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Campo residents reeling from
invasion
By Billie Jo Jannen
The Alpine Sun
CAMPO — The tension in Campo last
Saturday was palpable as residents, deputies, and a noticeably
beefed-up presence by U.S. Border Patrol agents and California
Highway Patrol officers braced for action. An onslaught by
protesters was expected, as they had widely advertised their
intent to "send off" California Minutemen volunteers
on the group's last day on the rural border.
News media, primarily from Mexico and
Los Angeles, wandered around, also waiting for the caravan of
protesters that was supposed to be arriving from Chicano Park.
About 25 deputies — some local and some hailing from other
parts of the county — gathered beside the Campo Substation to
discuss plans. Very much in evidence was the full-sized bus
generally used to transport inmates.
When queried about the giant
"paddy wagon," Campo Sgt. Mike Radovich joked,
"We want everybody out of Campo…the Minutemen…the
media…the protesters…everybody. We want Campo to go back the
way it was."
In fact, the only missing parties, by
the time protesters arrived, were the border watch volunteers
themselves. The group, its tents, and its supplies, were gone.
Campo VFW member Bob Fetters said they had removed to a local
ranch from which they would continue patrols at least through
the weekend.
"They left to avoid bringing any
more trouble to us," Fetters said.
One member of the watch group stayed
behind to ensure that any volunteers arriving to serve the
weekend watch would be directed to the new location — and away
from anyplace that would be potentially occupied by the expected
influx of protesters.
Indeed, about six volunteers did show
up near sundown to join others in standing watch the rest of the weekend.
Only about eight members of the VFW
were at Post 2080 by late afternoon. These few paced, or made
sure their vehicles were safely locked in the post's backyard,
or conversed nervously. They ranged in age from 50-something to
80-something. Their attitudes were a mixture of apprehension and
determination to hold their ground.
Television people were not allowed in:
"We haven’t been treated very well by them,” Fetters
said.
By around 3 p.m., the expected
partygoers were trickling in to swell the ranks of the small
group of protesters who had camped out most of the three weeks.
By then, there were deputies, officers and agents on high points
where they could keep an eye on the community's “visitors.”
Up on the end of Forrest Gate Road,
Radovich pointed to the border monument, located on a rise above
the semi-permanent camp set up by Angeles de Desierto. "Aztlan"
and other slogans were painted on it in pink. A smattering of
students from L.A. made their way up the hill and said they were
there on a classroom assignment to do an objective study of
sociological interactions.
Asked if they planned to include
objective observations about the plight of border residents in
their studies, they were momentarily speechless. A pretty young
girl finally ventured that their assignment only included
interaction between Minutemen and the protesters. Asked if that
meant they would be observing, rather than marching with
protesters, she was again silent, then said, "Well, only in
the back."
A number of deputies parked their
patrol cars along the front of the VFW to create a defensive
line. Their stated intent was to keep the protesters at a safer
distance than had been achieved on July 16, when the protesters
and Minutemen took the stage for the first day of Jim Chase's
border watch action. At that time, there had been clashes that
could have resulted in injuries and the protesters mobbed the
VFW building right up to the steps before deputies stopped them.
"We're not going to be taken
unawares again," Radovich said. He said deputies planned to
stay as needed to prevent incidents.
Deputies insisted that VFW members stay
strictly inside the building.
As before, protesters shouted
anti-racist slogans, called the building nasty names, and called
on VFW members to get out of town.
They then spent the evening having a
fiesta to celebrate the “departure” of the Minutemen. Events
included posting the names of would-be border crossers who had
died after Operation Gatekeeper.
The VFW has received some criticism from community members who
were disrupted by protesters over the course of the week,
Fetters said, but some supported it, as well. In fact, there were
residents among the Minutemen and one man was impressed enough
to buy dinner for the whole Minutemen group the night before
their “departure,” Fetters said.
With mixed reviews coming in from the
community, several members said they could have done without the
protesters calling too. Those calls included a threat to blow up
the post, Fetters said.
