National Guard Assists in High-Tech Border Surveillance

Left: Banks of Rio Grande form a wilderness border between Mexico and Texas.

Avoiding patches of thorny blackbrush, Texas National Guard Spc. Chris Tucker slithers along the banks of the Rio Grande and spots his quarry -- a pair of illegal immigrants who just stepped on U.S. soil. He keeps his binoculars trained on the intruders while directing Border Patrol agents by radio.

"It's not as high-speed as it was in Iraq, but I think we're really helping out," said Tucker, 23.

Tucker is among 300 soldiers who volunteered for the active-duty assignment in the Rio Grande Valley sector of the Texas-Mexico border, where 1,398 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents monitor 320 miles of the Rio Grande, patrol 250 miles of coastal water and make more than 100,000 apprehensions a year in 19 counties.

In addition to that sector, there are about 1,200 Texas National Guardsmen spread out in four other geographic areas of the Texas-Mexico border, Guard spokesman Col. William Meehan said. The deployments are typically one-year assignments.

In May, President Bush ordered National Guard troops to bolster the Border Patrol's numbers as it waits for 6,000 newly authorized agents to be trained.

The soldiers, some armed for defensive purposes, are not allowed to make arrests, and for legal reasons they cannot process detainees.

Instead, the troops answer phones, work as observers, monitor video surveillance and motion-sensor equipment, and help with other tasks. Their presence has enabled hundreds of border agents to "hit the bush," said Lynne Underdown, chief patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley sector.

"They are definitely helping us close the gaps," Underdown said. "With the National Guard here, our agents can focus on one mission -- securing the border."

Because the Border Patrol relies heavily on technology such as surveillance cameras and movement sensors, National Guard troops are mostly operating that equipment and directing agents to make arrests.

The high-tech security net is expected to get a $2.5 billion overhaul to help the undermanned Homeland Security Department deal with breaches in the U.S.-Mexico border. The Bush administration is expected to choose a company this month to handle the contract.

Cpl. Joe Rodriguez sits behind a computer screen waiting for a flashing alert -- a signal that one of the hundreds of buried electronic sensors has been triggered somewhere along the border. His job is to direct Border Patrol agents in the field, who once sat inside the air-conditioned room in the Harlingen Station headquarters, to the location of the breach.

For Rodriguez, a 43-year-old chaplain's assistant, the drudgery is outweighed by the chance to serve his country at home. He recently returned to South Texas from a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.

"I won't miss out on a lot of stuff with my daughter's school or other activities she has going," he said. "It seems real cushy here. But I learned that a lot of border agents get bounties put on their heads."

Growing up and living in the Rio Grande Valley, Staff Sgt. Mike Vasquez understands the plight of illegal immigrants, some of whom work in the local agricultural fields and return to Mexico.

"Locally, you know what the situation is on the ground," said Vasquez, 43, a tank repairman who spends his days watching a row of 20 television screens linked to surveillance cameras along the border.

A sensor alert provides Vasquez a geographic location that corresponds to a numbered camera. Using a joystick, he can remotely zoom the camera to search for illegal immigrants. When one is spotted, he radios a border agent in the field.

Avoiding deployment to the Middle East, preventing terrorists from entering the country and getting active-duty pay are some reasons the guardsmen say they volunteered for the border assignment.