Tom Fudge: Smuggling is an art, a science, a business and a crime along the border. And, the San Diego-Tijuana border is one of the epicenters of North American smuggling. The big money may be in drugs, but there's more and more money to be made in human smuggling. It started back in the 1990s when Operation Gatekeeper made it a lot tougher to cross into the U.S. in the San Diego area. Since the terror attacks of 9/11, scrutiny of the border has become even more intense. And now, Congress wants to build a fence all along our border with Mexico. All that will, no doubt, make it more difficult to cross and it will make the job of human smugglers more and more important and profitable. Whether it will actually prevent illegal migrants from entering the U.S.... that's yet another question.
Lowell Bergman has spent a long career producing television documentaries. Formerly with 60 Minutes on CBS, he now works regularly for PBS's FRONTLINE series. And tonight, KPBS Television will air a new documentary that he's done on the subject of human smuggling from Mexico to the U.S.
FRONTLINE'S Crimes at the Border will air tonight at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV, broadcast channel 15, cable channel 11.
Guest
- Lowell Bergman , correspondent for FRONTLINE's Crimes at the Border , which focuses on the business of human smuggling.
