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Subscribe to RSSThe bloody drug war in Mexico shows no sign of relenting. Neither do calls for tighter border security amid rising fears of spillover violence.
This hardly seems a time the U.S. would be willing to allow people to cross the border legally from Mexico without a customs officer in sight. But in this rugged, remote West Texas terrain where wading across the shallow Rio Grande undetected is all too easy, federal authorities are touting a proposal to open an unmanned port of entry as a security upgrade.
By the spring, kiosks could open up in Big Bend National Park allowing people from the tiny Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen to scan their identity documents and talk to a customs officer in another location, at least 100 miles away.
The crossing, which would be the nation's first such port of entry with Mexico, has sparked opposition from some who see it as counterintuitive in these days of heightened border security. Supporters say the crossing would give the isolated Mexican town long-awaited access to U.S. commerce, improve conservation efforts and be an unlikely target for criminal operations.
"People that want to be engaged in illegal activities along the border, ones that are engaged in those activities now, they're still going to do it," said William Wellman, Big Bend National Park's superintendent. "But you'd have to be a real idiot to pick the only place with security in 300 miles of the border to try to sneak across."
The proposed crossing from Boquillas del Carmen leads to a vast expanse of rolling scrub, cut by sandy-floored canyons and violent volcanic rock outcroppings. The Chihuahuan desert wilderness is home to mountain lions, black bears and roadrunners, sparsely populated by an occasional camper and others visiting the 800,000-acre national park.
Customs and Border Protection, which would run the port of entry, says the proposal is a safe way to allow access to the town's residents, who currently must travel 240 road miles to the nearest legal entry point. It also would allow park visitors to visit the town.
If the crossing is approved, Border Patrol would have eight agents living in the park in addition to the park's 23 law enforcement rangers.
"I think it's actually going to end up making security better," CBP spokesman William Brooks said.
"Once you've crossed you're still not anywhere. You've got a long ways to go and we've got agents who are in the area. We have agents who patrol. We have checkpoints on the paved roads leading away from the park."
A public comment period runs through Dec. 27 on the estimated $2.3 million project, which has support at the highest levels of government from both countries.
But U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican member of the House Homeland Security committee, questioned the wisdom of using resources to make it easier to cross the border.
"We need to use our resources to secure the border rather than making it easier to enter in locations where we already have problems with illegal crossings," McCaul said in an email. "There is more to the oversight of legal entry than checking documents. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) needs to be physically present at every point of entry in order to inspect for contraband, detect suspicious behavior and, if necessary, act on what they encounter."
While CBP will run the port of entry, the National Park Service is the driver behind the project, which it hopes will help conservation efforts on both sides of the border. Even as the National Park Service has increased cooperation with its Mexican counterpart, joint conservation has been limited by the inability of personnel to cross the border without making a circuitous 16-hour drive, Wellman said.
So the National Park Service is building the contact station just above the Rio Grande. It will house CBP kiosks where crossers will scan in their documents and talk to a customs officer in Presidio, the nearest port of entry, or another remote location. Park service employees will staff the station, offering information about the park and guiding people through the process.
Similar ports of entry are already in operation on remote parts of the border with Canada.
"We think we can do this without doing any damage to national security and possibly enhance security along the border by having better intelligence, better communication with people in Mexico," Wellman said.
The crossing would also restore a long-running relationship between the park, its visitors and the residents of Boquillas del Carmen, the town of adobe dwellings set a short distance from the river in Mexico.
For years, U.S. tourists added an international dimension to their park visit by wading or ferrying in a rowboat across the shallow Rio Grande to the town. There they bought handicrafts and tacos, providing much-needed cash in the isolated community.
But US officials discouraged such informal crossings in 2002 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompted calls for tighter border security. Without access to tourists or supplies on the U.S. side, the town of just more than 100 people has seen a 42 percent drop in population from 2000 to 2010.
Gary Martin, who manages the Rio Grande Village store at a nearby park campground, recalls many Mexican residents crossing the river to pick up groceries and other necessities.
"We're their supply," Martin said. "They don't have any electricity over there. So they would come here and buy frozen chicken, cake mixes and things that they couldn't get over there."
Martin tried to stock food items Boquillas del Carmen residents wanted, such as eggs and big sacks of beans.
"After the border closed, well, I got rid of most of my food and went back to gifts because I wasn't making any money," Martin said. He estimated about 40 percent of the store's revenue came from Boquillas residents.
Few have risked crossing to the store since. "If they get caught over here they get shipped off," he said. "They get deported all the way to Ojinaga and then they've got to find their way home. It's not really worth it."
Still, most days some Boquillas del Carmen residents wade across the river a short distance downstream of the old crossing and scramble up to a paved overlook perched high above the river.
On boulders near the parking spots they lay out painted walking sticks, scorpions and roadrunners crafted from copper wire and colorful beads. Each craftsman's work occupies a different rock and operates on the honor system with the hope tourists will drop four or five dollars in their jar.
"Sometimes we don't sell anything," said Boquillas del Carmen resident Guillermo Gonzalez Diaz. "Sometimes we sell one." And other times authorities confiscate everything.
Gonzalez, a 34-year-old father of three, described his town as "very sad, very hard" and said there was no work. Without access to the Rio Grande Village store, residents depend on a bus that runs once a week to Melchor Muzquiz, a larger town about 150 miles away, for supplies.
A small military presence protects the town from the drug-related violence that has engulfed other Mexican border towns. Now with news of the port of entry, residents are already making plans for restaurants and shops, he said.
"When it closed nobody crossed and everything went downhill. People began to leave," he said. "Now people are going to return."
