Brinworld++ U.S. Vigilantes Test Drones on Mexican Border

Major Variola (ret) mv at cdc.gov
Wed May 14 15:55:18 PDT 2003


MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - An Arizona vigilante group is testing
homemade "drone" reconnaissance planes on the U.S.-Mexican border to
monitor illegal immigrants entering the United States in lonely desert
areas.

Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol vigilante group, said
on Tuesday the group has been testing two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for
about a month and plans to have a fleet making passes over the border by
early July.

"We want to show how the application of this technology can solve the
border problem," Spencer told Reuters.

Police and residents say they are aware of the drones, similar to
unmanned U.S. military aircraft used in Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal Mexican immigrants cross the border in
search of work every year. Three vigilante groups, some of them armed,
have sprung up in Arizona in the last three years to monitor the border
and hand over any illegal immigrants they find to U.S. Border Patrol
agents.

The groups say U.S. authorities allow too many Mexicans to flout U.S.
immigration law. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, some have also said
unrestricted immigration poses an unacceptable security risk.

Area residents say the drones invade their privacy and foster poor
cross-border relations.

"The Mexican populations along the border are indignant," said Miguel
Escobar, a Mexican Foreign Ministry official based in Arizona.

Ray Borane, mayor of the border town of Douglas, Ariz., said the group's
activities are racist.

"BORDER HAWK"

The vigilantes say they plan to outfit each UAV with a global
positioning device to pinpoint migrants, and then forward hose
coordinates to the Border Patrol.

Dubbed the Border Hawk, the $5,000 drone has a wingspan of 5-1/2 feet
and flies at an altitude of 300-400 feet -- under the 500 feet mandated
for aircraft that need certification by the Federal Aviation
Administration.

The craft are made by members of the vigilante group with experience in
electronics, Spencer said.

Mario Villarreal, spokesman for the Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection in Washington, said: "We appreciate the community's efforts
in notifying us of suspicious activities... We encourage them to call
the Border Patrol or law enforcement but those efforts should be within
the law."

He refused to comment directly on the vigilantes or their planned use of
drones.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51414-2003May13.html





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