National Guard Assists with Security Along U.S.-Mexico Border

RON COLBURN, U.S. Border Patrol: We already have tangible, measurable results. Now we're going into the fourth month straight where we've seen about a 75 percent decline in illegal activity in the Yuma border area, and I'm very pleased. I can now say that that is at least a measurable piece of intelligence.

JEFFREY KAYE: The National Guard personnel have been deployed to support the Border Patrol. The soldiers' duties include repairing and maintaining Border Patrol trucks and operating a string of 25 fixed surveillance cameras along the international boundary.

On the border itself, Guard members are building higher and longer fences and constructing roads. Their round-the-clock observation posts are meant to serve as a visible deterrent to those seeking to cross the border illegally.

KYLE LYONS, National Guard: When they look over the wall and see us, that should be our whole job right there, is just for us to be here.

JEFFREY KAYE: The M-16s the soldiers carry are for self-defense, in case troops encounter drug-runners or bandits.

In both the U.S. and Mexico, critics of Operation Jumpstart have complained the use of the National Guard to combat illegal immigration represents a militarization of the border. Guard personnel say they have clear instructions on how to deal with any migrants they encounter.

SGT. JERRY HATFIELD, National Guard: If they come in and they walk over there, we just call up Border Patrol and say, "They're going north, right beside our position."

JEFFREY KAYE: You can't walk over there and put the cuffs on a guy or give chase?

SGT. JERRY HATFIELD: Nope. No, no, no, no. Definitely...

NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER: Can't touch them.

NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER: We're not law enforcement here, sir.

JEFFREY KAYE: The deployment of the National Guard is just the latest in what's been a steady increase in security along America's southern border. For 12 years, in addition to fence construction, the United States has added Border Patrol agents, beefed up aerial surveillance, installed sophisticated cameras and sensors, and constructed more border fortifications, like this project meant to stop cars from crossing off-road.

It's also purchased portable watchtowers, called skyboxes, bristling with surveillance gear.

CESAR DIAZ, U.S. Border Patrol: They know we're here. And they still attempt and figure they're going to sneak past by, but they still get caught.

HERIBERTO BEJARANO, San Luis Police Department: We've seen a decrease in calls for service in our residential areas closest to the border.

JEFFREY KAYE: Heriberto Bejarano is San Luis' chief of police.

HERIBERTO BEJARANO: Stolen vehicles, stolen bikes, you know, small crimes that, again, in their efforts to go undetected by Border Patrol, they would change their clothing and move on. They would steal vehicles and try to get further north.

JEFFREY KAYE: But some crimes, according to law enforcement, have become more serious as a direct result of stepped-up border enforcement. A San Luis police detective took us to a home that he had discovered was used as a stash house by gangs smuggling migrants into the United States.

BORDER ENFORCEMENT DETECTIVE: They'll stay here for a couple of days until transportation is provided. They'll try to move them out at night.

JEFFREY KAYE: The detective, who asked not to be identified because he works undercover, says smugglers are becoming more violent towards law enforcement and seeking higher payments from their human cargo.

BORDER ENFORCEMENT DETECTIVE: Usually, they're charging between $1,000 per person, and each person makes up their own price range, where they want to go, how they want to get there and everything.

JEFFREY KAYE: The effects of stepped-up border enforcement are also being seen in agriculture, an industry which relies heavily on a large illegal workforce.

JACK VESSEY, Farmer: We've been affected for the last few years on what we call a labor shortage. It's been difficult to find harvest crews and people to harvest our crop.

JEFFREY KAYE: Jack Vessey farms 10,000 acres just five miles from the Mexican border in California's Imperial County. Some of his workforce used to make daily commutes -- legal and possibly illegal -- back and forth across the border. They no longer make the trips, he says, because they're scared of the National Guard.

JACK VESSEY: You've got to realize some people that heard this think that there's going to be guys with machineguns sitting on the border waiting to shoot them, and that's what some people feel about when they cross the border. They don't like doing it.

JEFFREY KAYE: Even as some hired hands prepare his fields to plant winter vegetables, Vessey fears Operation Jumpstart will cause a more severe labor shortage. He says he pays the California minimum wage, at least $8.50 an hour, and can't afford to raise payments to attract more workers.

JACK VESSEY: We're competing on a global level, and I have to compete with lower wages paid in different countries. Right now, we're able to do that because of the quality that was produce and food safety reasons. And if we're to raise our wages, how are we going to compete and sell our product to your Wal-Mart or your Costco?

The would-be migrants, from deeper in Mexico, know little about Operation Jumpstart. But like Martin Perez, a 25-year-old father of two from the Mexican state of Guanajuato, they say they're willing to risk everything to get into the United States.

MARTIN PEREZ, Immigrant (through translator): I'll get to the United States dead before I come back here, because here it's the worst. Do you understand me? We can't earn enough to eat. That's why we're here. We're trying to get something that's better.

JEFFREY KAYE: Asked how he plans to evade the formidable defenses along the border, Perez puts his faith in chance.

MARTIN PEREZ (through translator): What matters is luck, do you understand? That's what counts for us, whether there's more security or not. If there's a chance for us to cross to improve our lives, maybe we will make it, maybe not.

TONY REYES, Yuma County Supervisor: You can't drive around without, you know, seeing someone in a uniform.

JEFFREY KAYE: Back in San Luis, Arizona, Yuma County Supervisor Tony Reyes says history shows that immigrants will keep coming any way they can. He expects that those who want to cross will learn how to evade the new security measures.

TONY REYES: It'll have a deterrent effect. They'll be fellows in Lukeville, you know, the next town where there isn't fences and stuff. And then we'll finish securing this area, and we'll start with a new one, because, again, you haven't solved the problem.

JEFFREY KAYE: People are going to go around?

TONY REYES: People are going to go around, or up on top, or under. And the problem may seem like it gets smaller, you know, because fewer people are coming in. I'll give that much. But you're not solving the problem anyway.