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Obama along with Eric Holder hatched up this hair-brained idea. If the "honor" system worked then illegal criminal aliens would not be sneaking into this country anywhere along the border.
I see a thriving travel business opening up in Mexico. The add would read something like air conditioned ride to a entry point where no one within 100 miles is enforcing the laws. And you will be immediately picked up in another vehicle once you cross into the US. There you will be transported to the city of your choice.
Is it lite at night? Can you knock out the surveillance cameras?
Holder could give out free guns to those entering the US and to those entering Mexico. Everyone would be protected. He could use a guard with a machine gun an one on a hill. Another brilliant idea by our government!
If you have a problem with no one watching the border then I suggest we assign the duty to U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul. Lord knows he's useless in Washington and he seems to have the biggest problem with the idea so let him watch the area.
Stupid ideas like this one are really making me want to cross the border to another country. The US government is made up of probably the dumbest people in this country. Have they no common sense.
Mom, what's stopping you?
why not just give them free air fare into the nation?
mom of three is right when she says our government is made up of some of the dumbest people in the nation. i'd add another adjective, traitorous.
This "Smells" like the handy work of Janet Napoli-Pluto! This is exactly the kind of hair brained, nonsensical, crap I have come to expect from a politician with absolutely NO FRIGGIN idea what she is turning loose on this country. Get the Hell rid of her and anyone in HER administration who supports this brain dead idiotic policy.
I hope all of you friggin politicians read the posts from this article and UNDERSTANDS just what the majority of the American VOTERS/TAXPAYERS/VICTIMS of policies like this EXPECT! Our expectations don't include AN OPEN GOD DAMN BORDER with anyone! Let alone with Mexi-hole and the variety of Butchering, Drug gangs running it. SEAL IT!!!!!
As the expose' on national TV showed us last week, our southern border IS being invaded by these drug running sons-a-bitches by the hour! The videotape provided by the network clearly shows just what trouble we are in and some ass hole wants to have every honest Mexican crossing the border at this area mentioned in the article, "check in at a kiosk" BWAAAAAAAAHAAAHAAAA!
We need, DESPERATELY, to have a clearly written warning delivered to the country of Mexico that starting immediately, we WILL video tape every intrusion into this country; we will fire warning shots as the perpetrators approach our sovereign border; and as the drug running sons-s-bitches step one foot on U.S. soil the order will be given to "SHOOT TO KILL!" It will never be more clearer than that. It IS the ONLY message these filthy scum understands. Their OWN mortality!
Bad idea..a very bad idea to do this!
I'd go for it, if they had this kind of unmanned sentry posts over the other 300 miles.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/weapons/a/metalstorm.htm
With this I agree. They're all sitting on the right side of the aisle in congress.
Instead of opening the border, let's make sure it is air tight! These Dumbama and Dumbamanites' ideas are sick and stupid, but, what do you expect from those morons.
And for you Larry-1234567, or whatever you think you are, the problems are from the other side of the isle, no the other one. Ah well, I tried but he can't be helped!
Bring our troops home, deploy a good amount of them along our Southern Borders, rotate them frequently and all the money we save from not giving to those idiots in Afghanistan and Pakistan - feed our elderly, homeless, and build housing, decent housing, for them.
Yes, only republicans want this gross stupidity costing 2.3 million and accomplishing nothing but giving more housing to border patrol agents in Big Bend. Wow, when it comes to being misinformed, blind and brain dead, nothing beats the liberal mind.
even the dems?
Bashing the left or the right is a waste of time. I'm sure we can think of a million reasons why it would be better if both groups worked together instead of against one another. Can you think of a thousand reasons why certain people wouldn't want this to happen??? Think about, it would be the uniting of the masses and that's a heckuva a lot more powerful than wasting our breath arguing with one another and bitching and whining about the other side. This is from a liberal whose sick and tired of watching us become divided by petty issues such as "he started it, no, she did, she signed the bill, no, he did," and on and on. We're not enemies and we should be able to work out problems in a rational and respectable manner.
I'm not happy about the border, I wonder if there's anything we can do to stop this exploitation of America, along with the Mexicans. Really, what can we do as a people to say that we don't want our borders so vulnerable, regardless of having these type of checkpoints or not. Anyone have any constructive ideas?
Give each resident of the Mexican town 2K to move out. Conduct military training in the area. Lots of forced marches by heavily armed squads. Problem solved.
As a life-long Democrat, have but one comment--- HELL TO THE NO!
hahaha...this Hussein and his boys are about as ignorant and inept as they come...
oh...Larry...these are YOUR boys working this plan...are you sure Bush isn't behind this?...let us know when you get some fresh material...thanks
I used to worry a lot about illegal immigration - not any more. Within a decade or so, there will be no reason for them to want to come here. The USA will be the same third-world crappile they are coming from.
Common sense has completely escaped logic!
Larry-2260635
"With this I agree. They're all sitting on the right side of the aisle in congress."
But it is the left side proposing this.
I had to get a passport just to leave the US, enter Canada, take a bus to a cruise ship and leave Canada for Alaska. And now the Obamas want to let anyone just cross the border in a remote location. That sounds so secure. Watch the druggies flock to that place.
Shannon78
"Bashing the left or the right is a waste of time. I'm sure we can think of a million reasons why it would be better if both groups worked together instead of against one another. Can you think of a thousand reasons why certain people wouldn't want this to happen??? Think about, it would be the uniting of the masses and that's a heckuva a lot more powerful than wasting our breath arguing with one another and bitching and whining about the other side. This is from a liberal whose sick and tired of watching us become divided by petty issues such as "he started it, no, she did, she signed the bill, no, he did," and on and on. We're not enemies and we should be able to work out problems in a rational and respectable manner.
