Border Patrol Trains Teens For Action
In a town divided by a corrugated steel barrier that separates the U.S. from Mexican soil, teens are given a taste of a day in the life of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
By Mark Hoerrner
In Naco, Ariz., it's hot. Despite the lack of rain and fog, the night is pitch black. Suddenly, sensor-activated lights blaze on, illuminating the backyard of a house and revealing a young Mexican wearing torn blue jeans and a dirty t-shirt. His eyes are dodgy and moving on a pivot as he tries to adjust his eyes to the light. He looks for cover.
A few short feet away, a young American girl is nervously looking out her bedroom window, trying to spot whatever it was that triggered the motion-sensor spotlights her father installed on their house.
She notices the young man. For a moment, their eyes meet. In a flash, he dashes off into the night, another illegal immigrant seeking a better life than the one he left behind in Mexico.
"We have sensor lights all around our house," 14-year-old Helen Brady told Karl-Erik Stromsta in the LA Weekly. "My bedroom is right outside the place we hang our clothes. They go off almost every night, and you just think: Not again."
Such is the life of Helen Brady. She's a homeschool kid who lives in Naco near the border between the U.S. and Mexico and is just one of a growing number of kids being raised in the midst of a growing confrontation between U.S. Border Patrol officers and those who come to America illegally.
She's a member of the Border Patrol Explorers, an organization dedicated to giving teens a chance to serve as sort of a junior Border Patrol agent. They learn to make traffic stops, fire weapons and make arrests. She's not the only girl, either.
Helen leads a fairly normal life, the Weekly reported, spending each day at home learning and performing chores not all that different from most of America's youth. Well, not so different, save for having to clean up after the immigrants who leave a trail of garbage in her backyard.
"Around our house, we'll find water bottles," she told Stromsta while walking behind her home. "And you can find a few backpacks. But up in the mountains, they leave a continuous trail of junk. Its kind of nasty. They leave bras, pads, underwear."
Brady joined the Explorers as part of a homeschool project, but says she has enjoyed her time with them. Certainly, the Border Patrol benefits from the participation of teens like Brady.
"It's a big recruiting tool," said Border Patrol Captain Terrence Ford.
Ford told Stromsta that the Explorers gives him a chance to get a look at all the potential talent. Since the median wage in Naco is around $26,000 a year, the entry-level $35,000 annual salary of the Border Patrol officer is a strong draw for kids who may not be immediately headed to college or who may be looking to work close to home after college.
With the Patrol expected to increase by nearly 8,000 officers over the next few years, that means lots of open positions along the nation's southwestern border. A border that might as well be a wall between the children of Naco and the moon; most of the town's children have never been to the other side and some say they have no desire to do so.
Cory Roddey, a recent graduate of the program, told Stromsta, "Ten years from now, when I'm 27, I'll probably be in the Border Patrol stationed somewhere around here." A moment later he added, "And if I could pick a post, it would be right here. Naco station. Truth is, I have no desire to go to Mexico at all. I just don't find it very interesting. I like it here, and I can't find any reason to go over there."
In Naco, Ariz., it's hot. Despite the lack of rain and fog, the night is pitch black. Suddenly, sensor-activated lights blaze on, illuminating the backyard of a house and revealing a young Mexican wearing torn blue jeans and a dirty t-shirt. His eyes are dodgy and moving on a pivot as he tries to adjust his eyes to the light. He looks for cover.
A few short feet away, a young American girl is nervously looking out her bedroom window, trying to spot whatever it was that triggered the motion-sensor spotlights her father installed on their house.
She notices the young man. For a moment, their eyes meet. In a flash, he dashes off into the night, another illegal immigrant seeking a better life than the one he left behind in Mexico.
"We have sensor lights all around our house," 14-year-old Helen Brady told Karl-Erik Stromsta in the LA Weekly. "My bedroom is right outside the place we hang our clothes. They go off almost every night, and you just think: Not again."
Such is the life of Helen Brady. She's a homeschool kid who lives in Naco near the border between the U.S. and Mexico and is just one of a growing number of kids being raised in the midst of a growing confrontation between U.S. Border Patrol officers and those who come to America illegally.
She's a member of the Border Patrol Explorers, an organization dedicated to giving teens a chance to serve as sort of a junior Border Patrol agent. They learn to make traffic stops, fire weapons and make arrests. She's not the only girl, either.
Helen leads a fairly normal life, the Weekly reported, spending each day at home learning and performing chores not all that different from most of America's youth. Well, not so different, save for having to clean up after the immigrants who leave a trail of garbage in her backyard.
"Around our house, we'll find water bottles," she told Stromsta while walking behind her home. "And you can find a few backpacks. But up in the mountains, they leave a continuous trail of junk. Its kind of nasty. They leave bras, pads, underwear."
Brady joined the Explorers as part of a homeschool project, but says she has enjoyed her time with them. Certainly, the Border Patrol benefits from the participation of teens like Brady.
"It's a big recruiting tool," said Border Patrol Captain Terrence Ford.
Ford told Stromsta that the Explorers gives him a chance to get a look at all the potential talent. Since the median wage in Naco is around $26,000 a year, the entry-level $35,000 annual salary of the Border Patrol officer is a strong draw for kids who may not be immediately headed to college or who may be looking to work close to home after college.
With the Patrol expected to increase by nearly 8,000 officers over the next few years, that means lots of open positions along the nation's southwestern border. A border that might as well be a wall between the children of Naco and the moon; most of the town's children have never been to the other side and some say they have no desire to do so.
Cory Roddey, a recent graduate of the program, told Stromsta, "Ten years from now, when I'm 27, I'll probably be in the Border Patrol stationed somewhere around here." A moment later he added, "And if I could pick a post, it would be right here. Naco station. Truth is, I have no desire to go to Mexico at all. I just don't find it very interesting. I like it here, and I can't find any reason to go over there."
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