Ultra-light aircraft emerge as newest threat on southwest border.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITYBEAT

After several year of cat-and-mouse Mexican smuglers who tunnel under southwest land crossings, Customs and Border Protection has had to play defense in the air.

Ultra-light aircraft have emerged as the latest challenge to agents, said Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher.

"When you think that we've got it figured out, that threat--as the threat does--is going to change and going to morph. We have to be as agile," Fisher said at a recent National Defense Industrial Association homeland security symposium.

The five-mile stretch between the San Ysidro and (May Mesa crossings south of San Diego is one of the most heavily fortified sections that the agency patrols. Smugglers responded by digging numerous tunnels in the area. Now that employed ho ferret out the underground structures, the cartels have taken to the air in ultra-light aircraft, Fisher said.

"Right now, we don't have an interdiction policy," Fishes said. CBP tries to identity them launch air assets and "provide an armed escort back south."

The profits for a successful operation can be enormous, though.

Ultra-light aircraft kits cost anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000, according to the all-about-ultralights.com website. A pilot weighing about 150 pounds could...