O’Rourke’s voice quivered in excitement. “What’s the Khyber Pass, Herman?”
“As you know, Bob, the real Khyber Pass between Pakistan and Afghanistan is an important and well-used route of travel, used for centuries as a link between central Asia and the Indian subcontinent,” Geitz said. O’Rourke nodded impatiently as if he knew all about what Geitz was saying. “Alexander the Great used the Khyber Pass three hundred years before the birth of Christ to invade India. Centuries of traders, soldiers, smugglers, and travelers used that route freely because there was virtually no way to patrol or regulate it. We call this particular trail over the mountains the Khyber Pass because it is by far the busiest route for illegals to travel between the state of Sonora in Mexico and southern Arizona. The Watchdogs have made dozens of intercepts on this trail since our formation two years ago.”
“What do the Watchdogs do up here, Herman?”
“We sit, wait, observe, and report, sir,” Geitz replied. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
“So you spot someone walking on this trail. There’s nothing illegal about that, is there?”
“No, sir, there isn’t, and we don’t treat everyone we encounter up here as illegals,” Geitz said. “Only the ones we definitely know traveled across the border are classified as illegals.”
“And how do you do that?”
“Most times, it’s just watching,” Geitz said. “We station ourselves along the border, which is carefully surveyed and verified, and watch them come across with our own eyes. Sometimes we have Fido observe them coming across.”
“‘Fido?’ What’s that? A dog?”
“Our unmanned reconnaissance drone,” Geitz said. “It’s actually a war surplus Pioneer drone used by the U.S. Navy and Marines during Operation Desert Storm to pick out artillery and shore bombardment targets. The Iraqi soldiers knew the Pioneer drones were used to spot artillery targets and actually surrendered to the drones in very large numbers. It’s been invaluable help in telling us where and when a group will come across. When we see activity, we’ll go out to make contact.”
“But when you make contact, you don’t actually know for sure they’re illegal immigrants, do you? How do you know they’re illegals?”
“Most times we actually see them cross the border—we have it carefully surveyed and mapped relative to our observation positions, so there’s never any doubt,” Geitz explained. “Anyone who crosses the border at other than a border crossing point is in violation of the law, no matter what their nationality is—even natural-born Americans can’t legally do it. But it’s not our job to know or to find out if they’re illegal or not. Only law enforcement has the right to stop them, ask for identification, and ascertain their citizenship or immigration status. Again—and it’s the main point that so many of our critics miss—all the American Watchdog Project does is observe and report. We help the Border Patrol do their job.”
“So when you come across a group of illegals…?”
“We photograph them with our infrared and low-light cameras, send the images to a relay van down on Route 92 to upload our contact images to the Internet, and have the guys in the van contact the Border Patrol. The control unit will then relay any instructions received from them to us.”
“Instructions? What do they tell you to do?”
“They usually tell us to leave the illegal migrants alone, Mr. O’Rourke,” Geitz replied.
“Leave them alone? Let them just stroll into the United States?”
“That’s right, sir,” Geitz said. “We report their location, numbers, general physical description, and any other information we can gather. Sometimes we’ll follow them; many times, if we feel they’re dangerous or if we recognize them as repeat offenders, we’ll escort them all the way down the mountain and try to have the Border Patrol rendezvous with us.”
“You said ‘try’ to have the Border Patrol meet up with you?”
“They just don’t have the manpower to respond to us every time—and frankly, I don’t think they always have the desire,” Geitz said. “Simply put, we make them look bad sometimes. We’re a bunch of volunteers that intercept just as many illegals as they do—that doesn’t look very good in the press.”
“So you’re out here doing intercepts and surveillance and reconnaissance—sounds like a military operation to me,” O’Rourke said. “You call yourself ‘Watchdogs’ but you do a lot more than just observe. Bottom line: aren’t you all just a bunch of vigilantes?”
“No more than a neighborhood watch group would be—our ‘neighborhood’ just happens to be popular immigrant smuggling routes in the mountains and deserts of America,” Geitz replied. “Vigilantes take the law into their own hands, the entire law—they become the police, prosecutors, judge, jury, and sometimes the executioner. We don’t do any of that. Think of us as a neighborhood watch program: we observe and report, nothing more.
“But this is our home, so we act like neighbors as well. We live here, but this is also public land, and anyone can travel through these parts. Outsiders are not treated like intruders or criminals unless we observe and know they are breaking the law—merely walking through this area is not illegal, and we don’t treat those we find as illegals. We’ve offered rides on our four-wheel ATVs in case anyone is injured or having trouble keeping up with the others. We offer water, some food, and first aid, just as we would if we encountered any other hikers on the trail.”
“What does the Border Patrol do after you give them a report on what you’ve found?”
“If they have a unit available, they’ll meet them down at the end of the trail and detain them,” Geitz said. “If they don’t, they get away.”
“Get away? Even if you tell the Border Patrol exactly where they are, they still get away?”
“It’s a matter of manpower, sir. If they don’t have a unit available, they get away.”
“What do the Watchdogs do in that case?”
“Nothing,” Geitz said. “We let them go too. We’ll report their direction of travel, whether or not they were picked up by anyone and a description of the vehicle, but we let them go. We don’t have the power to arrest or detain them unless we actually see them breaking the law. Even then, we tread very lightly.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, for example, if we actually observe and record a person crossing the border in this area, we know that’s an illegal act, because you are only legally allowed to cross the border at a border crossing point. But even if we positively identify the offender and have incontrovertible proof he broke the law, we don’t know all the ramifications of why he did what he did.”
“I don’t understand what you mean. What ‘ramifications’?”
“For example, Mr. O’Rourke, you can legally cross the border at other than a border crossing point if you feel your life is in danger, or if you are fleeing political persecution,” Geitz said. “A lot of times I know the migrants claim all that just to hope to avoid deportation; it may or may not be true. The point is, however, that the Watchdogs don’t make that call. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in our eyes, and we strictly enforce that. We simply observe and report—the rest is up to the authorities.”
“Reports say you try to make citizen arrests on them.”
“Absolutely not true,” Geitz insisted. “Although I know they’re breaking the law, and I have incontrovertible proof of it, the Watchdogs do not make arrests.”
“But you and your men are armed. I see plenty of shotguns and rifles, and almost everyone I’ve seen carries a sidearm. If you intercept someone out here in the dark carrying weapons, couldn’t that be considered an arrest?”