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For more than two weeks, Bob Wright and Don Wooley have been living in an arid patch of desert a few miles north of the Mexican border.
By day they plan operations for a crew of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps volunteers who stake out the wind-swept New Mexico desert, equipped with night and thermal imaging equipment. By night, they help look for crossers and call the U.S. Border Patrol as part of the group's second monthlong border watch in New Mexico.
So far, the volunteers say they have seen nearly as many crossers as they spotted during their entire October operation, in nearby Hachita, N.M.
Wright, of Eunice, N.M., said the draw is legislative debates on immigration reform proposals that include guest worker programs and legalization.
"The traffic is heavy all over," the 48-year-old Wright said.
Al Garza, national executive director of the group, said volunteers perched on lawn chairs in New Mexico have so far spotted 178 illegal crossers, almost 80 more than were seen during the October operation.
He said volunteers in California, Arizona and Texas have all seen spikes in traffic. In Falfurrias, in South Texas, border watchers have spotted about 440 people, more than half of what they reported during their October watch. In California, watchers have already spotted about 115 people, compared with just 22 in October. And in Arizona, where the border watch operation first gained global attention last April, volunteers have reported seeing about 835 people, compared with just 800 in October.
Chris Simcox, Minuteman president, said the rise in immigrant traffic is alarming.
"I have been on the border for almost five years, and what we are seeing this year is unlike anything we have ever seen," Simcox said. "I have never seen so many people in my life."
Simcox, who helped start the border watch group, said of about a dozen immigrants interviewed by volunteers, all have said they are heading north in hopes of an amnesty program.
"Our leadership in this country has failed to put up the appropriate (immigration) measures," Simcox said. "These folks on the other side of the border aren't stupid, they see our government cower at the thought of doing anything."
Migrant charities along the border in Mexico also have reported increased traffic with many people citing the U.S. immigration debate as prompting their travels.
Maria Valencia, a Border Patrol spokeswoman in Washington, said agents on the ground also have noticed the spike _ so far this fiscal year arrests are up by 9 percent nationwide _ but said it is easily explained as a seasonal jump that agents see annually.
"This is the time of the year when we see the influx and we'll see even more in May," Valencia said. "It's ... a matter of not if, but how many."
And though the El Paso sector, which includes all of New Mexico and two far West Texas counties, has seen an increase in arrests of nearly 30 percent, Valencia said that is a sign that migration patterns have shifted again _ other southern border sectors have reported decreases _ and that enforcement efforts are working.
For his part Wooley, a 60-year-old retired pawn broker from Lawton, Okla., doesn't buy it. In his estimation, the increased traffic is just one more reason he and the other volunteers are needed.
"It's all because of the Congress and their actions," Wooley said during a recent lunchtime break at a local restaurant. "If you fix the border, you don't have an immigration problem."
