Officials Pass On Watching Video Of Illegal Border Crossers

by ABC-7 Reporter Darren Hunt

EL PASO, Texas — Keeping our borders safe was the topic of Tuesday’s Border Security Conference held in El Paso.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the U.S. is sending more aid to protect the border.

Napolitano said she was born in Albuquerque and she had a summer job in Alamogordo when she was growing up, so it was no surprise that El Pasoans packed UTEP’s Undergraduate Learning Center to hear her informed view of border security.

First, Napolitano announced that the federal government is funneling another $30 million into Operation Stonegarden, which is designed to help local law enforcement agencies with their border security effort. She also made it quite clear where she stands when it comes to the United States’ joint effort with Mexico to fight a drug war that she says has shared responsibilities on both sides of the border.

While many of the officials at the Border Security Conference were quick to answer questions, ABC-7 got little cooperation when we asked them to watch a two-minute video.

The footage, obtained by the ABC-7 I-Team, shows an open stretch of border without a fence, and, seemingly, without law.

The footage shows a 14-mile gap in the border fence about 25 miles outside El Paso near the increasingly violent Mexican town of Praxedis, a place where many cross the border without any resistance.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano didn’t mince any words when talking about the security effort along the border.

“We have a unique opportunity now with Mexico to really break up these cartels and shame on us if we don’t take full advantage of that opportunity,” Napolitano said.

The video, shot over the last two years, shows men crossing the border along a 14-mile gap in fencing, at times right under the noses of the Border Patrol.

“What’s happening there with no fence? First of all, a fence may not necessarily be a plan, but a fence can be part of the plan if it is married with manpower and alike,” Napolitano said.

ABC-7 came to the Border Security Conference hoping to get officials who spoke to watch the video and give their reaction, but we were turned down by Secretary Napolitano’s aides. Alan Bersin, the special Border Affairs representative, also turned us down, as well as Congressman Silvestre Reyes.

“I don’t know all the particulars … I’ve asked my staff to look into it,” Reyes said.

The only person ABC-7 could get to watch the video was Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz.

“Wow that’s a large number,” he said. “It’s information that needs to be processed in the U.S. The U.S. government needs to see that, process it and evaluate it and see what is actually going on.”

Ferriz said that the area near Praxedis is probably not the only place where this type of activity is taking place.