Sierra Vista, Arizona (ABP) January 16, 2004 -- Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Az), one of the co-sponsors of legislation that would legalize millions of illegal aliens, told a hostile crowd of 150 in this southeastern Arizona town that the systems and procedures do not exist to control the border.
"We've spent billions taking care of other people's borders but we won't take care of our own," one person said. "Immigration reform means nothing if we don't keep our borders controlled," he added. Kolbe responded by saying that America has also increased spending on the border and is using high technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles, but added "You haven't told me how we are going to control the border."
Glenn Spencer, president of American Border Patrol, was in attendance, but was not called upon by Kolbe, even though he submitted a question per instructions.
Fifteen minutes into the meeting Spencer received a call telling him that ABP personnel were tracking 20 suspected border intruders near the Mexican border some twenty miles away. Spencer briefly interrupted Kolbe to inform the audience of the activity. Most of the meeting dealt with the issue of illegal immigration, with the audience growing more hostile after each exchange between Kolby and questioners.
Immediately following the meeting, Spencer had a discussion with Kolbe. The following is a transcript of part of that discussion:
Spencer: The guys (ABP surveillance team) called me. They are tracking 20 illegal aliens right now. Last Sunday night I personally tracked 28 in less than an hour and reported them and the Border Patrol apprehended them. The same weekend, Roger Barnett caught 66. We're doing this with no money. I am convinced that the technology exists as a force multiplier that we can solve the problem, and we are going to demonstrate this to the American people.
Kolbe: We are making that technology available to the Border Patrol - we have UAVs.
Spencer: You don't have UAVs, we have UAVs.
Kolbe: They're testing the development - they're going to have UAVs.
Spencer: We're flying them this weekend. (turned out to be Monday)
Kolbe: We've got them, those UAVs - we're pushing them to start using them.
Spencer: Right up the San Pedro river is highway 101 into the United States. We site there with a camera and within twenty minutes we pick up this group and that group. Why doesn't the
(continued on page 2)
Kolbe - (continued from page 1)
Border Patrol have an infrared camera looking down highway 101?
Kolbe: Well, I think they actually do, don't they?
Spencer: No they don't, because we had to report those groups and they brought in the helicopters. That's the main path leading into Cochise county.
Kolbe: Let me remind you this doesn't solve the whole problem.
Spencer:They don't want to. They don't want to enforce the law, and we're going to prove it.
Kolbe: If you solve the problem as you did in Tijuana, it will just go someplace else, and you don't solve the problem of those who come in and overstay their visas.
Spencer: What we are going to do is demonstrate that there is a lack of management will in the Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, and we are going to prove it to the American people on the Internet-that the money is there and the resources are there, but there is not the management intent in Washington.
Koble: God knows I've disagreed with the Border Patrol on every management issue.
Spencer: We're not going to just talk about it, we are going to prove it, just like we did tonight.
(Someone yelled out about using the military)
Kolbe: I don't think using the miliary on the border is efficient, and I don't think most people would tolerate it very long. Spencer: The military could be used for routine jobs such as transporting detained illegal aliens, freeing up agents for enforcement.
Kolbe: They could do that on contract, they could contract that out.
Spencer: But they don't. They could use the National Guard but they don't.

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