VEHICLE BARRIERS SLOWING SMUGGLERS

Remote NM Area Had Been Overrun

SANTA TERESA, N.M. - There is no river to mark the boundary between this
U.S. border town and Mexico, only flimsy cattle fences stretching nearly
100 miles westward across the rough desert terrain.

So it is no surprise that this remote region of southern New Mexico quickly
became an alternative route for drug smugglers when U.S. Border Patrol
agents clamped down on illegal crossings in El Paso, to the east.

All the smugglers needed were fast, durable vehicles to bounce across the
mesquite-riddled land, tear through the cattle fences and speed into the
United States.

Those evasive crossings just got tougher.

Steel posts have been erected within yards of the border as a supplement
resource to the lighting, surveillance cameras and sensors used by Border
Patrol agents to deter illegal crossings.

The new "vehicle barriers" run across nearly four miles in Santa Teresa.
Another three miles of barriers were erected farther west, in Columbus, N.M.

Both areas have been identified as busy drug-trafficking corridors.

"These are areas that the agents know are utilized by smugglers," said Doug
Mosier, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso sector,
responsible for nearly 400 miles of river and land boundaries in West Texas
and New Mexico.

"There is too much terrain out there to post permanent positions," Mr.
Mosier said. "This is specifically designed to stop vehicular narcotics
trafficking."

The illegal car crossings, or "drive-throughs," were most prevalent in the
Columbus area, where agents documented an average of three a week.

"It's a constant challenge for us to be able to stay one step ahead of the
smugglers," Mr. Mosier said.

The new barriers are made of high-grade durable steel pipes, which stand 4
feet high and are 5 inches in diameter. The steel posts are buried about 3
feet in the ground.

Authorities say the barriers have reduced vehicular drug trafficking
elsewhere along the 2,000-mile border, including San Diego and Naco, Ariz.

"We used to have drive-throughs all the time," said Agent Merv Mason, a
spokeman for the Border Patrol in San Diego, where most of the barriers
have been replaced with steel fencing. "We actually even had vehicles get
stuck as they were trying to get across.

"By putting [in] the poles, it would prevent people from even trying,"
Agent Mason said. "The drive-throughs just stopped happening."

Steel posts went up in Naco in 1994, covering about four miles of
borderland just east of downtown.

"The main purpose of the barriers, and the advantage it has provided, is to
push traffic that was going through the center of town to the outskirts,"
said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.

"It allows more flexibility for us to patrol and more safety for the
residents," she said. "The drive-throughs were occurring in residential areas."

The barriers in Santa Teresa and Columbus were put up by 275 Army soldiers
and 75 Marines as part of Joint Task Force Six, a military counter-drug
support unit that uses active-duty, reserve and National Guard troops for
missions across the country aimed at battling narcotics trafficking.

"The engineering projects is only one of the many types of support JTF-6
provides," spokesman Armando Carrasco said.

"Projects of this type result in a win-win situation. Law-enforcement
agencies gain invaluable support and military personnel gain tremendous
training opportunities that allow them to apply military training skills."

The barriers are the second phase of a three-part $700,000 project.

Last year, JTF-6 built 18 miles of road in Columbus to allow
law-enforcement officers to patrol alongside the border. Next year, an
additional 10 miles of vehicle barriers will be installed, primarily in the
Columbus area where vehicular smuggling has become commonplace.

"They'll have to find new areas to get across," Mr. Mosier said of the drug
smugglers. "They won't be getting through here anymore."

Note: El Paso-based Nancy San Martin covers the border, Far West Texas, New
Mexico and Arizona for The Dallas Morning News.