Yet another day on the illegal alien trails

17 May 2003 | Luis Martinez/JackelopeBreeder

[JackelopeBreeder]

This was a very strange morning. Instead of the usual checking of trails, I went out with a local Adopt-a-Canyon group to help pick up trash in Hunter Canyon. There are six major canyons south of Sierra Vista, all have been trashed by the high volume of illegal immigrant and drug smuggler traffic.

This is going to sound kind of strange at first, but bear with me, while I fill in the background. In 1973 I was a freshman at University of Arizona. My favorite subject that year was anthropology. Professor Zegura taught physical anthro; Professor Rathje taught cultural anthro. I preferred physical anthro, but was amused by Professor Rathje’s newly started “Garbage Project”. His premise was that you could learn much about a modern culture just by subjecting its garbage to serious perusal and comparing it to the trash from other cultures. Thirty years later the “Garbage Project” is still alive and well – and useful.

It was a very educational morning. We came up with about three truck loads of trash and there is still plenty more out there. Aside from one Heineken bottle and three Bud Light cans, the rest was Mexican label. Most was the typical water bottles, jugs, tuna cans, etc. and the usual third world black plastic bag luggage.

(Also one set of fresh mountain lion tracks; last night may have been interesting for some folks.)

However, we also came up with a couple of dozen nearly new backpacks, a lot of very good quality clothing – most of it clean and some of it brand new – and quite a collection of toiletries and cosmetics. The food trash was also much higher class than what I have found in the past closer to the border. These were not groups of poor campesinos escaping from the bean farm.

Something new has popped up in the last week or so, first in Stump Canyon, now in Hunter Canyon. Airline tickets – lots of airline tickets. These people are flying from Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey or wherever into Hermosillo, which is only 175 miles south of here, then taking the short three-hour bus or taxi ride to their jump off point.

It seems we have two classes of travel. Most of Coach Class comes in between Douglas and the San Pedro River, while most of Business Class takes the scenic route through the canyons.

There is another lesson here. The reason we find this much trash in the canyons is that this is where these people catch their ride – within five miles of the border. There used to be several Border Patrol checkpoints about 35 miles north and the chances of getting caught were much higher. Our local congresscritter, Jim Kolbe, pressured the Border Patrol into closing them all. Travel is now muy convenient.

And now for the lighter side of the news. Allow me to introduce myself under my new name. I am now Luis Martinez, and I have an authentic Mexican birth certificate to prove it. (A twelve year old kid could mass-produce these things on a computer with no problem whatsoever.) A little hair dye and I’m right in character. Any bets on how long it will take me to obtain a matricula consular?

[Sparta]

Buenos Noches Luis.

About how many illegals come across every night?

[JackelopeBreeder]

Hard one to answer; my knowledge is restricted to Cochise County and its 80 miles of border.

It really depends on a number of factors: weather, moonlight, observed activity by the Border Patrol right before sunset, and whether or not the cartels are trying to push drug shipments through.

Best guess for here -- 300 to 2000 per night.

[Sparta]

That's at least 100,000 a year in Cochise County alone. Why hasn't this outrage stopped yet?

[JackelopeBreeder]

It's worse.

Last year the Border Patrol apprehended 156,950 just in this county with only 80 miles of border. Depending on who you ask, that means between 300,000 and 600,000 made it through here and scattered out all over the country. (Our real population is only 120,000.)

Now imagine what it's like along the other 2000+ miles of Mexican border.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Every time I get near the border fence, I make a point of tapping a kidney. Through the fence, aimed south. Guess that counts for an illegal border incursion.

[HiJinx]

You'd best be careful, JB, or you're gonna lose your tallywhacker to some doe-eyed senorita...!

[JackelopeBreeder]

Only if I'm really lucky.

On the other hand, I never got any written complaints.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Oh -- and you get to help with the hair dye job. We'll pretend we're re-bluing a rifle barrel so we don't feel like faggots.

[JackelopeBreeder]

I just tossed the Perma-Blue out in the garage. One more drink and I might be stupid enough to try it.