I'm not happy about the border, I wonder if there's anything we can do to stop this exploitation of America, along with the Mexicans. Really, what can we do as a people to say that we don't want our borders so vulnerable, regardless of having these type of checkpoints or not. Anyone have any constructive ideas?"
I am a life long democrat, a JFK democrat. JFK was more conservative than most republicans today. He would have never let the invasion from the south to happen. He cared about America and nearly lost his life fighting for it. He wasn't perfect. No one is. Perfect is not what we need to run the country. What we need is real Americans who uphold the constitution and the laws of America running the country.
Obama is not the one. Neither are most of his chosen ones. They are all doing what they want and using their power to gain and keep control. His administration is a coup that was voted for, and most who voted for it refuse to admit they made a huge mistake, but will be the first to complain when they finally realize it. Too late.
Bush was by far from perfect, but he was a lot more honest than Obama. He started to build a "wall" to protect the border, but Obama stopped that when he got elected. That. in itself, should be enough to let anyone who voted for him know that he doesn't care about protecting America. He wants to destroy America and nearly everything he has done shows that. Bailout after bailout, subsidy after subsidy. And what have we got in less than 3 years? Nothing.
This is probably one of the stupidest ideas ive ever heard. I really could care less about their desire to US commerce. Hell I desire US Commerce! Where are the jobs?
Spades
"This is probably one of the stupidest ideas ive ever heard. I really could care less about their desire to US commerce. Hell I desire US Commerce! Where are the jobs?"
The stupid elected the stupid, wanting frebees for something they never earned. Nearly half pay no federal taxes and the same will vote in anyone who will continue that trend. It was never about the 1% at the top. It is about those who don't want to earn or pay their own way. Once they get to 50%, end of America.
This IS the dumbest thing I have heard off!! They are using drones against Americans!! But want to let drug dealers come and go as they want how PC of them..
Big Bend is in the middle of nowhere. If an illegal crosses here there is nowhere for him/her to go. They would end up dead in two days. The closest town in the US is Marathon, TX about 150 miles from the border. This is a vast inhospitable wasteland where no one could live very long unless they were a fully outfitted expert survivalist. So I wouldn't anticipate hordes of illegals crossing over like a plague of cockroaches. However, given the drug cartels unlimited resources it is not too far of a reach to think that they may use this entry point to further their trade by creating supply caches every 10 miles or so. To me this is a non-issue other than possible drug trafficking issue. This is a natural barrier that should be integrated with a border fence.
Mom of 3, you are one of them.
Hater after hater. None of you have feet on the ground anywhere near here. Ignorant biased comment after comment with no room for any other opinion but your own. Have some faith that he CBP and the park officials gave thought to their recommendations to do this. They deal with this problem daily and have a much better grasp of the realities of the situation than anyone posting here. Our demand for illicit drugs is what is fueling the violence in Mexico, not some ingrained trait of the Mexican people. Listen to Ron Paul and legalize. Take the billions out of the hands of drug cartels and tax the sale like alcohol. Brand new LARGE revenue source that can be used to treat chronic users. Grow it ourselves and create jobs here not across the border.
Well, I've been out of work for over three years due to our government and employers who have used and abused the illegals to the point where wages for the work i do landscape construction ( not lawn mowing) have been cut in half as has all the other trades here its not the mexicans fault its our governments and employers
We don't need to close the boarders we need to uphold the laws we have Reagan promised to stop the illegals after his amnesty but as usual nothing
The bankers have stolen all and anyone that made a live doing construction has lost so maybe put the blame where it belongs
Quit acting racist if you knew that our real problem is with the mexican orgainzations here not the illegals
Oh Well Ain't Sheit goin happen anyway
sven, you might have heard of a new gadget that was recently invented called the "motor carriage" or "automobile", if you like. It is capable of carrying people -- and contraband -- hundreds of miles in mere hours! Fantastical, I know, but true!
Yes, then we should give the crossers amnesty along with free health care!
Got a truck filled with methamphetamine??? Sure! Drive on through! All you have to do is flash your ID badge and you can start poisoning the teenagers of the great state of Texas within a couple hours!
Only the Obama administration could think of something this stupid.
Go ahead on, then.
Why is it that headlines like this one attract so many people with cognitivie disabilities? The proposal is to build an unmanned crossing point where no crossing point now exists, not to replace a manned crossing point with an unmanned one.
Pass sensible immigrtion rules, and everyone will follow the rules. The rules we have now punish those who would do things 'by the book' and reward those who don't.
If you made it a crime to stop at red lights and issued $100 cash rewards to everyone caught speeding, pretty soon no one would stop at red lights and everyone would speed.
And thank God for that! Otherwise we would be living in a totalitarian nightmare that would make the Third Reich and the Soviet Union look like silly theme parks.
Oh and on the Mexican side? In a sad statement regarding border towns, Boquillas del Carmen will double it's population with the influx of 100 sex workers.
They are also the ones whose bosses are promoting this idiotic idea and whose career is advanced by "being a good soldier" and agreeing with it. Ever here of "Fast and Furious"??? Apparently quite a few people agreed that it was a good idea after hearing it from their boss. Again, idiotic.
Why not just replace all of the border checkpoints with kiosks manned by staffers that pass out free foodstamp cards and directions - printed in Spanish, of course - to the nearest social services office and employment center
...we wouldn't want to make it too difficult for any illegal alien to get what they deserve....
Viva La Raza!
When God gave out brains, the person or persons who thought out this idea must have been absent that day.
Mike,
Only someone as stupid as you would try to drive a truck full of amphetamines up through Big Bend. Now that's stupidity at it's highest level. Nor would any illegals trying to sneak in use that route. They're not stupid.
