Coast to Coast AM Jun 03 2008 - The US Southern Border Crisis

Author Jerome Corsi and filmmaker Chris Burgard discussed the making of Border, an investigative documentary on the turbulent state of America\'s southern border with Mexico. Burgard\'s film shows all sides of the border dilemma and included interviews with Border Patrol agents, illegal immigrants, Minutemen, and local ranchers.

He described a dire situation in which the Mexican drug cartel controls illegal immigrants. Immigrants are sometimes stuck in the desert without food and water, and the cartel extorts money from them with threats of harming their families back in Mexico. Corsi concurred, commenting that criminal elements, such as the MS-13 gang, control access to the border. Additionally, illegal immigrants can end up serving as drug mules to get into the US, and women are often raped by the guides (known as \'Coyotes\') hired to take them across the border, Burgard detailed.

The case of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving prison time for shooting at fleeing drug smugglers on the Texas/Mexico border, was also discussed. For related material, see video of the Ramos and Compean Benefit, and the blog agentramos.com.