Wow. Details here. There seems to be a chief in the U.S. Border Patrol who doesn't believe in, and/or understand, what the heck the Border Patrol is supposed to be doing. Quote: "A Border Patrol chief at one of the nation's most dangerous Southwest border crossings says the agency's mission doesn't include apprehending illegal aliens or seizing narcotics — perplexing front-line agents and angering a congressional critic of illegal immigration. "I've said it before and I'll say it again," Carlos X. Carrillo, Border Patrol chief of Laredo, Texas, told guests at a town-hall meeting Thursday. "The Border Patrol's job is not to stop illegal immigrants. The Border Patrol's job is not to stop narcotics. ... The Border Patrol's mission is not to stop criminals.
"The Border Patrol's mission is to stop terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the country."
Republican representative Tom Tancredo, who's also running for president, had a pretty good response: "If the Border Patrol has developed a new technology that can distinguish between terrorists and other illegal border crossers without first catching them and checking them out, that is good news," said Mr. Tancredo, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration and a presidential candidate. "But if that is not the case, Mr. Carrillo's statements are extremely irresponsible and demoralizing to officers in the field."
Just baffling. But this is often why it's so difficult to get things done via the government--often persons within the bureaucracy oppose what you're trying to do.
