A Human Chess Game

From "The Statesman.com" BORDER PATROL A human chess game plays out on border in South Texas In tangled thornscrub on Rio Grande's banks, Border Patrol is vigilant, but so are the illegal crossers. By Juan Castillo AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Saturday, June 30, 2007 HIDALGO — The Rio Grande twists and turns so severely in South Texas that it takes more than 320 miles to travel from Falcon Dam near Roma to Boca Chica Beach on the Gulf Coast — by straight shot, a distance of about 150 miles. The river courses through snarly thickets of mesquite, huisaches, hackberry trees, cat claw, cactus and reeds. This thornscrub jungle is the front line in the battle to stem the flow of illegal immigration in the Rio Grande Valley. "Most of our apprehensions are here," Camilo Garcia, a Border Patrol spokesman, said of a roughly five-mile stretch along the steep riverbanks, just below the international bridges and the bustling port of entry. To the south, about a hundred yards away, the sprawling city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, crackles with symbiotic energy. Those who successfully navigate the river change into dry clothes in the brush and then wait for the right time to sprint to a nearby strip shopping center, where they can blend in with the crowds. The Border Patrol and the National Guard are vigilant, with an array of technology on their side. At night, stadiumlike lights flood a field between the riverbank and the strip mall. In a booth high in the sky, Guard troops monitor a display screen capturing infrared images from cameras that sense body heat. On the ground, sensors record movement. "We just try to deter them," Garcia said. Another agent, S. De Los Rios, scours the riverbanks, looking for fresh signs that someone might be hiding. De Los Rios says illegal crossers have scouts positioned on both the U.S. and Mexican sides and on the international bridge. They watch the Border Patrol's movements to time their crossings. Garcia says it's not uncommon for smugglers to send two groups from points far apart, hoping that while Border Patrol agents respond to one, the other will make it safely across. "It's like a big chess game out here," Garcia said. Asked if agents sometimes feel outnumbered, he said: "Yeah, but what are you going to do?"