As Border Security tightens up,
smugglers hit the water
Thursday, October 15, 2009
By Carl Braun
Examiner.com
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CBP "Go Fast" boats intercept human & drug smugglers.
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Since 2005, the US Border Patrol has nearly tripled in size and with additional people and technological assets in place, it is becoming more difficult for those that want to cross illegally into the US. While the border between the US and Mexico gets increasingly more secure, human and drug smugglers are adapting to keep the flow of illegal commerce moving in a northerly direction. They are becoming quite adept at crossing the Blue Border, the thousands of miles of coastline adjacent our international neighbors. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine have known this for years but mission critical support has been redirected to the mountains and deserts and perhaps deservedly so. Pressure on the Blue Border was miniscule in comparison but important nonetheless. Occasionally the Coast Guard or CBP would find a boat abandoned on the shores of San Diego after it had successfully deposited dozens of illegal aliens or human mules carrying backpacks full of drugs. Even more frequently the authorities now are interdicting these wannabe invaders many miles off shore. Recently though, with pressure on the physical border mounting, the Blue Border has become a route of last resort. Traffic has picked up considerably.
Typically, rickety boats loaded to the gunwales with sea sick illegal aliens headed north under cover of darkness and at a predetermined time steer east toward shore. Once a haphazard process it has now become a very sophisticated operation with night vision, thermal vision, satellite phones and speedboats helping to guide the cargo to predetermined locations deemed “safe” by land bound spotters.
Just this week, in a 24 hour period, 3 attempts were intercepted by authorities and arrests made. Fifteen people and 35 bundles of Marijuana were seized off Leucadia Beach, fourteen more illegal aliens were caught in Mission Bay and two men stopped and arrested off of LaJolla after dropping a load of people in Carlsbad . In fact arrests have been made more than 70 miles north of the Mexican border. Boats, running with lights off hit the beach, unload their cargo and are heading back to Mexico all in a couple of minutes. Vans waiting nearby whisk the passengers off in the early morning to a neighborhood near you. While no one can be certain just how often this is happening, anecdotal evidence left behind suggests it is a far bigger problem than previously thought.
Federal authorities are working on a joint task force to address the issue. The citizen is the number one source of intelligence on illegal activities and this is no exception. Residents observing possible illegal or suspicious activity on the water or beaches are urged to report it to the Coast Guards America’s Waterway Watch Program at 877-24 WATCH or contact the Coast Guard on Marine Channel 16.
Carl Braun is an analyst for the Homeland Security Policy Institute Group and he's logged 5,000-plus hours on the border. He has written several books including his most recent on Border Insecurity, “Above All Else”
. Contact Carl at Carl.Braun@BPAUX.org.
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For further information please refer to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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