Posted on 04/04/2005 12:44:34 PM PDT by Crackingham
Volunteers who have converged on the Mexican border to watch for illegal immigrants are disrupting U.S. Border Patrol operations by unwittingly tripping sensors that alert agents to possible intruders, an agency spokesman complained Monday. Scores of participants in the Minuteman Project began assembling late last week and planned to begin regular patrols on Monday, in an exercise some law enforcement authorities and civil rights groups fear will result in vigilante violence. Many of the volunteers were recruited over the Internet, and some planned to be armed. Over the past few days, they have set off sensors, forcing agents to respond to false alarms, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jose Maheda.
"Every sensor has to be addressed," Maheda said. "It's taken away from our normal operations."
The volunteers planned to start fanning out Monday across 23 miles of the San Pedro Valley to watch the border and report any illegal activity to federal agents. The idea, according to project organizers, is partly to draw attention to problems on the Arizona-Mexico border, considered the most porous stretch of the 2,000-mile southern border. Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants caught by the Border Patrol last year, 51 percent crossed into the country at the Arizona border.
Jim Coniglio of Tucson, who plans to patrol with other volunteers this week, said residents in some areas of the border have complained of being "overrun routinely" by migrants. "They're feeling insecure," he said.
The Border Patrol opposes the operation. "The possibility for something going drastically wrong is very high," Maheda said.
Oh yeah. They pay a lot of attention to those.
Hey Border Patrol, sthu and do your freakin' job.
Is the border patrol vehemently against it, or rather, is it the press
I wonder how many coyotes and rattlesnakes trip those?
LOL! Their normal operations probably included ignoring tripped sensors. Now they can't do that because of media exposure.
In other words, "We have to leave our card game go out in the field!"
I know this is an unfair comment, but I just can't get excited about these sensors which don't seem to stop the illegals in the first place.
Whose problem is that? We're allowed to walk around where ever we want. It's not a military base.
It's funny, a couple of hundred VOLUNTEER, LEGAL members of our society goes and tries to make a meaningful impact and they're a nuisance because they tripped some sensors.
Yet, a couple of MILLION ILLEGALS cross the border and 1) they didn't trip the sensors and 2) the border patrol did nothing to stop the MILLIONS.
Looks like they might actually have to go do their job. God forbid.
So what! If the Border Patrol has been ignoring these remote alarms whenever they've been tripped before by illegal immigrants, they can just continue to ignore them now that they're being tripped by the Minutemen. At least the Minutemen will spot and track these illegals routinely, which hasn't been done before. And they'll hold the feet of the Border Patrol to the fire to make them act on these illegals, finally. What's the problem?
Are these sensors on private property?
I think the guys in the field are all for the undocumented agents. It's the higher ups that officially oppose them.
Funny that 4000 per day couldn't trip their sensors, but 100 or so "vigilantes" can upset their applecart.
aaaaawww, and would the BP like some cheese with that whine?
quit moaning and round-em-up!
at least the MM have brought enough attention to the border problems that both GWB & Vicente Fox have placed more "uniforms" on the border! HELLO?
Actually, about 30 years ago I worked for a company that built airborne night vision equipment. We made a call on US Border Patrol headquarters to show how our stuff could help them. Even then they estimated about 3 million illegals were entering each year. But they had no money to buy our equipment because they had spent their entire hardware budget on leftover seismic sensors built for the Ho Chi Minh trail. Yeah, they knew all about coyotes (4 legged) and armadillos along that stretch of border. So many alarms the system was completely swamped.
Kinda like the car alarm screaming outside right now...
USELESS!
"Every sensor wakes us up. It's interrupted our normal naptime".
This Maheda comes across poorly. He sounds just like the left wingers warning about all kinds of ridiculous stuff when he states, "The possibility for something going drastically wrong is very high,".
Is Maheda a union rep?
"Funny that 4000 per day couldn't trip their sensors, but 100 or so "vigilantes" can upset their applecart.
"
I had the same thought.
"Funny that 4000 per day couldn't trip their sensors, but 100 or so "vigilantes" can upset their applecart."
I wish I could hear him respond to your statement.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
The Border Patrol should just arrest everyone tripping a sensor.
I suppose their warning light was actually blinking instead of a constant "on".
Its on, off, on, off is very distracting, don'tcha know...;-)
Why start something new?
"Well, you see this here "ON" light? It means it's a workin'. If it blinks, we've got a prollem. Get it?"
(Sen. Jack Harper, R)
"I don't know why people think the United States Constitution applies to illegal aliens," he said.
"What part of 'illegal' don't we understand?" he asked.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1373464/posts
Why is the border patrol complaining about tripped sensors? Seems like they never cared when illegal border crossers tripped them.
Just who is Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jose Maheda,a spokesman?,a Supervisor? hmmm?
Ah, the irony of it all.
Why complain about the sensors being tripped when you never respond to find out who tripped them?
Living in Arizona we know those sensors (if they really exist in any meaningful density, color me dubious) are going off more than a Gap store customer counting chime at the local mall...during a sale.
I think we have the problem clearly identified. Whose fault is it if the BP can't tell the difference between illegals and the minutemen? I would like to see the Border Patrol welcome these guys and take the opportunity to work with them with some guidance and coordination. The BP could turn them into a human version of more advanced "sensors"...think of the progress they'd make! But, then again...that makes too much sense. Better to keep both sides uninformed, and with that pigheaded position truly increase the chances for something really terrible to happen.
I wonder how much this system of sensors costs? Who monitors the sensors......A.D.T?
Howzabout scrapping the gizmos and building an Israeli style wall instead?
Omniscient ping.
You don't get it, do you..
Your "normal operations" are NOT working and Americans are fed up with the results. That's why the Minuteman Project is on the border, calling attention to that fact, and demanding better money, resources, and equipment for the Border Patrol. Stop complaining that your business as usual is being disrupted because business as usual isn't cutting it!
L
LoL.....
Thats rich...
That's the whole idea, you blockhead! Your 'normal operations' have resulted in the largest uncontested foreign invasion in the history of the world! No ... the solar system! No ... the galaxy!
If responding to tripped sensors is not part of your normal operations, then please explain what your normal operations are... it certainly has nothing to do with stopping the illegals, or else these "vigilantes wouldn't be there in the first place. I'm sure the BP has a in-depth job description for every station. Please post them so we, the American people can more understand your "normal operations"
Maheda?
Is he an American?
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
- LOL! Their normal operations probably included ignoring tripped sensors. Now they can't do that because of media exposure.-
Bingo!
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