'TechnoPatriots' use Internet to watch border for migrants

Group claims 160 sightings led to 118 apprehensions

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN

Published: 04.19.2008

At least a couple of times a week, Ernie Kubr gets off the night shift and fires up his computer at his home in Nebraska so that he can watch for illegal immigrants trying to slip across the Arizona desert 1,400 miles away.

Kubr uses his mouse to pan with a video camera across desert trails, and stands ready to report anyone he sees to federal authorities in Arizona. He has spotted people twice since he started doing this in November, and "that makes it all worthwhile," even though none of them got caught.

"Sometimes it can be discouraging, but knowing that I'm attempting to do the federal government's job helps inspire me," said Kubr, who works at a manufacturing business in the Omaha area and belongs to an amateur border-watching group called the TechnoPatriots.

Self-appointed border-watchers are increasingly using remotely operated cameras to help catch people sneaking into the country. The cameras represent a high-tech twist on the usual practice of sitting in lawn chairs or pickup trucks close to the border.