Well, the great conservative intellectuals have spoken. Naturally, the conservative stance is to spend as much of the public tax fund as possible.
Did anyone happen to notice that an 'unmanned', automated crossing is cheaper than building fences? Why worry about cost when the government can 'just print more'? Conservatives love to spend other people's money - especially on boondoggles.
Just to give you something to think about (I know it will be difficult for the conservatives) -- providing a legal means for Mexicans to enter the US to conduct business would improve security along that stretch of the border. Why? Because those wishing to be legal won't want someone to mess up a good thing. Provide the Mexicans an incentive to police the border and they just might improve security.
Nerm_L, why should we provide even the smallest incentive for even more low cost labor to flood into this country? OH I know, Americans won't do THOSE jobs. We'll I bet they would if:
1. They paid more, and they would if there were a shortage of people available or willing to do the work.
2. If we didn't give people $ to sit on their a$$s doing nothing.
This is beyond unbelievably stupid. Am I dreaming this? God I hope so.
@hardtostarboard -- Create a climate where 'legal' Mexicans can find work in their own country - and - Americans will have to do those jobs because the Mexicans won't be here.
It amazes me that 'free market' conservatives cannot see how the marketplace would solve the immigration problem. It amazes me that 'unfettered capitalism' conservatives cannot see that providing the right incentives would encourage the Mexicans to secure the border, too.
But then, it really isn't about illegal immigration. The conservative talking points are only about maintaining 'machismo' - and - using all the tax money they can for a boondoggle.
Bob-3374873,
No offense, you may be sincere, but, I've not heard one democrat call Obama a bigger liar than Bush. I was actually hoping we could avoid that type of response. That is, blaming people that most likely have nothing to do with this proposal just so one can complain. Complaining won't solve the problem and if you're implying that it is Obama's fault, I must ask, then why wasn't the problem solved before he came into office? It's both groups faults and we all know it. Stereotypical response: Liberals are usually more lenient when it comes to illegal immigrants and conservatives are known for exploiting them and avoiding labor laws. Yes, that is a generalization and doesn't apply to every individual, but, the point is there is nothing to be gained from blaming one group over the other- both are to blame, how can We fix it? I've said it before and I'll say it again, we can work together once we stop our pettiness and, sooner or later, I hope we realize there's a lot more power in unity than division.
alsophia theophilos, since you started with the personal insults...only a brainless idiot doesn't know that drug mules on a daily basis try to pass truckloads of drugs through checkpoints known to be manned 24/7 with individuals whose sole purpose is to detect the drugs. To think that these same individuals who take this type of risk every day would not try to pass through an unmanned checkpoint because the drive afterward has too hazarous could only be believed by an insufferable fool who doesn't know what he's talking about.
BTW anyone can easily use Google maps -- by zooming in -- to see what kind of terrain we're talking about. The area in question is along Park Road 12 of Big Bend National Park. Is your premise that trucks couldn't easily pass through the "twists and turns" of that area (some of the flattest and straightest on earth) or that drug runners aren't smart enough to falsely occupy whatever shift of the 8 border agents were on duty while their tons of drugs pass through completely unchallenged.
You are truly an idiot.
Nerm_L, illegal aliens cost Texas and it's localities - alone - billions of dollars every year in services. That doesn't include federal spending on services. A checkpoint manned 24/7 365 by 4 border agents would cost a miniscule fraction of a fraction of that and no checkpoint costs $0. Either don't have it or man it. My guess is that most conservatives on here say don't have it at all.
Mike,
I stick with what I said. Number one, there is no reason in hell for a truck to be pulling into the US interior from Park Rd 12. Any truck with illegal anything taking that route would have to have an idiot driving it. And since you think it is a great possibility for that to occur that kinda puts you into their category.
I stand by my statement.
Mike in SA,
Take a look at satellite imagery of the area. I don't think a motorcycle could make it cross country there.
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I stand by my statement about you being an idiot. The article itself explains the reason why a truck would be driving along 12. Commerce is one of the stated purposes. That doesn't even address your average 3/4 ton pickup truck, Jeep, or car.
And yet multiple times a day they will attempt to drive through border choke points manned 24/7 by people whose profession it is to check every single vehicle in some way with the sole purpose of catch them. But somehow you think that it is more dangerous to them to cross with their cars and trucks with absolutely no choke point. That somehow they are not smart enough to send scouts to alert them as to when it is safe to cross and when it is not. That's just dumb. We already know they do this constantly along the border.
Again I stand by you being an idiot.
svenolafson, Go to Google and type in "Big Bend Texas map" Click on Google's map. Zoom in until you see Park Route 12. Drag the little orange man on top of the zoom bar to Park Route 12 and drop him. Look around. It is a paved freakin' road in the middle of a flat desert. There's not much rough terrain until you get to the other side of Terlingua in the Big Bend state park but that's way out of the area. The national park is mostly desert with a handful of mountains sticking out of the flat ground.
anything new NermL?....yawn
Sheesh, I've been in Big Bend and the surrounding areas, you can drive a four wheel drive through most of it, moutains are there for sure, but the Grand Canyon or the Himalayas it ain't. This is more idiocy courtesy of your Federal Government. Wonder what idiot came up with the idea? Little Mexican town can't get groceries unless they can get into Big Bend? Probably true, but it would be easier to drop the little Mexican town a bunch of food rather than creating this boondoogle. Unmanned border crossing? Hell, most of the Texas/Mexico border is an unmanned border crossing.
Mike,
Even the superintendent of the park agrees with me.
""People that want to be engaged in illegal activities along the border, ones that are engaged in those activities now, they're still going to do it," said William Wellman, Big Bend National Park's superintendent. "But you'd have to be a real idiot to pick the only place with security in 300 miles of the border to try to sneak across."
