So are we actually shutting down the virtual fence, or are we just using a different method of creating a virtual fence? I also want to highlight another ongoing saga involving drones and a call for troops. In Texas, governor Perry has been fighting to get more drones and more troops on the border in order to stop the spill over of violence, and has met a lot of resistance from the feds on this.
Over the last year, this has been more political than anything, seeing how Perry is Republican and the Administration and Congress is mostly Democrat. Increasing border security activities goes against any kind of immigration reform or amnesty initiatives, because it sends a mixed message to the U.S. citizenry. The narrative is this– ‘Do we want to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border so we can stop them from killing Americans or bringing over drugs/supporting the cartels, or do we want them coming over and giving them a free pass so we can get cheap labor? I side on the idea that people should come to my country legally, and go through the same process that all immigrants have gone through who have come to the US. Why the Mexican immigrant is a special case, is beyond me. Especially when drug cartels are taking advantage of these immigrants and a weak border, and flooding my country with their drugs.
But back to border security. As soon as Americans die, either on the border or on either side of that border, I think politics tends to go out the window, and reality sets in. The attack on diplomats and the astronomical increase in deaths across the border in places like Juarez, have presented a reality where border security might start getting the attention it needs. Our use of drones will probably increase along the border, as will our assistance to the Mexican government in stopping the cartels. American deaths are game changers, and those acts will only put the war back into the ‘drug war’. The bitter irony is American deaths have already been high do to drug overdoses or drug related crimes in the US. I guess it takes killings on the border to really drive home the point.-Matt
——————————————————————
Drones silently patrol U.S. borders
By Ed Lavandera
March 12, 2010
Fort Huachuca, Arizona (CNN) — It’s a frigid, dark night in the mountainous border region of southeast Arizona. A group of 31 suspected illegal immigrants are walking up and down rocky ridges toward Tucson, Arizona. They’re wearing small backpacks and stop to rest every few minutes.
This isn’t a scene unfolding before the eyes of Border Patrol agents on the ground. It comes from a video image provided by a Predator B unmanned aircraft 19,000 feet overhead. In fact, the nearest Border Patrol agents are far away.
Jerry Kersey is the Customs and Border Protection agent in charge of this night’s Predator mission. He and his two-man crew relay the information to Border Patrol agents from a small trailer 40 miles from the scene.
Kersey directs the agents on the ground, who are wearing night-vision goggles.
“Stop! Stop! They’re to your right,” Kersey firmly dictates over a radio transmission. “They must see you. The group is running.”