Of course, not every tool is high-tech. At least two agents patrol the border on horseback here. No doubt Ronald Reagan, who loved the cavalry, would be proud that a part of the U.S. Government still relies in part on horses. When the fog rolls in from the Pacific, the cameras, the lights and the SUVs take second place to the horses, whose acute senses bring agents to critical points more quickly.
There are far more legal crossings than illegal ones, of course. Some 150,000 people go daily through the San Ysidro crossing point, riding in more than 40,000 cars. We watched as one car was sent for a secondary check. Sure enough, in a false panel in the back, officers found more than 30 pounds of marijuana. At this border point last year, 140,000 pounds of cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines were confiscated.
Again, I shook hands with the agent and congratulated him. The reply, of course: “Just doing my job, sir.”
That’s an understatement. Along the border, dehydration is a problem in summer and sudden freak snowfalls pose challenges in winter. And weather is but one component of what the men and women along the border endure. I’m not high on many government workers, but Border Patrol officers certainly earn their pay.
Congress made a sensible decision not to go for a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year. But lawmakers should proceed, step by step, to get the job done. In the meantime, every American should take great pride in the work of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.