American Indian Customs unit tracks smugglers the old-fashioned way

International Herald Tribune
By Randal C. Archibold
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Photo by Rick Scibelli Jr. for The New York Times

TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION, Arizona: A fresh footprint in the dirt, fibers in the mesquite. Harold Thompson reads the signs like a map.

They point to drug smugglers crossing illegally from Mexico, 10 or 11 of them. The deep impressions and spacing are a giveaway to the heavy loads on their backs. With no insect tracks or paw prints of nocturnal creatures marking the steps, Thompson determines the smugglers probably crossed a few hours earlier.

"These guys are not far ahead; we'll get them," said Thompson, 50, a strapping Navajo who follows the trail like a bloodhound.

At a time when all manner of high technology is arriving to help beef up security at the Mexican border — infrared cameras, sensors, unmanned drones — there is a growing appreciation among the federal authorities for the American Indian art of tracking, honed over generations by ancestors hunting animals.