On The Line: Inside the U.S. Border Patrol [Hardcover]

Erich Krauss (Author), Alex Pacheco (Contributor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Citadel; 1st edition. edition (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806525436
• ISBN-13: 978-0806525433
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #784,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ERICH KRAUSS is a professional Muay Thai kickboxer who has lived and fought in Thailand. He has written for the New York Times and is the author of more than twenty five books, including the New York Times Bestseller, Got Fight?.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Read, February 16, 2004

By 

Steve Jones (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On The Line: Inside the U.S. Border Patrol (Hardcover)

I think 99% of America would be absolutly shocked to learn what's going on along our borders--illegal immigrants from countires such as Iraq paying Mexican smugglers to get them across the border, the Mexican military crossing into Arizona and Texas with narcotics, Coyote smugglers killing illegal immigrants by the dozen, drug cartels offering a $200,000 bounty to anyone who kills a border patrol agent, tunnels a half mile long shooting beneath the border, U.S ranchers arming themselves with machine guns to protect their property. The list goes on and on, and the most shocking part about it is that we seldom hear about these events in the news. Living in Southern California, I had been led to believe that Border Patrol operations such as Gatekeeper have largely stopped the flow of illegal aliens and drugs, but now I realize that they have only pushed the problem into more remote parts of the border where the news media seldom venture. The authors of this book did an excellent job at exposing the truth of what is going on in America's backyard. They interviewed what seemes to be hundreds of patrolmen, politicians, and citizens who deal with these issues on a daily basis, as well as offer a ray of hope for the border patrol under the newly created department of homeland security. Hopefully if enough people read this book, maybe politicians will stop skirting around border issues as they have for the past thirty years and make some much needed changes that will help protect the US from invasion. A MUST READ!

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good history, but......., November 8, 2005

By 

J. Dassaro "Dassaro Imaging Photography" (Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On The Line: Inside the U.S. Border Patrol (Hardcover)

No doubt about it. This book covers the history of the Border Patrol. However, it falls far short of what it ostensibly bills itself and ends up more as a "fluff piece" than anything else.

As someone who has not only served as a Senior Border Patrol Agent (13 years) but also a Border Patrol union president and outspoken critic of the agency, I have studied this agency inside and out without the affects of tunnel vision that typically accompany the job (many say a necessity). Pacheco, as an active agent (when he wrote the book at least), appears headed in the right direction with the book and then suddenly veers off target. His somewhat ambiguous message that border security is a difficult task is obviously an attempt to straddle the line (I apologize for the pun) so as not to appear too contentious or controversial. Did he need to seek agency approval for publication since he was actively employed? If so, then the credibility issue leaps out and the book is worth the historical content alone if nothing else. If he did not need agency approval and was truly writing without restraint, then he failed to accurately convey the real state of the Border Patrol and border security.

Simply put, the Border Patrol, as with most of the Homeland Security subcomponents is disintegrating. Remember the incompetence of FEMA (a Homeland Security subcomponent)? Well, multiply that incompetence times ten. Heard about the poor morale of FEMA employees? Multiply that problem by one-hundred and you have an accurate picture of the Border Patrol. A Border Patrol in which the vast majority of otherwise employable agents spend ninety-percent of their time trying to get out. Those that choose to stay in do so only because of the comparatively worse off agencies in DHS. The bottom line is that as a former agent, I lose sleep at night knowing what I know.

Pacheco did cover the rigorous training regimen accurately even if it bordered on propaganda. That alone may attract candidates to the difficult and completely unrewarding position of U.S. Border Patrol Agent. The field stories are completely unappealing to anyone who served more than a week in a law enforcement position unless they are reading about their own exploits.

Read the book for enjoyment and homage. Just don't expect critical analysis. In fact, this book would be an enjoyable read at Stewarts Bridge (for you IB agents in San Diego).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First rate!, February 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: On The Line: Inside the U.S. Border Patrol (Hardcover)

ON THE LINE is the book to read if you ever wondered how the US Border Patrol functions. A real eye-opener!