At border, uptick in illegal crossings

The extra 20 agents assigned here after the terror attacks helped out by wandering through the maze of waiting cars, tipping off customs inspectors at the booths when they saw something suspicious. But those agents have now returned to their real jobs, and the gain against illegal entries is slipping - still down 30 to 60 percent from the previous year, but not the 80 percent drop seen in the last months of 2001.

Illegal immigrants and those who smuggle them are close observers of the Border Patrol's daily routine. "They know when the shifts change or when we have low staff, so they flood they system," says Ms. Mack. The ploy: Send in so many cars of illegals that all agents are deployed in their capture, or so that detainees fill the holding facility. Subsequent cars loaded with illegal immigrants simply pass the border unscathed.

Smugglers chalk it up to the cost of doing business, says Adele Fasano, San Diego district director for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), parent agency of the Border Patrol.

The Border Patrol has some new, high-tech arrows in its quiver, however. Cameras check license-plate numbers on waiting cars, alerting inspectors if drivers are wanted for crimes in California or other states. Pedestrians crossing the border now must pass through metal detectors and have parcels X-rayed, similar to procedures at airports. Each is checked by a US agent.

One reason the wait at the checkpoint is shorter now is a nod to complaints of trans-border students and business people, who say the tight security was strangling local businesses. "The very long lines make my life a hardship," says Angela Gomez, a teacher who lives in Tijuana but teaches across the border. She says she sometimes stands in line for two hours - each way.

While lanes are jammed at the legal entry point, the border to the east has become increasingly difficult to pass. A ride with the Border Patrol tells the story: Stadium-style lights shine over a 50- to 100-yard-wide stretch of land separating two fences, now running inland for several miles. The first prevents vehicles from getting through. The second - a metal mesh that allows no grip - halts those trying to cross on foot. "Since 9/11, we've seen very little activity out here," says the Border Patrol's Ben Bauman.

Chief Veal says the Border Patrol's long-term strategy is to copy the approach of Operation Gatekeeper: Deploy high numbers of agents to a target border area, then gradually reduce the number after they win control of that territory. The new emphasis, he says, is on the US-Canada border.

Although no major new funding was slated for border security after Sept. 11, INS and Border Patrol officials say they're encouraged by the attention from Washington. Attorney General John Ashcroft recently toured the southern border, as has Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R) of Wisconsin, a key House committee chairman. "We are seeing the support of Congress and the administration in ways not seen before," says Veal. "That is a watershed event in itself."

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