KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo, TX: newschannel10.comIllegal Immigrants Putting You at Risk

Illegal Immigrants Putting You at Risk

Your safety is being threatened in ways you may not have thought of by illegal immigrants crossing the country on Interstate 40.

In the 2008 fiscal year... More than 700 thousand illegal immigrants were picked up..

And five thousand of those came from the sector Amarillo is in.

Which makes you wonder how many got past authorities... And are putting you at danger.

Agents in our area work daily to stop terrorism and those looking to bring weapons of war over the border.

Agent Robert Green, with the Amarillo Border Patrol office says, "Our major concern, at this point, is primarily to identify these people so we know who they are, we know who is coming into the country, and if somebody attempts to come into the country who wants to do harm to us, we can try to prevent that."

Your safety isn't the only thing being possibly threatened.. Transportation is dangerous and many people die in the process.

"We also have safety considerations, the vehicle these people are being transported in by the smugglers are usually not the best vehicles, smugglers also have a tendency or propensity to overload these vehicles, so they are being transported in a very unsafe manner." Green says.

These vehicles are not always driven by the most experienced either... And agent green says he has seen them crash and cause fatalities.

The risk of losing control only increases in the winter with slick roads... And your family could be innocent victims.

One other thing... The countries these illegals come from are not up to date with the latest vaccines or medical services..

And they could bring diseases like tuberculosis, polio, or other serious illnesses back into the country.

While they are picking up dozens at times..

Local border patrol agents don't have the resources of those farther down south.

Something that may allow them to catch more people.

"We could definitely use more resources here of course it's up to our management level officers to decide how they want to disperse agents." Green says.

How did we get here? Why is there such a large illegal immigration problem, and what is being done to fix it.

A U.S. Congressman will answer those questions tomorrow for us... And you will have a chance to hear from illegals themselves.