listened to a major gun battle going on across the lake. Lots of large guns. 20-second bursts of assault rifle type shooting – it was eerie. The shooting went on for about a half an hour.

We are only a mile or two from the border, which goes right down Falcon Lake. The nearby city is more like five or ten miles away.

Our next door camping family is a local Hispanic couple and their kids here for the weekend. I saw him in the morning and oh yes, they heard it. He wAs wondering for a while if they were safe. He told me that he used to take his daughter over to a dentist for her braces, but stopped that about four years ago.

The park staff here is all Hispanic and none of them cross the border. Their concern is that they might be mistaken for the wrong person.

Earlier this week, about 50 at-risk kids were here on an outing run by the sheriff’s department. They rode bikes, went fishing, had two meals and a great time. Several of the adults with the group talked with a friend of mine and described some of their environment: nearly every day, parts of bodies are deposited on the Laredo bridge, the result of the drug wars. About half the kids were orphans, many having lost family in violence.

We don’t need to go to the mid-east to encounter terrorism and kids caught in war zones. It’s right here along the Rio Grande. Yesterday morning’s gun battle, whatever the reason, was just another reminder.

Note: the campground and U.S. side is very safe and at no time have we felt nervous about our safety.

Are We Secure Yet?

It is still disconcerting, after many trips to the Southwest, to take the dog for a walk and see, up over the tree line, a tethered surveillance balloon. Often it is miles away but I still always am tempted to wave. Here’s one not far from here that was on the ground, probably because of forecast high winds.

We had a presentation this week by a young Border Patrol agent who told us that these came from duty in Iraq, complete with bullet holes, but were very effective, especially at night, for spotting people and drugs. They still are eerie – your binoculars catch them when you look for birds – they are just silent reminders of border issues.

So, during the question period I asked him why, with all the high tech gear (balloons, helps, drones, sensors) why there were still so many agents dragging tires along fence lines like this:

He told that “cutting sign” is still there most effective system because drug traffickers know how to use the blind spots – the washes and arroyos – and it also , by studying footprints in the smoothed-out dirt, gives the BP a good count of “got acrossers.”

The resources deployed here are unbelievable – and that’s just what we can see. I talked about this in a [post last year.](http://www.vtbirder.com/homeland-security/)

Of course, former Governor Perry, after a snit over Federal troops, is responsible for hundreds of State Troopers stationed here. In a forty mile drive, it is not uncommon to see 40 patrol cars, usually parked along the highway, sometimes stopping a vehicle. The troopers have to be bored to tears – it looks like they are sitting in their air-conditioned vehicles playing games on their cell phones. Texans, white ones, think it’s a great program from side conversations that I hear but stay out of.

So, two weeks ago, some friend were down on the river at Salenino, a birding hotspot, when they look about a half mile upriver to see six men with bales of marijuana strapped to their backs, wading the river. John, our neighbor, aimed his big camera at them and got some shots that were amazing. Most of us thought it was rather unwise – it’s not the mules you worry about – it’s the guys on each bank running the operation.

We learned yesterday that unlike lower in the Valley where crystal meth is coming across in all sorts of containers and vehicles, here the main drug smuggled is still marijuana. This is the #1 district for the Border Patrol for narcotics in the country. Last year they seized 393,000 pounds.

It does make one wonder about the cost-benefit of going after a drug that is like alcohol in the Prohibition days. But as our young speaker told us with a grin: “Drugs and illegal immigrants: that’s my job security.”

Homeland Security

Traveling along the Rio Grande Valley, you soon get used to the ubiquitous Green & White Border Patrol vehicles – SUV’s galore, helicopters, boats, balloons, and probably drones and other less visible systems.

The first time down here, it took us a bit to wonder about all the dirt roads along fence lines, until we saw tires being dragged (like in this shot by CBP Photography) to freshen up the dirt to show any fresh tracks later on. [As a taxpayer, I do wonder how many Federal employees across the country are being paid to drag tires mile after mile every day.]

The other item that spooked us when we first saw them a few years back are the tethered balloons that just hang there, like big brother watching, likely filled with infra-red and other camera gear. It’s just a constant, sort of creepy reminder, that we are close to the border. Here’s one we saw just west of Mission.

The state park where we are staying, Falcon Lake, has a reputation for being a trouble spot. A guy was shot on the lake by Mexican drug guys a few years ago and even two nights ago, there was gunfire, including automatic weapons, on the Mexican side. We never heard it but I think Penny did. The border runs right down the center of the lake and this side is fine. No one in their right mind drives into Mexico these days. Here are a couple of warning signs here in the park.

Seeing the list of agencies on this second sign reminded me of an incident the last time we were here. I was hooking up the Airstream when a Fish & Game truck pulled up and this young lithe guy with wrap-around sunglasses asked whether we were heading back to Vermont. I learned that he had attended and taught at Norwich University and we talked hockey and Vermont and then I noticed the assault rifle in his truck.

When I remarked about his firepower (he had a Klock pistol on the hip) he opened his truck doors to show me dozens of clips of ammo and all sorts of armor and weaponry. I said, "You aren’t after guys with short trout, are you?" He told me that all his work is drug stuff – that they worked with Texas Rangers, DEA, Border Patrol etc and that they had the fastest boats on the lake. His background was 20 years in Special Forces. Nice guy – glad he’s on our side.

Last week, we were quietly birding in the county park when a flotilla of ATV’s showed up – they were Border Patrol guys either training or just cruising. I deciding pointing a camera at them was not smart so I grabbed this shot from CBP Photography

Later, I did (standing behind a tree) shoot this photo of Border Patrol guys cruising up the river. There were three and they didn’t help the birding.

Border security is a complex subject and an extremely costly proposal. So many Winter Texans remember the days, not long ago, when you could just cross into Mexico for a little dinner or shopping.
But we get constant reminders, from the Green & White patrols to the reports of gunfire five miles away, that our country’s insatiable demand for drugs makes those days a distant memory. Fortunately, the birds still cross back and forth with impunity. Gracias!