As far as commerce being one of the reasons, if you read it again you will see it is commerce being made available to the little village, not a commercial trucking route. Now if you want to get nitpicky and call pickups trucks, then this bridge or not will not change anything that's not already happening there.
So I called you an idiot, the park superintendent called you an idiot.
The border and drug agents have a pretty good understanding of what goes on down there. Much more than you or I do, and they think this is a pretty good idea. That in itself should be enough said on the subject.
What you and a lot of the posters are missing in this is that whether it be drugs or illegals, there must be a quick, easy, and safe way to get their goods into mainstream traffic on the interstates. That just isn't what's happening in that isolated area.
alsophia theophilos, underlings also agreed with Fast and Furious to appease their bosses. It was still idiotic and everybody except you, apparently, could see it was idiotic. It also happens on a regular basis, especially in the government. Only now everybody's trying to cover their butts and pass the buck on that one. You apparently think it was a good idea because by God some agent was on board with it...3 years ago. I've also read other versions of this story in which an interviewed shop keeper talked about how before 9/11 happened and they cracked down on border crossings, he was selling 60 dozen eggs a week...and that's just eggs! If things get back to that level, you certainly will see box trucks and other commercial vehicles fairly regularly.
I've been to this 'border crossing' and across the Rio Grande to the tiny, poor, isolated village a 30 minute walk or ten minute burro ride from where the rowboat left us on the Mexican side. There was no power save for a couple of generators which powered the meager lighting at the two small businesses where one could eat tacos, buy curios, or have a drink at the local bar. Were it not for visitors from the Big Bend National Park, this village would wither and die....which it did soon after 9/11.
The level of federal idiocy of closing off this village from the park is unfathomable to any human being who is familiar with the area and those stranded across the river in a village so far from meaningful infrastructure that it deserves to be part of the U.S. The Mexican government cannot do anything for this village because of it's remote location and inaccessibility.
This is not a place for the faint of heart. No one in their right mind would even attempt to traverse this country.
You can't imagine how stupid the negative comments sound to someone who has been there with his family for decades.
It's a good idea and it's not about immigration, security, democrats or republicans. It's just the right thing to do.
It's a place in a big wilderness where one can get away from the small minds in the city.
Did anyone actually read the f**king article here?
sven the people we are talking about were born and raised in the same enviornment. And if there are no good roads how do they expect the tourists to get to their quaint little town? I just don't think it is right for a mexican national to enter my country easier than I can re-enter it if I go there. The US government expects you an American citizen to have a passport or crossing card to re-enter your own country at any port of entry with Mexico. It should not be easier for a foreign national.
1. The two roads out of the park have MANNED checkpoints.
2. It's a two hour drive from Rio Grande Village to those checkpoints. You are not going to walk it. It is desert - no water, rattlesnakes - and a thousand plants with thorns. It's rocky - and once you leave the park area, you are on private property - and the ranchers will shoot you (even if border patrol won't).
3. There's about 1 million acres of park on the Texas side. There's about 1 million on the Mexican side. If no people can visit the Mexican side, it won't be park for long. Eco tourism is what keeps parks open in poor countries.
4. The crossing is mainly for US tourists - the Mexican side is pretty and you can hire pack horses/guides - as well as have campfires.
5. Never did they say they were building a two lane bidge for vehicles. They are not spending enough to pay for that bridge (only $2.3 million) -so I think they will just use the ferries (small johnboats really) like they did for the previous 50 years and then the kiosk will be at the parking lot of the ferry landing.
Do consider that the 2 minute ferry ride saves 8 hours by car to the other side of the river.
I do not like illegals, nor do I like Obama - but whoever will use this checkpoint will be checking in and out of this country. They will leave passport info.
Knowing who is coming or going is better than not knowing.
You have got to be kidding me???? More of Obama's "idea" of giving our country away instead of making us more secure!!!
Do you have a problem with reading comprehension too? There is no one there now so anyone that wants can just wade the river. The idea is to allow those that want to enter legally to do so by scanning their documents. If the Republicans weren't so damn set on cutting taxes for the wealthy maybe there would be some money to pay people to man the crossing.
The subject matter of the article, or any logical reasoning and conversations concerning the article are not the point here. It is just one more platform for these trolls to jump on with their Obama bashing. Read through the posts and see just how many actually deal with the story of the article.
It sounds to me like an excellent idea. The people can cross legally if they have their ID. If they don't, they will be spotted. The network of sensors that are all along the border will only be tripped by the illegal crossings in other places. With the technology we have, security will be a lot easier than you think. A lot better than TSA at the airports. How many locals are there? Not very many faces for a computer to remember. A pedestrian crossing would be the most secure but being so far from anywhere and being such a poor town, there aren't many local vehicles either. Get a life and find something real to complain about.
Larry 2260635:
You hit the nail on the head. I live on the Northern boundry of BBNP. You can cross, however illegally, anywhere along the river. The Boquillas crossing opening will not effect border security. It simply allows people wanting to cross legally a way to do it without having to go to Presidio or Del Rio. If you do not want anyone to know you're crossing, why would you cross at an official point?
Why don't we cut all the border patrol jobs, and install these at all checkpoints?
Unmanned is ok, as long as there is a one mile landmine field and unmanned drones to zap any who cross, to go with it.
Jonh French... logic is wasted on these right wing morons... they're too stupid to understand how the system will work.
You left wing clowns actually believe that people will scan their documents?
mhrjhn, the left were stupid enough to select a moron to be their candidate in 2008. The libs will believe any lame-brain marxist bs sent to them. It would take a fool to vote for Oblama again.
