Ed Greenberg

Return to Las Cruces, and Safely Home Again

11 March 2010

We drove back to Las Cruces and got the mail. It was good that this showed up, since it had Roseann’s Social Security card, and we will need that to get her driver’s license. Along with the visit to the Post Office, we had lunch at La Posta, as recommended by Angel in a comment a few entries ago.

On our way back, we stopped at the U.S. Border Patrol Museum. Depending on your politics, you might have differing views of the Border Patrol, but it’s important to remember that lawmaking and law enforcement are two different things. I decided to consider the Border Patrol as a valued part of the forces that protect ME.

The museum shows the history, both early and late, of the Border Patrol, through displays of confiscated items, enforcement equipment, photos and documents. We learned that the Border Patrol is 85 years old. It was originally part of the Department of Labor, later the Department of Justice, and now part of Homeland Security. Until 9/11, it was underfunded and under-respected.

Although most folks think of the Border Patrol as spending all their time sending Mexican border-crossers back where they came from, the main stated goal is the prevention of the entry of terrorists and their equipment and weapons.

I’ve also encountered the Border Patrol several times, as they run inspection stations along the freeway. In all cases, they asked me one question: “US Citizen?” When I replied, “yes”, I was waved through. The curator of the museum is the wife of a former Border Patrol agent, the man who developed their K-9 program. According to the curator, there are working dogs at the checkpoints who will alert to things that no human can detect. One never sees them, but they are there.

We really enjoyed the visit. Photos follow.