Smugglers hide in plain sight

The dirt bikes and dune buggies swarm the sandy slopes by the thousands, turning these giant dunes at California's southeast border into anthills of frenetic activity.

Smugglers in nearby Mexico can't resist trying to blend into the crowd.

They shoot across the border in souped-up vehicles loaded with illegal immigrants and drugs and elude U.S. Border Patrol agents by playing the part of dune enthusiasts: wearing helmets and decorating their bikes and all-terrain vehicles with decals and flags.

The cat-and-mouse game turned deadly recently when a suspected smuggler driving a Hummer ran over an agent and fled back across the border over the dunes. The agent's death focused attention on the federal government's enforcement strategy in this remote corner of the border.

While the Department of Homeland Security expands fencing in other trouble spots on the Southwest frontier, officials say fortifying the border at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area has been difficult because of shifting sands that render current barriers ineffective. By the end of the year, they say, they will have erected a new type of fortification that they hope will cut down on incursions.

But many critics, including the Border Patrol union, former federal law enforcement officers and environmental groups, say the plan to erect better barriers ignores the most significant problem: the recreational dune riders whose presence poses safety risks for agents and hampers enforcement efforts.

The dunes area is one of the few places on the American Southwest frontier where a major highway runs up against open border. Interstate 8 is generally less than three miles away and only 500 yards off in some spots, giving smugglers easy access to a major transportation corridor.

The public has been barred from other federally managed lands near the border, such as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona, much of which remains closed six years after an employee there was killed by a suspected smuggler.

Critics say the dunes remain open because of the powerful off-road industry, which is seeking to expand access to public lands and has gained the support of the Bush administration.

The border dunes are part of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, which is managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management. Officials there say they have no plans for any closures. Senior Border Patrol officials say preserving public access to federal lands fits the agency's goal of improving the quality of life in border areas.

Chief Patrol Agent Paul Beeson, one of two chiefs responsible for the area, said the goal is to balance enforcement and public access.

"I believe that the best way to control that area is through the use of tactical infrastructure, and through use of agents and through the use of technology," Beeson said. "I don't think at this point that depriving people from the use of those lands is the best solution."

The federal government's position on the dunes is different from its aggressive actions elsewhere on the border, where Homeland Security has moved to waive environmental laws and sue private landowners in the name of putting up barriers and tightening security.

Those advocating a dunes closure say it would need to cover a 7,842-acre area between the border and Interstate 8, which amounts to less than 10% of the 80,000 acres open to off-roaders -- most of that area lying north of I-8.

"It's mystifying that this out-of-control situation continues to exist, yet on other parts of the border the Department of Homeland Security seems willing to flex its muscles to get what it wants," said Daniel R. Patterson, southwest director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and a former BLM ecologist.

"Border security should certainly trump the off-road industry," he said. "But it's not clear that's the case with this administration."

The Imperial Sand Dunes, stretching 40 miles from the border to California's Chocolate Mountains, attract more than 1 million riders every year. The wind-sculpted dunes, evoking lunar landscapes and the vastness of the Sahara Desert, have served as backdrops for Hollywood movies such as "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" and "Jarhead."

For smugglers, the dunes offer unique advantages. The area shares an eight-mile frontier with Mexico and has great freeway access. Crowd camouflage is easy when recreational enthusiasts visit the area in the winter months, especially on holiday weekends. More than 190,000 people have flocked to the area south of the interstate since October.

Smugglers send teams of lookouts into the crowds. Outfitted in full body suits and helmets, they look like everyone else. They roam around, monitor agents' positions and radio the all-clear at times.