BajaNomad

Why don't US Border Patrol turkeys man up the SY border xing?????????????

mtgoat666 - 4-29-2011 at 06:11 PM

The Border patrol is sitting in desert watching the fence rust, fighting boredom, napping on the job, while nomads site in 3 hour wait at SY border xing. It ain't right!!!!!!! Where is Duncan "nepotism" Hunter when we need him????????
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Plunge in border crossings leaves agents fighting boredom

LA Times, Sunday, April 24, 2011

SAN LUIS, Ariz. ---- The border fence ran right in front of Jeff Byerly's post, a straight line of steel that stretched beyond town and deep into the desert. As a U.S. Border Patrol agent on America's front line, Byerly's job was to stop anyone from scaling the barrier. Hours into his midnight shift, his stare was still fixed, but all was quiet.

He pounded energy drinks. He walked around his government vehicle. On the other side of the fence, the bars in the Mexican town of San Luis Rio Colorado closed, and only the sound of a passing car broke the silence. Byerly, 31, switched on his DVD player. Minutes later, a supervisor knocked on the window: The slapstick comedy "Johnny English" was on; Byerly was fast asleep.

Wild foot chases and dust-swirling car pursuits may be the adrenaline-pumping stuff of recruitment efforts, but agents on the U.S.-Mexico border these days have to deal with a more mundane occupational reality: the boredom of guarding a frontier where illegal crossings have dipped to record low levels.

Porous corridors along the 2,000-mile border do remain, mostly in the Tucson area, requiring constant vigilance. But beefed-up enforcement and the job-killing effects of the great recession have combined to reduce the flood of immigrants in many former hot spots to a trickle.

Apprehensions along the Southwest border overall dropped from 2000 to 2010, from 1.6 million to 448,000, and almost every region has lonely posts where agents sit for hours staring at the barrier, watching the "fence rust" as some put it.

"When the traffic stops ... of course it's going to be difficult for the agents to stay interested," said Supervisory Agent Ken Quillin, from the agency's Yuma, Ariz., sector. "I understand guys have a tough time staying awake. ... They didn't join the Border Patrol to sit on an X," Quillin added, using the slang term for line watch duty.

To stay alert, agents are encouraged to walk around or take coffee breaks. Some agents play video games on their mobile phones or read books. There are agents known as "felony sleepers" who intend to slumber ---- bringing pillows or parking in remote areas ---- but most dozers are victims of monotony who nod off despite their best efforts to stay awake.

In the agency's San Diego sector, where apprehensions are at their lowest since the early 1970s, a supervisor last year was caught dozing in his parked vehicle by a television news crew. In the agency's busiest region near Tucson, agents have been left glassy-eyed amid a steep drop in activity. "When you go from 700,000 arrests in a sector to 100,000 ... of course boredom is going to settle in," said Brandon Judd, president of the local Border Patrol agents' union, using approximate apprehension figures.

BajaBlanca - 4-29-2011 at 07:02 PM

they really should head over to SY ..... wait time is just ridiculous ...

BajaGringo - 4-29-2011 at 07:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mtgoat666
Apprehensions along the Southwest border overall dropped from 2000 to 2010, from 1.6 million to 448,000, and almost every region has lonely posts where agents sit for hours staring at the barrier, watching the "fence rust" as some put it.


If apprehensions are indeed down over 70% over the last 10 years, I would be willing to bet that (attempted) crossings are down a lot more. The agents have a lot more tools at their disposal today they can use to monitor and catch the border crossers.

Probably a combination of enhanced enforcement and simply too few jobs awaiting them today, even if they can make it through...



[Edited on 4-30-2011 by BajaGringo]

DENNIS - 4-29-2011 at 08:18 PM

Why would anyone want to cross with unemployment as high as it is? That must have something to do with the drop in traffic.


ooooops...Ron just said that. Oh well......

[Edited on 4-30-2011 by DENNIS]

bajario - 4-30-2011 at 07:24 AM

They didn't mention any discipline for sleeping on the job. Like it's ok to nap since the counts are down. Get the number from 700k to 0 then play your video games. Who pays there salary?

wilderone - 4-30-2011 at 07:41 AM

There should be better supervision - change the stations, shorter watches, different perimeter checks. Bozos. There were 60 pangas used for illegal immigration or drug smuggling that landed on San Diego County's beaches since October 2010. While they're sleeping at the fence in San Luis, AZ, there's nobody in other places.

flyfishinPam - 4-30-2011 at 09:46 AM

Jeff Byerly needs to be fired if he indeed sleeping on the job. And if he's bored with his career direction he should choose another. No matter what the job, the employers do not pay employees to sleep.

Efficient Utilization of Resources

MrBillM - 4-30-2011 at 10:47 AM

Pull them out of the Desert to centralized nearby locations.

Replace with (mostly Non-Lethal) Land Mines, either Flash-Bangs or Permanent Dye-Markers (or both) with RF reporting capabilities for dispatch.

