SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Members of the media and other guests of the Border Patrol huffed and puffed as they made their way up and down a mountain trail at the base of Otay Mountain, a path heavily used by smugglers.
Border Patrol Agent Eric Lavergne led the trek and pointed out obvious signs of smuggling along the trail, including discarded clothing, backpacks, plastic bottles, footprints and even broken branches.
“That’s not a natural break, it’s a sign people were walking through this area, walking up this trail,” he said. “Normally, we would follow this and track them out.”
Lavergne said agents often have to track smugglers and migrants at night when most treks occur on this trail southeast of downtown San Diego.
“When you’re going at night you can’t see where you are really walking, so you’re relying on an individual in front of you who is usually the smuggler.”
Lavergne added that smugglers who work this path know the area well, often leading Mexican nationals who have little to no success getting asylum and opt to enter the country illegally.
“Usually on these trails you have individuals who believe they are going to be deported — Mexican nationals who have (criminal) backgrounds. So those individuals are already aware that if we catch them and enter them into our system it’s going to flag them and they will likely be removed or end up in jail.”
Another thing Lavergne pointed out is that the trail is not commonly used for smuggling drugs.
“Once in a while, we might see someone who has five pounds of meth in their backpack or something like that, but if you look at it, the majority of narcotics coming into California and San Diego come through the ports of entry,” Lavergne said. “Think of it, five pounds in a backpack is not economical when compared to hundreds if not thousands of pounds in a trailer.”
Border Patrol officials say stopping human and drug smuggling is part of their job, but rescuing lost and injured migrants is also an important role the agency takes on with its Missing Migrant Program.
“This fiscal year the San Diego Sector has rescued 1,497 migrants and located 23 deceased migrants,” Acting Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Bernin Salas said. “The message is simple: Do not expose yourself crossing illegally into the United States. … Don’t put your life in danger.”
One way Border Patrol rescues migrants is by using its elite Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue teams called BORSTAR.
During a demonstration Wednesday morning, agents, using a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter, displayed their skills as they lifted a person out of the brush and out to safety.
“All BORSTAR agents are certified as either paramedics or emergency medical technicians,” said BORSTAR Cmdr. Michael McEwan. “We are especially trained and equipped to mitigate medical emergencies in those difficult-to-access locations along the border. In the end, no matter if you’re BORSTAR or not, we all work together and rely upon each other when rescuing these persons in all sorts of environments.”
After the BORSTAR demonstration and the 3.5-mile hike, Lavergne joked with reporters, saying this was a relatively easy hike.
It was not.