Border Patrol run-ins

[Kathleen Moon]

Paul Cherubini wrote:
> 
> Like Mark Walker, I've encountered the most trouble with the border patrol in Texas. I
> like to visit the border areas in October when monarch butterflies are passing through into
> Mexico. Agents seeing me wielding my huge 3.5 foot wide butterfly net have been
> reluctant to buy my story that it is solely being used to catch butterflies. They think my
> "butterfly collecting" is a cover for other kinds of activities.  I've had my car inspected for
> drugs and guns and then (like Mark) warned that I should avoid border areas for my own
> personal safety.
> 
> On the positive side, a couple friends had a pleasant encounter with a California highway
> patrol officer along interstate 5 in central California. They were collecting monarchs in a
> milkweed field growing within a freeway cloverleaf (technically state property). The
> officer stopped to inquire, then said "it's my lunch break, can I help?" There was a sight
> to behold - a CHP officer waltzing through a milkweed field with a butterfly net!

1/ This illustrates beautifully the humungous difference in attitude
between boirder area law enforcement, where everything manmade that so
much as moves has the potential for being a suspect vehicle (and what
doesn't can be a hideout for drug-runners or smugglers resting on the
way) and every person must be approached with a greater level of caution
due to the number of illegals who pack some kind of firepower or other
with them.  I can remember the incident at Aguanga (on SR79 in Riverside
County, California, near the San Diego County Line) where a Border
Patrol agent was summarily gunned down when he signaled an oncoming
vehicle to stop so he check out the occupants.  The occupants were
either smugglers or coyotes (people bringing illegal aliens into the
country from Mexico).  You just don't find that level of violent
interaction with immigration-related law enforcement in the country
except near the border with a country where there is a significant
amount of drug traffic coming into the US.  I would say the Gulf Coast
and Mexico, and then maybe the more isolated portions of our coasts - in
short, anywhere where the smuggler can hide his activities - would be
prone to this problem.

2/ Yes, even the typoical CHP type needs a little break from the daily
routine in order to stay sane!!  Don't knock his interest in
entomology.  :-)  His son or daughter might get interested enough to
take it up in school to pursue as a career.