[c-b 1]

You missed one, there is one in San Luis, Az.

[Missouri]

Allow me to introduce myself under my new name. I am now Luis Martinez,

Why not Luis Gonzales or is that name already taken here on the Free Republic? (Little joke)

BTW, I seen Mr. Spencer of the ABP on The Savage Nation talking about the UAV. Good exposure and presented himself very well. A real hero.

[liberalnot]

the feds could stop that if they wanted to.

meanwhile, they're wasting manpower here in socal with the san onofre and temecula border patrol stops--these are a waste of our time.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Hey, I take what I can get. Senor Martinez was born in a town just southeast of Mexico City with an Aztec name that borrowed its spelling rules from Polish or Welsh. Need to buy some vowels here, folks.

[JackelopeBreeder]

I can't speak for California, but here in Cochise County, Arizona they were highly effective. For an illegal to make a clean get-away he was facing a 35 to 50 mile hike before catching a ride. Now he faces a max of 5 miles.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Any chance you saw us Thursday night on MSNBC? We were feeding live video from the UAV directly into their broadcast.

[Missouri]

No, I missed it thursday night. They did show some footage both on the ground and from the air yesterday. Was that the same ?

[SandRat]

Any bets on how long it will take me to obtain a matricula consular?

Not on your life I know you too well; besides anyone with the $35 can get one.

Come to think of it getting the local radio station to air the names and airlines and then interview you on how easy it was to get the matricula might be a good thing. Spiff might even have the right connections to make sure that happened.

[liberalnot]

i was commenting on the huge amount of trash left by illegals that you reported.

the landscape certainly lends itself to easy detection, especially with the technology we have today.

you'll recall that in the 1980's and early 1990's that the san diego sector was a leaky sieve. mexicans that i knew would laugh at american border patrol efforts. at that time mike reagan was reporting regularly on his national talk show about dairy mart road at night.

but then came the building of metal walls between imperial beach, san ysidro, and otay mesa, and improved border patrols and these mexicans stopped laughing.

then the coyotes shifted their activities to the mountains east of san diego. in the summer nights, rattlesnake bites are common, not to mention dehydration during the days. in the winter, rain in san diego is snow in the mountains. the result is that some illegals have died cold in the winters.

driving the yuma sector at night on i-8 border patrol efforts are most noticeable. as you drive down hill through a wash on the interstate, and the road bends a bit, all of a sudden, surprise! you are in the beam of a border patrol vehicle with its headlights on bright, crossing your path, and illuminating your face.

also, the border patrol and chp efforts on 1-8 west of yuma at night are very obvious. the imperial valley is a high crime area. just after i entered california from yuma recently, a chp cruiser pulled up on me at a tremendous speed, the officer riding shotgun trained a light on my license and, from my own police experience while i was in college, i assume transferred my plate to ncic computers.

and, the chp ride herd on truckers. more so imo than other states. you can be going 90 mph but the chp is more interested in the truckers.

i think the san onofre and temecula checkpoints are a waste of manpower. i use both frequently. both at that point out in the country are 8 lane freeways, and the 4 north bound lanes are often backed up for miles. sometimes the border patrol realizes that tempers are brewing, and they call their officers back, and just open the thing up.

congressman daryl issa has requested that the border patrol not stop passenger vehicles at these two points.

[liberalnot]

the area that i was speaking about with the border patrol parked and shining lights on autos on the i-8 is between yuma and casa grande, az, a long open area.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Sorry to say, but the ladscape where I live does not lend itself to easy observation. This is the high desert with plenty of vegetation -- at least by desert standards. It is also criss-crossed with a huge network of arroyos deep enough to hide people and vehicles. It looks fairly flat and wide open at ground level, but it isn't.

Pick a spot at random and stand on it; then walk around and discover that there could easily be 100 illegals or smugglers hidden within 100 yards of that spot. It's more like World War One trench warfare.

It's worse in the canyons -- your vision is often down to about 10 yards.