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The rest of the story - The Ladd Ranch.

The Ladd Ranch should be the epitome of border security. It is situated just a few miles from the Naco Border Patrol Station, accessible to agents in mere minutes. It has a fifty (50) foot wide, graded, high speed border fence road the entire length of the ranch. It has five (5) eighty foot tall camera towers which overlook the entire ranch, each with long range day and night capability. It has an untold number of seismic ground sensors from end to end. And finally, it has a radar system focused entirely on the ranch from a rear overlook.

But the Ladd Ranch is not the epitome of border security - far from it. Current and constant video of illegal aliens and drug smugglers crossing the ranch would not be available if it were. See this recent, previously unpublished video of a drug run across the Ladd Ranch  (Click here). The Ladd Ranch remains an active smuggling corridor.

Technology and barricades will never secure the border without sufficient manpower for adequate deployment and timely response. If ever given that sufficient manpower, Border Patrol management need only implement new rules of engagement policies which encourage agents to do the job they thought they signed on for. The Naco Station exemplifies this situation.

Border fences are not a stand alone defense, but they are an effective first line of defense when properly constructed. The 18 foot fence west of the San Pedro River has dramatically reduced illegal alien crossings in that area. The 10 foot fence on the Ladd Ranch is ineffective. Children and pregnant women can climb it - and they do.

If the Ladd Ranch, which is the best defensive opportunity anywhere on the border, is still an active corridor, imagine what is happening in remote areas where none of these defenses exist. Only a fool could believe Napolitano's claim that the border is more secure than ever.