The Rachel Maddow Show sent a couple of scouts to the Arizona-Mexico border in Nogales on August 10th.

The scouts, Laura Conaway and Bill Wolff, arrived in Tucson in the wee hours of the morning on the 10th. They grabbed some shut eye at Bill’s dad’s house in Tucson.

At some point on the morning of the 10th, they woke up and left the Wolff house. They couldn’t know for sure if they would see some coyotes smuggling illegals at the border.

As a side note, departure time from the Wolff house was not mentioned, but they left for Nogales. The trip to Nogales takes about an hour an a half.

In her blog, Conaway stated that when they arrived to Nogales, “Lieutenant RJ Rodriguez, a deputy to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada, took us into downtown Nogales.”

She continued:

“As Bill Wolff pointed out, we saw Border Patrol agents everywhere we went in Nogales — hanging around downtown, cruising along the border fence every five minutes, eating in the local restaurants.”

Wolff and Conaway did find some time to be taken to a section of the fence where it is interrupted by a wash. Conaway made a short blog post and took a short video about that quick stop:

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/11/4868171-where-the-border-fence-ends

Then, it was off to Tucson to the Tap Room Bar at the Congress Hotel for drinks, arriving back in Tucson at 5:30ish that same day.

So, perhaps they left Nogales around 4:00 pm?

I wonder how long they were at the bar versus the border? Conaway posted many more videos to document the great time the scouts had at the bar. There was only one video posted of the border fence! Plenty of documentation, however, at the Tap Room Bar:

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/11/4868469-how-we-fell-in-love-with-tucson

Based on this visit to downtown Nogales and a visit to a selected section of fence in Nogales, this trip lasted just a few hours.

Based in this “evidence”, Rachel’s scout formed an opinion for Rachel Maddow to run with. According to Conaway:

“The charge that Arizona had to pass an anti-immigration bill because the federal government isn’t enforcing the border proves patently ridiculous once you go down there and take a look.”

As evidenced from the blog posts, the scouts spent more time in downtown Nogales and on restaurant row, than checking out dangerous sections of the border – on the outskirts of Nogales.

Based on Conaway’s blog post, she was anxious to get back to Tucson for the party at the Tap Room.

Weren’t they interested in seriously researching a situation that impacts the lives of people living in dangerous border regions?

Sheriff Estrada has shared at least twice on Maddow’s show that the real problems were in the mountains and the canyons outside of town. Yet, Estrada’s tour guide took Maddow’s scouts to downtown Nogales to see the action there!

Santa Cruz County officials sure gave Maddow and her scouts a “true view” of the border.

What a way to support residents in the rural border regions of your county.

Shame on you!

CLARIFICATION at 8:42 pm: For readers who have never been to Nogales, the downtown area of Nogales is adjacent to the large Inspection Station/checkpoint (AKA, The Port of Entry), that is located between Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Most illegal crossers will cross far away from the Port of Entry…crossing in the rural border regions, well away from downtown Nogales.

UPDATE 11:26 pm: At the Port of Entry of all places, yet ANOTHER tunnel existed under the southbound lane of the Port of Entry that Maddow’s scouts visited. Right under everyone’s noses.

There is no problem at the border?

Via the Associated Press:

(AP) – 8 hours ago

TUCSON, Ariz. — Another border tunnel has been found on Arizona’s border with Mexico.

U.S. Border Patrol agents working in cooperation with local and federal law enforcement agencies found a tunnel Friday in Nogales, under the southbound lane at the DeConcini Port of Entry.

The weight of a passenger bus caused a collapse in the road.

Border Patrol agents, with assistance from Mexican law enforcement, discovered an unfinished tunnel originating in Mexico.

From Oct. 1, 2009, to July 31, 2010, five tunnels were identified within the Tucson Sector. During the same period last year, 20 tunnels were discovered.

Authorities say smugglers mostly use tunnels to move drugs to the U.S.