“I think its just awful that they
they are picking on veterans, of all people,” said Minutemen
volunteer Kendall Molino. The Orange County woman, on her third
weekend of volunteering, said she had some hair-raising
encounters of her own, including being shot at in Jacumba.
Fetters said he wished people would
observe the actions of the group before reacting and believes
they are saving lives by their presence. “People haven’t
even seen what they’re doing,” he said. “You couldn’t
ask for a better bunch of people. they were polite,
professional...organized.”
Several members expressed
disappointment that they had not been more supported by the
community and by other VFW posts
Did the three-week watch work?
Whether or not the Minutemen action resulted in more apprehensions than might otherwise have been made, a number of residents north of the border between Campo and Jacumba have commented that they had fewer nights of disrupted sleep after the patrol started. Some have opined that the group prevented crossings just by being there. In response to a report posted Monday on sandiego.indymedia.org, one blogger commented humorously that the border watchers were appreciative of the protestors’ noise and light.
"Glad you had a nice party, and thanks loads for all the help the Buenas Noches Brigade and Angeles de Desierto provided," commented the blogger,
'Camposino.' They were so effective at scaring away illegal immigration that we're discussing making them Honorary Minutemen for all their assistance to our efforts."
The blogger said Minutemen had not left the area, but had only withdrawn from the VFW.
Whether or not anyone’s efforts are working is very difficult to gauge, according to Agent Nicholas Coates of the U.S. Border Patrol.
For many years, officials maintained that the total number of illegal crossing attempts could be estimated from the number of apprehensions. The theory was that, when more people crossed, more people were caught, so falling arrest numbers translated into fewer people trying to come across.
Debate over what percentage of the total crossings the apprehensions made up, however, was the subject of vigorous debate. Many agents, including union officials, contended that it was as little as 10 percent, while the official agency estimate was half or better. Attaching a number to "the ones that got away" was difficult, at best. It still is.
"There’s no way to know how many people came across, or how many would have come across," Coates said. Though hard to quantify, he added, it is reasonable to think they had some effect.
"If you have lower apprehensions, usually it means fewer crossings," Coates said. This number could also be influenced by other factors, including the number of people staffing the border. "More agents are a greater deterrent."
That being said, the apprehensions made by the Campo and Boulevard agents for the time period between July 16 and Aug. 7, 2004 was 3,629. For the same time period this year, apprehensions totaled 1,178, or 67 percent fewer than 2004.
The El Cajon station, which covers the rural border west of Campo, arrested 930 people between July 16 and Aug. 7, 2004. For that time period this year, El Cajon totaled 427 arrests, down 54 percent from the year before.
There have also been staffing reductions, and these have hit Campo and Boulevard the hardest, according to several rural agents.
Staffing in the San Diego sector of the U.S. Border Patrol has fluctuated wildly over the past decade. Staffing prior to Operation Gatekeeper, about 500 people sectorwide, subsequently reached 2,400 at one point. By 2004, that number had dropped to just under 1,700, Agent Angel Santa Ana told reporters in January 2004.
A field agent said last weekend that sector staff is expected to drop to 1,300 by the end of the year, as agents emigrate to Arizona. Officials have not confirmed this.
The Department of Homeland Security announced a few weeks back that it had received funding for 710 new agent positions nationwide and recruiting efforts have already begun, including web appeals complete with online applications. Unknown is whether more vigorous background checks — to avoid such disasters as the El Cajon agent who was recently found to be an illegal alien — may slow the process.
Former agent Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 28, was caught cooperating with smugglers and investigators found that he had joined the Border Patrol in 2001 by using a fake birth certificate that gave his birthplace as Chicago. Officials said he is a Mexican citizen who was born in Tijuana and is believed to have come over illegally. He pleaded not guilty to charges of migrant smuggling and false claim of citizenship.
The embarrassing revelations were the result of a sloppy background check, according to National Border Patrol Council President T.J. Bonner: "It’s a two-minute phone call to verify whether the number matches the name," said Bonner, a longtime Campo agent.
When queried about Ortiz, Coates said hiring and background checks are the responsibility of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and not that of Customs and Border Protection itself.
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