If you don't scan your documents I'm sure they will find out very easily and if you actually read the article there are still going to be quite a lot of people around so it's not going to be as easy as you think. If you don't have ID walk 20 miles along the boarder then cross like the other illegals.
Obviously, entry would be locked out unless the documents scanned ok. Having been to Big Bend many years ago I think people who are familiar with the region are the best informed as to what makes sense in that area. I would bet that cartels would avoid the region like the plague simply because they would quickly stick out. And now that drones are apparently to be part of the national fabric of life (shudder), well . . . .
What The Associated Press (A zizzlamiz owned Corp.) fails to mention in their story is that zhezbollah have an enormous operation ongoing in northern mexico. Out of 800,000 illegals stopped last year, one in ten (Border Patrol estimate http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=11341) come from places like Yemen and Egypt. While still in northern mexico they learn how to dress and act "mexican". Now when you couple this good news with the 20,000 missing shoulder fired missles you can see what is coming down the pike. Our country has been sooooo sold down the river by the traitors in our government............
zbutchb,
Do you always get your info from these guys?
WorldNetDaily (affectionately known by its fans as "WingNutDaily") is an extremely conservative website founded by Joseph Farah in 1997. It espouses a fundamentalist Christian, creationist view of the world. Its political leanings are right-wing, pro-"Christian right", and supposedly pro-United States, with strongly libertarian economic views. It pretends to give multiple sides of an issue: the conservative viewpoint and the ultra-conservative viewpoint. It is, for all intents and purposes, actually to the right of Fox News.
From Rationalwiki.
softdude how do you really expect 23 officers to find someone they don't know has crossed in Big Bend National park. Do you have any comprhension of the size of that place? And just how is a CBP officer ging to check the veracity of documents from more than 100 miles away. It is not just is the card good but is the person it is issued to using it. TABC would close down a bar in Texas that checked ids like that.
Typical for the moron now in office who is afraid of offending Mexicans but could care less how many Americans he gets killed.
I just wonder how many of you trolls really read the story or just started making comment from the headlines. Our park rangers have to drive for 16 hours to cross into Mexico legally.
joint conservation has been limited by the inability of personnel to cross the border without making a circuitous 16-hour drive, Wellman said.
Simpler solution is we conserve on our part and Mexico conserves on theirs. Why do you love to just let anyone cross the border (and don't tell me it's because they do it now already)?
Because conservation groups see the preservation of the National Parks as more important then petty arguments of people & congress.
Buy guns and ammo folks.....
read it, ignorant fools.
#181.52
Well Larry like we say this ain't NYC. It's 7 hrs to San Antonio from where I live. Three to CC and that's within the football districts. More than 12 hours to Dallas and 15 to Texarkana. Local is 60 miles give or take. It's Texas when I leave here I'm halfway to Chicago when I cross the stateline.
What a crock!
wtf is wrong with these people. I guess we need 30 million out of work before they stop this crap.
Obama needs the millions of illegals' votes, so it will not stop with 30 million million out of work.
read it, ignorant fools.
#181.52
I think maybe it's time for legal Americans to start disobeying any law they desire. If it's good enough for those here illegally, who have no constitutional rights, it's damn sure good enough for us who have the right to be here.
I shouldn't be surprised at what this corrupt administration will come up with. But it looks like they want to open up the border so all of the Mexicans can cross they please. I hope you remember this stupidity next Nov. It has to be changed.
I hope you remember the stupidity too. Vote the ignorant Republicans out of office so we can get this country back on track.
And what track is that? Tax, spend, over regulate, punish success, etc.....?
what is sad about this whole thing is the American people will allow this stupidity to occur..
We just do not know what to do other than kill off these corrupt politicians......
It has been written here many times before: Fed Gubmint employees have a paycheck for life deal. NO matter if good stuff happens or bad stuff happens as a result of their work, they get a paycheck for life. SO what is their motivation ? Why should they try ? Why should they give a darn ? They can absolutely get people killed and no backsplash ever gets on 'em. Look at the "Operation give guns to cartels" idea they just did. Got a Border Patrol Agent murdered with guns they gave to the criminals. Forget that no Fed employee was arrested. None of them have even lost a paycheck over it !!
Now I know for sure Odumbo is really really stupid if he thinks we can't see through this BullSH!T
ROFLMAO
More Democrat freebie hair brained liberal nonsense.
2012 cannot get here fast enough.
2012 will come, and go, and nothing will change. Same bs different idiots running sh*t.
Nikki, agreed. Same people donning tin foil hats and dodging secret agents sent to spy on us all, same posters that can fix everything yet give no specifics, same "bush and cheney did it no obama did it no bush no obama" and so on and so on. The country will survive, people will scream that the other political party has doomed us all, etc. etc.
<sigh>
read it, ignorant fools.
#181.52
Another really dumb idea from the people who brought you "Fast and Furious." You know the Obama administration's program that sold tons of weapons to criminals and drug dealers. Mr Obama is working fast and furiously to ruin America. He hates our country and wants to ruin us. Even when he's defeated in the national election next fall it's going to takes us many years to dig us out of the hole in which he's tried to bury us.
dougmiller....do you think before you write????? fast and furious was started by the Bush Admin....
It is hilarious, one day's news is about our world class military and all there toys, the next is about how we can't even protect our own boarders. Maybe we should not be evading other Countries until we can at least defend are own. This is a joke that only the one pushing guns into Mexico and claiming to track drugs as they come into the States, could believe.... Come on DC, stop smoking the crack.
