JackelopeBreeder

Buenos nachos, muchachos. I’m sitting here laughing my fanny off.

It seems the United States was blessed with yet another visit from Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez. As is his wont, he continues to bray like a jackass about a guest worker program and legalization of every illegal Mexican in our country. So I’ll address this insane screed to Don Luis personally:

Thanks Luis – I really needed the laughs. I’m beginning to like you in a strange way. You’re totally silly, but you almost write my material for me. I can sit here and guzzle Virgin Islands rum and type at random while the spell checker corrects my somewhat impaired typing.

You just might get that guest worker program you want in a couple of years, but only after we gringos slam the border shut to anything but acceptable legal traffic. No more mojados; no more narcotrafficantes. As a high ranking government official you might want to consider self-imposed exile in a country several time zones away; the natives will be getting restless and the gentlemen in the drug cartels may not have much further use for you other than as an “example”. Let’s be honest, Señor Derbez. Your oil revenues, tourist industry, and remittances from illegal Mexicans in my country combined do not quite manage to match the revenues generated by your drug cartels. If you can’t keep the border open, you’re a burnt tortilla.

Perhaps I digress too far.

Let’s say that a couple of years from now the United States decides that it does in fact need some sort of guest worker program. Is there any reason at all why we should show your country any sort of preferential treatment over the other nations on this globe? I most emphatically think not. What have you done for us lately? (Sound of crickets chirping while I await an answer.)

Let’s imagine that in the year 2009 we need 1,000,000 guest workers. In the interests of international fairness and political correctness, those openings should be open to all – pro-rated in accordance with their percentage of the world’s population. With the world population currently running at something just over six billion, Mexico’s share of the pie is about 1.5%. So tell me Don Luis, who makes up the 15,000 you are allowed to send to El Norte?

I await a reply, but I’m not holding my breath.

Sincerely, JackelopeBreeder (Cazamigrante by choice.)

Buenos nachos, muchachos. It has been a fun weekend and it ain’t over yet.

For the past few days Las Vegas Minutemen Pat Moore and Rodney Heiselman have been visiting Cochise County, Arizona for a close up look at the current situation on the border. Pat and Rod probably got far more of an orientation trip than they originally planned – definitely more than most Minutemen have received in the past.

Upon arrival they were asked to assist with a joint Minuteman – American Border Patrol technology and tactics demonstration. Both quickly volunteered and saw aspects of the border usually limited to local residents. To make their trip even more memorable, the French TV documentary crew that has been following the Minuteman Project since April was also in town again and both gentlemen learned the joys of wearing a wireless microphone while their every word and action was recorded on videotape for posterity. Pat and Rodney proved to be most admirable spokesmen for the Minutemen.

The technology and tactics demonstration was a simple proposition. American Border Patrol had just completed installation of some new upgrades to their Border Hawk M surveillance aircraft. Testing of the new capabilities was needed, along with a tactical demonstration of how fast ground assets could be moved to exploit what was seen by the airborne systems. The Minutemen provided the “boots on the ground”.

The fun began Friday night with a trip to the border fence just west of the San Pedro River to give the video crew an orientation. This produced some very bizarre video footage in infrared and I hope it makes it into the final cut of the documentary. No moon, just starlight; a few stunted ghostly-looking trees, the barbed wire strands of the border fence, and one of the border monuments – a squat obelisk looking like it had been transported from ancient Egypt.

An hour later, a coyote scout got a bit careless with a flashlight. He suddenly found himself standing in the warm glow of a two million candlepower spotlight with the sound of a pair of American Border Patrol’s ATVs roaring into life. I believe he made Olympic record time getting back into Mexico.

Saturday consisted of day and night flights by Border Hawk M. A number of small groups were spotted gathering near the fence, but the highlight of the day mission was the overhead surveillance of a Mexican load vehicle that dumped its passengers at the east banks of the San Pedro River. The Minutemen were able to observe this both on the video feed from the aircraft and with binoculars as the drop off point was less than a mile from our position on the plateau west of the river. The Minutemen escorted the video crew into the area for possible footage, but scanner traffic indicated that the Border Patrol had chased them back into Mexico. Still, we got a nice hike along the San Pedro and eastwards along the border road towards Los Corrales.

(Before someone in leadership throws a conniption, we were unarmed. The San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area is a no gun area so the most lethal implements we had were pocket knives.)

The night mission provided a grim reminder of the more violent aspect of border security. A vehicle crashed the fence west of Naco in a bid to make its way north. Border Hawk, with Glenn Spencer at the controls and Mike King on the thermal imagery system, was able to stay on top of the action and we watched the Border Patrol vector additional vehicles in to make the stop before reaching the highway. The stop was made, but then we heard the call over the scanners for all available backup followed by the code for radio silence. In all likelihood this was a drug runner and he wasn’t feeling cooperative. Our last view of the action was of a small sedan literally surrounded by Border Patrol vehicles and nobody getting out of the sedan. The details may come out in a Border Patrol press release this week – or maybe not.

Pat and Rod head back for Las Vegas this afternoon with stories their fellow Nevada Minutemen may find hard to believe – but it’s all documented on video tape. Local Minutemen will continue to assist the video crew over the next week.