Army Helps Keep Watch At Border In New Mexico

A U.S. Army reconnaissance squadron from Fort Lewis, Wash., is lending at least 14 manned, armored Stryker vehicles, some of which feature mounted machine guns and long-range surveillance video and infrared cameras, to help the Border Patrol halt illegal crossings along a stretch of southwestern New Mexico’s border with Mexico. The surveillance mission coordinated by Joint Task Force North, which Doug Mosier of the Border Patrol’s El Paso division says was planned a year in advance, is designed to step up border security along the Deming-Lordsburg corridor, a particularly high-trafficked route for illegal immigrants and smugglers in New Mexico. The state has also added new permanent and temporary Border Patrol agents, temporarily assigned State Police officers in the Columbus area, and established a civilian-volunteer monitoring program in an ongoing effort to curb illegal border crossings.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Albuquerque Journal (10/21/05) P. A1; Romo, Rene .