Border Patrol ride-along eye-opening experience

by Britni Palomino, photo editor

 

 

As I enjoyed my summer working at my dream job at a daily newspaper in my hometown, the last two people I thought I would spend my last weekend of summer with was Caroline Basile, the editor-in-chief of the Plainsman Press, and Charlie Ehrenfeld, the advisor for the Plainsman Press in a town I had never heard of.

So I began to ask people I know what they knew about Marfa, Texas. All I got out of them was something about Marfa lights (which I still have no idea about) and that it was where the “No Country for Old Men” was filmed.

So I still had no clue as to where I was going and what I was going to experience. I thought to myself as I sat on my floor packing that this is either going to be really amazing or really boring.

We spent two days at the United States Border Patrol Marfa Sector, and I had never felt safer. The first thing we saw when we got there was an interview with an illegal alien, and it was like nothing I had ever seen before. As the agents tried to figure out how he entered the country and who he was with, I was able to snap a few photos. I saw that all the agents worked together and were so close to each other, like a family. We were told about the process of the interrogation and the price for being caught sneaking into the country.

As we geared up for the first night of our ride-along, I began to get a little scared while being taught all the safety regulations. I was watching carefully as agent Dan Harris, assistant chief, showed us where all the important things were. We didn’t even get two miles out of Marfa when Agent Harris spotted a suspicious person parked on the side of the road with his vehicle’s emergency lights on. We ended up staying parked on the side of the road for about an hour watching the interrogation happen right before our eyes.

After the whole crazy situation on the side of the road, then we went out in pitch- black darkness to the middle of desert to learn about the infrared night vision equipment. I couldn’t even see two feet in front of me, but I had never felt safer. We were shown how they spot people on the camera and how to tell the differences between objects.

The next day, we drove down to the little town of Candelaria along the Rio Grande River to talk to some agents who stay for a week there and to learn what a day in their work life is like. We also got to see some really beautiful scenery. I didn’t even think we were in Texas anymore. We literally stood at the edge of Texas looking down at the Rio Grande River.

So as I think back on the whole experience, I am so grateful for the opportunity to go to see how the great individuals of the Border Patrol work as a team to help protect our country every day.

I learned so much more than I could ever imagine. One thing for sure is that the trip to Marfa was an amazing experience.