The Border Patrol Auxiliary provides voluntary assistance to DHS

San Diego- Stepping up the battle at the U.S./Mexico border gets much needed help from the Border Patrol Auxiliary group who for years has provided voluntary assistance to US Customs and Border Enforcement.

The group works indirectly with Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Border Patrol.

“We started this organization four years ago to help train and educate private citizens as well as neighborhood watch groups using DHS approved training resources,” says Carl Braun Border Patrol Auxiliary founder.

The group watches the southern borders that California shares with Mexico as well as monitoring the Maritime waters off the California coastline. Along with the Border Patrols increased agents and K-9s on the ground progress is being made.

“The more agents along the border the more likely we will detect, identify, classify, respond to and ultimately resolve all threats within our operations,” says Ralph DeSio spokesperson for the US Border Patrol.

Although the Auxiliary is not an official arm of DHS, they are a part of a handful of private sector organizations dedicated to helping secure our nation’s borders, according to Braun.

Braun also contends his organization help wake-up the American public to the real issues at the border and encouraged the doubling of the agents currently working for Border Patrol.

“We are self-funding and concerned Americans,” Braun states. “We do this because without ordinary people like us, amnesty would be a reality and our country would be overrun already.”

The group estimates they are responsible for thousands of detected illegal aliens crossing into the United States. These illegal crossers were then processed by Border Patrol and sent back to their home countries.

The Border Patrol Auxiliary provides training to prospective citizens. “We provide DHS certified “Citizen Watch Group” training and “train the trainer’ courses for all citizens watch groups,” Braun explains. “This training helps the citizen better understand the mission of DHS, BP and ICE and how citizens play a role in securing the homeland.”

Once the group is trained they are put to work on the border. They monitor activities and report back to Border Patrol, but conduct no arrests on their own. Their record is spotless with hundreds of thousands of hours in the field with no injuries and no incidents.

A third front used in the battle against illegal immigration is the border patrol checkpoints. According to the Border Patrol, “the checkpoints are a critical tool in a multi-faceted national border protection strategy that when combined create a strong deterrence to illegal entry at the international border.”

Although you may only see a few agents at the checkpoints, there are many assigned to a perimeter area to contain those trying to bypass the checkpoint.

A typical day for the Border Patrol unit has 1,275 canine enforcement teams out in the field as well as 18,276 vehicles and 275 aircraft hovering above the skies. These numbers are according to the Department of Homeland Security. The numbers include protecting all the U.S. borders not just the southern border.

On any given day the Border Patrol says they make 2,796 apprehensions and arrests 73 illegal criminals and one terrorist related/national security.

The Border Auxiliary group feels they are an integral part of keeping American’s safe at night. “Citizen Watch Groups have been an integral part of securing our communities since the days of Paul Revere,” Braun said. “Our neighborhood is the most dangerous in America.”

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