If this is the posting of the average "occupier", I can see how they have so much time to protest. Maybe you should have spent some time learning English rather than protesting. It's "thier" toys, not "there" toys unless you are pointing out thier location. "Boarders" live with you, "borders" are what surround our country. We would be "evading" countries if we were trying to dodge them. Going into a region forcefully is "invading". And we would be defending "our" borders, the borders "are" ours to defend.
I don't think I could have made more of a mess of a post without giving myself a headache in the process.
" It's "thier" toys, not "there" toys unless you are pointing out thier location."
Actually it is spelled "their". Nice try.
FYI Project Gunrunner, which morphed into Fast and Furious, was started by your favorite Texan George W. Bush.
Of course you went to school in Texas, so there you have it.
Yeah. I see that now. No excuse. I don't use spell check as a challenge to myself, and the above post had my head spinning as it was, but I deserved to be called out on that one. :)
still, argue, you made a hell of a point.
Still would your local beer police let you into a bar that card checked like that or would they close the bar down knowing the place was crawling with minors.You cannot check documents from 100 miles away. The card might be legal but is the person using it.
This has just about rendered me speechless.... and that's hard to do, especially on this subject.
now I know Washington has lost its MIND
read it, ignorant fools.
#181.52
Did read it also had to stop 12 yr old punk Mexican nationals with false ids they bought for$50 from getting into the bar I worked for. Have had mexican nationals offer me bribes to violate Texas liquor laws. They have no respect for our laws.
This has to be an Obama Hussain idea !!!! So dumb and wasteful of money... How about using that 2 million to put our military on the border? der.........
More govt waste.
Buenos tardes, gringos cuellos rojos.
Auto deportar ahora mexicana ladrón.
Milo,
Just had to say hello to all the right wing trolls that jumped on this to fill up all the first spots. I often wonder if they get paid per word or per post.
Since I couldn't understand your spanish I threw it into the google translator and it came out:
"Mexican Sports car thief now"
alsophia theophilos
Try Spainshdict.
LOL, at least you have a sense of humor. I am of mixed race, I do not support the right wingers. My opinion is free of charge. I am dead set against making anything easy for illegals. This proposal is just another loop hole for illegals to exploit.
Your red neck comment was/is a reflection of your own short comings.
By the way your picture looks like the south bound end of a north bound mule. Still laughing?
Milo,
Yep, still laughing. That sure be one good looking mule.
So anyway, I called the above posters rednecks, greeted them friendly, and stick by my words. A real redneck is not insulted by being called what he is.
You really need to brush up on your spanish some there.
Well the language on the border is not really Spanish the way they taught you in school. Your translator doesn't speak Tex-Mex. Bueno Bye.
The dems need more voters who can't speak or read English. Next thing you know, we will be printing our ballots in Spanish.
We are governed by fools on both sides of the aisle, but Obama is the most lying, dishonest fool this country has ever suffered.
Do you guys remember when all the crazy radical commie kids used to carry that little red book of Mao's in their pocket? I'm beginning to think you guys are carrying a little pink book of Gingrich's in your pockets. You're reading straight out of his "talking points" guide.
Take a shave alsophia.
Scribble that on the sideline of your little pink gringrich book in your pocket.
Tomorrow,
Yep, and I bet that little comic style book warns them all not to cross into the Big Bend area.
Well alsophia are they crossing into your backyard? Or are you nice and safe in your liberal eastern enclave? Most mexican illegals I feel sorry for but not enough to put up with this idiocy.
This would be funny if it was not. I mean, what IDIOT does not get it? WE DON'T WANT ILLEGALS!!!!!
Man, Obooboo has to go. This is crazy! If they don't think that illegals will figure out a way to take advantage of something like this, they're absolute idiots.
It was crazy in 2008 and they ate it up like the freaking Beatles. Well Obama is no longer bigger than life.
Good Idea !! draw all the meskins to one crossing bridge and then charge them a entry Tax to help pay for the War on Drugs..lol
No amount of yelling, bitching, or hand wringing is going to stop it. I was in Big Bend two weeks ago. It's a done deal. The buildings are going up, and shops being set up. There's only one thing one can do now, that is....get used to it!
Every pot will boil over at some point. In fact this is just turning up the heat - let 'em keep ignoring the will of the people.
Hey Rick get home and protect the Texas border put guards at the edge of the national idiocy known as big bend.
I have heard for over a Year that Governor Perry wants to have Big Bend National Park to become the FIRST International Park.
As Gov. Perry has been a Guest Speaker at at least one Globalist Builderburg Meeting it should come as No Surprise that the Builderburg Globalists are Determined to Eliminate ALL National Borders to ....
1. Create the Regional Government of The North American Union ......... and .......
2. Eventually MERGE All Regional Governments into The New World Order of One World Government.
These Treasonous Globalist Thinkers don't care that they have Placed the USA on an Altar of Sacrifice to Build their New World Order of One World Government.
These Treasonous Globalist Thinkers don't care if the DISTROY the Greatest Nation in History.
These Treasonous Globalist Thinkers know that if they can ...........
1. Eliminate any and all Borders ........ and .......
2. Keep US Troops Stationed Overseas on Foreign Lands then Eventually when Mexican Civil War Spills over on to US Soil ...... that they will do everything in their Power to put United Nations Troops on the US Southern Border for the First Time in US History to Protect US Citizens.
Anyone and I do mean ANYONE who Proposes Deliberately Opening our US/Mexican Border and anyone and I do mean ANYONE who Intends to Eliminate any of our US Borders is Guilty of TREASON Against We The People and Citizens of The United States of America and TREASON against The United States of America as a Nation.
