Sweeping Sand To Count Footprints Is A Border Patrol Pastime

Miami, FL (Law Firm Newswire) July 31, 2013 – Border security efforts can include the latest in high-tech efforts as well as something as simple as checking for footprints.

“One of the largest sections of protected border is the 262-mile wall just south of Tucson. It bristles with sensors, infrared scopes and surveillance cameras. It’s high tech to the nth degree,” said Larry S. Rifkin, a Miami immigration lawyer and managing partner at Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, with law offices in Miami, Florida and Orlando, Florida. “But security is even more basic than that, including foot searches, horseback details scouring the mountains and sweeping sand to check for footprints.”

Scrutinizing the sand in the area is an attempt to identify the kinds of shoes worn by individuals caught illegally crossing the border. Prints may include work boots, sneakers or other footwear. Border patrol agents regularly sweep the desert clean in order to clearly see new prints. Prints that do not match or the ones that got away are classified as “got-aways.” The number of those who manage to escape detection versus the number of individuals arrested or turned back, end up providing a percentage used to determine border security’s effectiveness.

“One wonders about the science of those calculations and then begins to wonder about all the billions being spent on border security when a simple broom and rudimentary mathematics might be a better method of control,” speculated Rifkin. The real issue in the sandstorm is that border patrol success relates directly to Republican’s support for immigration reform. The still languishing bipartisan bill under scrutiny by the Senate has a condition in it that there needs to be a 90 percent success rate in stopping illegal crossings at three highly breached crossing locations —- south of Tucson, Laredo and Rio Grande Valley (Texas).

Is 90 percent a figure that border patrol is capable of attaining? Some immigration reform pundits suggest that it is. Those on the firing line, that live the reality daily, have managed to hit 87 percent, but have reservations about reaching the 90 percent goal. “It may be possible, given the fact that the Tucson sector is the busiest crossing point, where close to one third of all illegal immigrants trying to enter the country last year were arrested there,” added Rifkin.
While border security is still an issue, it does nothing for the country’s shaky economic situation. It does not address the complete impossibility of fully fencing and securing all borders. It does not deal with the 11 million immigrants currently in the United States. It does not deal with the country’s economic future in any way.

“Something needs to be done to deal with the reality of immigration reform and what it means for the nation as a whole. Something needs to be done about human rights and freedoms, and something needs to be done to deal with immigration reform in a steady and measured, yet fair manner,” indicated Rifkin.

To learn more or to contact an Orlando immigration attorney or Miami immigration attorney, visit http://www.rifkinfox.com.

Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, P.A.
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Miami, Florida 33131
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