The security checkpoint

In my travels across the deep south Texas region, there is an area right outside Falfurrias most people in the north don't know exists. It's a inspection station staffed by Border Patrol agents.

First of all, let me apologize for these low-quality photos. They were taken from my Sprint camera phone because I forgot to bring my nice camera on this trip.

Falfurrias, Texas is a town located at

27°13′36″N
98°8′42″W

According to Wikipedia, the census of 2000 says "there were 5,297 people, 1,801 households, and 1,354 families residing in the city." You can see on Google Maps or Google Earth that it is pretty far north of the Texas / Mexico border.

A little ways south of Falfurrias, though, there is an Inspection Station. Located roughly at...

27°1'27.14"N
98°8'17.27"W



The station itself has been a south Texas mainstay for a long time.

The inspection station is staffed by Border Patrol agents. They are all, quite honestly and sincerely, very friendly and professional. Their job is to catch drug smugglers and coyotes (illegal immigrant smugglers) coming up from south Texas and trying to get further north. They have a nice billboard in front of the inspection station listing how many drugs and illegal immigrants they have caught to date.

But a little while after 9/11, these little fellows appeared just before the station.




As you draw closer, you can see what they are.



Cameras. Lots of them. Mounted on both sides of the road in sets of five. As you pass, there is a flash (day or night) as your car is recorded for posterity from many different angles. Notice how the cameras are at all different heights. I guesstimate there are 10 cameras on each side for a total of 20.

A quick note to the border patrol... that guy who keeps sticking his tongue out and making funny faces? That would be me. Hope you had a good laugh on some of them.

Once you are at the inspection station, its usually a very quick confirmation of your citizenship and a visual check of your vehicle. There are trained dogs everywhere, and if they don't suddenly go bonkers barking at your vehicle, you're free to proceed.

Coming back on highway 281 south toward Edinburg, you can see the inspection station on the left hand side of the freeway (281 north).



But there's something fairly new on the south side as well. These appeared much later than the ones going north did.



Yep. Cameras for those vehicles going south on 281 as well. Same pattern as the northbound side. Five sets of poles and ten cameras on each side of the road for a total of 20. But there is no inspection station on this side. Just a flash of light from the cameras as you zip on by.

Every so often, I think everything south of Falfurrias is really a DMZ.

So aside from a big collection of me making a silly face all the time, I wonder what the border patrol is doing with all of these photos?

And is there such a thing in other border states?

-end-