Gov Perry ...... WAKE UP and Slap Yourself and Realize that you are Being Bought OFF by the Builderburgs and the Rockefeller/Rothschild's Central Bankers by the Rockefeller (Private) Organizations of The Council on Foreign Relation and the Rockefeller Trilateral Commission for the Express Purpose of creating The New World Order of One World Government thinkers and all of their Central Banker Anti-Christer's.
Say NO to the Borderless Globlist Thinkers who want to Distroy the United States of America.
With 47,000 Mexican Murders near the Border anyone who Suggestst that we Open Up our Southen Border instead of Closing and SEALING our Border should Be Charged with TREASON and Put in Prison and throw away the key !!!!!!!!
Larry,
Hope you have some kleenex to wipe the froth off now. It's dribbling down your chin there dude.
The greatest nation in history was destroyed thousands of years ago. It reined for thousands of years where this nation has lived about 235 years but appears to be on it's way to destruction by greed. Even the Maya civilization lasted about 2250 years before it collapsed.
Just a side question. Why did you not mention about Perry being bought off by the Koch brother? They're the ones that is paying all the half baked politicians like Perry, Cain, Bachmann, etc.
They're probably paying in one way or another for all the troll posts here also.
Well, that just proves how ignorant he is. He's too late by about 80 years. The first international park was the Peace Gardens established to commemorate our commitment to peace with Canada.
Mr. Perry should learn a little something about his country.
What is wrong with you? Were you not aware that our current president is pleased with our border situation? He doesn't want to do ANYTHING about making our borders more secure! Now he wants to work with Mexico and open up portions of our border and have them unmanned... Obama has made it very clear where he stands on the subject of immigration but he certainly doesn't listen to what the people of America want NO ILLEGALS!
Rome fell when Romans became the minority in their own land, their own army and just about everywhere else.
Get your Mexico work visas
new! This way we will be ready when our government
makes the United States one nation under Mexico. A nation were the citizens of
what was the United States are the illegal’s working for food rations and living
in tents, while or government and the slum lords live in their castles made of
gold. It sounds like history is about to repeat its self-SALAVERY. If we cannot
beat them we might as well get ready for what is coming; sale your homes and
belongings now and buy those tents, food and bottled water now and hide them
for what is coming. Alternatively, believe what you may sit by and wait and see
and believe in our government or stand up and take control of our fait your
choice.
History has already repeated itself; more than 1/2 the money I earn goes to taxes, in 1 form or another. I barely make six figures, took me 50 years to get here, and I'm a slave to 535 money grubbing dumbasses on the hill who don't know how and don't want to learn to spend less than the make. I'm allowed to exist to pay my fair share, to a buch of morons that make and pass laws, and don't know how balance a budget.
It's time to remove 535 elected national representatives. Particularly the ones that have been there more than 8 years, and especially the elitist morons that voted for to pass legislation they didn't read, only to force it "Obamacare" on to us, while at the same time exempting themselves and their families from the system. Ain't that nice!!!
There's can be no place in our government for people like this. Vote them out, you have the power, take your country back.
If we really want to get our country back we should fire the bunch of do nothings in DC. Every last one of them. They don't do the job we pay them for. Then we should reinstitute the immigration quota system and enforce it. 240,000 western hemispere no new immigration until all illegals are accounted for under the quota. Sorry Canada and the rest of you but Mexico used your share of the quota till sometime near the turn of the 22nd century. And close the damn border it is our right.
Actually. This is the one area that it would actually be okay to do this. I have been there. This would still be well patrolled. After crossing here, there are a bunch of Park Rangers to deal with. It isn't as though they are going to cross the river and then be free to run around.
I think this is a good thing!
cmach,
Yeah, I don't think these guys even read the whole article. Our own border cops seem to think it is a win win situation. They're just looking for some forum to jump on and beat their chests as they scream the racist fascist battle cry. Makes them feel better I guess.
True that Alsophia.
The biggest problem is that so many people who post stuff have NEVER even seen a border town. Or an illegal, or whatever. Those who have know the difference.
I love going to Boquillas and I hope it is opened up again. It's an awesome place to be able to go to and it would help the local Mexican people living in that area. It's a win win for sure.
WOW: Someone with compassion. I was thinking there wasn't any on the vine.
when did Mexican become a race?
emach--no matter HOW unpopulated this little Mexican town is NOW, if it becomes a place where it is easy to cross the border legally, it will become JUST like the other havens for smugglers.
And how do you suppose the current residents of this little sleepy town that has no electricity and where it is such a long way to the nearest marke, will get proper ID?
A great number of the illegals permanently entrenched in our society NOW came here 'legally' on tourist or student visas, and then STAYED.
Why would American tax payers want to fund a border crossing that benefits Mexican Citizens, even if they cross legally? as posted the area is desolate and the services are at least 100 miles away. It sounds like a border crossing to nowhere and why should we spend sparse tax dollars on a crossing from Mexico to nowhere. The parks service will never re-coupe the expense needed or spent to make that a worth while project.
emach do you have any comprehension of the area you are talking about? Well patrolled with 23 CBP officers and some park rangers. Thats like saying you could patrol Central park with a cub Scout troop.
lonereb.Reading comprehension is a good thing. Try it.
Who ever come up with this idea is on the take. Their supervisors need to be disciplined also. What are people thinking. Let me hold your wallet, you can trust me. Give me the keys to the jail cell, you can trust me. Let me out of this Drug Rehab, you can trust me. Hey you illegals, we can trust you. What a bunch of crap
You make absolutely know sense at all. I feel you have Miss-interpreted the Article.
when you came, saw, and conquered, it wasn't the english language, was it? is "miss-interpreted" an award given out to a lucky lady or did you mean "mis-interpreted"? lol oh, and it's "no sense at all"...ya know?
We didn't mis-interpet the article we just think our government leaders are smoking crack.