While We Dither, Borders Wither

I received an email last night with pictures attached showing our borders being infiltrated:

On Sunday 3-19-06 I was out at a friends ranch on the border in San Diego helping them pick up some trash on the south end of their property when we saw something startling. During a curious absence of Border Patrol on the border road; we saw several vehicles drive right up to the fence from the south side. One of the vehicles carried several men who got out and began cutting through the border fence with a cutting torch. One of them appeared to have a rifle. They were almost done with the cutting by the time the Border Patrol showed up to stop them. When that happened all hell broke loose on the Mexican side of the fence. There was a lot of shouting in Spanish as the men quickly loaded up and all the vehicles raced off at a high rate of speed. Since I'm learning photography; I had my digital camera with me and managed to get some pictures (from a safe distance) of all this happening. I also got some pictures of the fence after it was cut and spoke with some of the Border Patrol agents who bravely responded to this incident.

Pic 1: A close up of the first truck to approach the fence from the south side. An orange glow is visible at the fence where the cutting torch is being used. A man with a long gun is standing at the passenger door.

Pic 2: As the cutting was nearly completed; four additional vehicles drove to the fence while a sixth vehicle appeared to serve as a lookout. A lone Border Patrol unit can be seen moving into the area with flashing lights at the top of the picture. Armed only with a .40 caliber handgun and facing heavily armed and violent smugglers; this took grit.

Pic 3: This side of the fence was cut to the ground in less than five minutes.

Pic 4: This side was a few minutes away from completion. The opening would have been large enough to drive a Humvee through. If the fence wasn't there these vehicles and their unknown cargo would be in the United States of America. Thankfully, the US Border Patrol, Army Corps of Engineers, and National Guard have provided these force multiplying deterrents to prevent that.

Name of contact and phone number upon request and verification.