Marines Fight Drug Smugglers in Texas With Flying Drones

Marines based in San Bernardino County last month traveled to Texas to operate remote-controlled aircraft to ferret out drug smugglers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the first such use of the aircraft by the military.

The aircraft--known as drones--sent television-like pictures to ground operators, surveying an 80-mile-long area stretching westward from Laredo, Tex. The information enabled border agents to snare almost $1 million in marijuana that was being smuggled into the United States, authorities said.

More than 300 undocumented workers also were seized during the three-week operation ending Feb. 26. Federal officials insisted that the arrests were secondary to the drug-fighting effort, but this aspect of the mission sparked criticism.

“I’m not opposed to enforcing the borders, but I’m interested in making sure the people who are doing that are properly trained. The border patrol and INS agents go through extensive training--I’m skeptical that Marines have any of that training,” said Charles Wheeler, director of the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles.

Federal officials are now weighing whether to expand the use of the drones into California and other border states, said Duke Austin, spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington.

The Texas operation represents one of the first major efforts in the drug war by the newly formed Joint Task Force 6. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney last November approved the formation of the task force to coordinate military with federal, state and local agencies’ endeavors.

The armed forces have stepped gingerly into the relatively new role of assisting drug enforcement agencies, partially because of concerns voiced by Mexican officials over the “militarization” of the border and fears expressed by government officials that the military could be overreaching its authority.

In the recent operation, Marines from Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County were sent to Texas at the request of U.S. Border Patrol officials. The Marine Corps has three units that use the sophisticated surveillance drones, officially called Remote Piloted Vehicles. One unit is in North Carolina; two are based in Twentynine Palms at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.

Chief Border Patrol Agent Joe Garza of Laredo requested help from Operation Alliance, an agency appointed by then-Vice President George Bush in 1986 to help orchestrate efforts by various law enforcement agencies to prevent contraband from crossing the border. Operation Alliance officials, in turn, contacted Joint Task Force 6, whose officials selected the Marines from Twentynine Palms. For the Marines, the mission was viewed as a chance to use highly touted equipment.

The remote-controlled aircraft resembles a large toy plane. Its wingspan is almost 17 feet and, fully loaded, it weighs 429 pounds. The 3-foot-high plane can fly about 100 miles an hour, but usually flies at half that speed when it is monitoring the ground.

The surveillance enabled Garza’s border agents to seize 1,009 pounds of marijuana in four separate incidents. They arrested two people carrying the illegal drug and two escaped, Garza said. And Garza discovered that undocumented workers were cutting border fence wire to allow vans into the United States. During the Marines’ stint, border agents caught 372 illegal aliens--double the usual number, Garza said.