Worth a try.

baja829 - 4-30-2011 at 12:08 PM

BY FRANKLY M:
Yes. high unemployment-less blue collar jobs to go after, it doesn't take Milton F. to figure that one out! Under utilized Border Patrol-good Idea of shifting some to expand the Ports of Entry and cut the needless long waits. The other use of personnel; keep going after employers that are still employing them-tho-this measure is heavily politically protective of big employers e.g. AgraProcessor-Iowa, the biggest raid roundup-but how much were they specifically fined for illegal hires?? Care to guess?? Higher tech methods to detect-better than even "non-lethal land mines" Land mines- becomes a slippery slope mentality for a civilized country. Or was this (land mines) a joke? Here's a joke (maybe) countermove: have the supply of drugs going into the USA laced with ExLax..we will get to know who is more than full of it in all those right places!

No Joke

MrBillM - 4-30-2011 at 01:55 PM

A few years back, there was an inventor attempting to interest the Government in a semi-permanent dye he had developed along with a "mine" type of delivery system. The permanence-cycle of the dye was something like 72 hours after which it could be removed. The thinking was that those covered in the stuff who came in contact with others would attract the attention of Law Enforcement. I thought that it was an excellent idea and still do, however, I believe it could be taken even further as I noted. While I don't know how the practical application would work out, I think it would be worth a Pilot Project.

Given the current economic situation, it's not likely that we really need something like this, but once the economy picks up, the crossings will increase again.

Our biggest challenge right now is apprehending those already here and moving them out. Nothing much is being done in that area either.

Loretana - 4-30-2011 at 02:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM

Our biggest challenge right now is apprehending those already here and moving them out. Nothing much is being done in that area either.


Some of the bigger Nursery operations here in Oregon have been rousted by Immigration & Customs Enforcement.

Immigration calls and notifies the employers that a "raid" will be taking place. ICE knows beforehand how many employees are using fake ID's, from the previous payroll quarterly report. (The Nursery owners usually just accept the fake social security cards, tax the wages and report and pay the Fed.)

They line up the Mexican employees (who are now terrified) and make them turn over the fake ID's and social security cards. Then they tell them all to leave. No panic, no chase scene, no deportations.

Then it's back to business as usual. I've never seen Mexican agricultural workers deported from Oregon. :rolleyes:

Marc - 4-30-2011 at 02:49 PM

The longest I have ever had to wait crossing back at Lukeville, Az (Sonorita) was three cars. Kinda got spoiled.

[Edited on 4-30-2011 by Marc]

surfdoc - 4-30-2011 at 03:07 PM

You have 2 gates at Tecate, what 5 or 6 at Otay and I believe 22 at SY.
These can only handle 1 car at a time, why would putting more manpower at the point of entry cut down on wait time ???

Your only going thru as fast as the given amount of lanes allows.

DENNIS - 4-30-2011 at 03:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by surfdoc
You have 2 gates at Tecate, what 5 or 6 at Otay and I believe 22 at SY.
These can only handle 1 car at a time, why would putting more manpower at the point of entry cut down on wait time ???

Your only going thru as fast as the given amount of lanes allows.



Let it go, Doc. You're reasoning with those who are incapable of doing that.

FAA?

Bajahowodd - 4-30-2011 at 04:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by flyfishinPam
Jeff Byerly needs to be fired if he indeed sleeping on the job. And if he's bored with his career direction he should choose another. No matter what the job, the employers do not pay employees to sleep.


Just seems to me that sleeping air trafic controllers present a far greater risk to society in general than some guy in a jeep along the border fence in the desert.

Interesting to me that all the numbers cited about decreases in apprehensions and crossers comes at a time when the US economy is in the toilet.

Fact is that we are witnessing a jobless recovery because the big corporations are indeed adding jobs, but those jobes are overseas.

Lack of jobs NOB just means that there are just so many menial opportunities, such as landscapers.

I predict that there will be no meaningful comprehensive immigration reform until such time, if it ever comes, that there is a shortage of low paying jobs NOB.

bajaguy - 4-30-2011 at 05:01 PM

A Border Patrol Agent taking a nap in a Jeep along the fence could lead to a permanent nap.......

ELINVESTIG8R - 5-1-2011 at 10:08 AM

If you have a beef with our border protection agents walk up to one and give them a piece of your mind. Go ahead!

wessongroup - 5-1-2011 at 10:48 AM

Guess I've and/or we have really been lucky... have never had a bad crossing ever.. (not talking about the traffic prior to SENTRI) WOW such a deal

Ken Cooke - 5-1-2011 at 12:20 PM

The Mrs. and I waited 2 1/2 hrs. at 11 p.m. last night in San Ysidro while there were only 150 cars in each line to cross the border. There were 4 lanes under maintenance/construction, though.

mtgoat666 - 5-1-2011 at 12:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ELINVESTIG8R
If you have a beef with our border protection agents walk up to one and give them a piece of your mind. Go ahead!


I will. But they are asleep more often than not, so I doubt they will hear me.

The Gull - 5-1-2011 at 05:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DENNIS
Quote:
Originally posted by surfdoc
You have 2 gates at Tecate, what 5 or 6 at Otay and I believe 22 at SY.
These can only handle 1 car at a time, why would putting more manpower at the point of entry cut down on wait time ???

Your only going thru as fast as the given amount of lanes allows.

Let it go, Doc. You're reasoning with those who are incapable of doing that.


Amen to that, Dennis.

flyfishinPam - 5-1-2011 at 06:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ELINVESTIG8R
If you have a beef with our border protection agents walk up to one and give them a piece of your mind. Go ahead!


should I wake him up first?

ELINVESTIG8R - 5-1-2011 at 07:17 PM

I didn't think so!