| Just dust them (Bill Wattenburg)
September 7, 1994 Todd Bishop, Staff Writer A Chico State University-affiliated physicist has found a way to make border-jumping immigrants as bright as fireflies in the night, ready to be caught not in glass jars but in the hands of the *.S. Border Patrol. Bill Wattenburg, a 1958 Chico State graduate and current research scientist through the Chico State University Foundation, published a piece last month in Science magazine detailing a new way to stop unwanted immigrants. The article explained fluorescent dust, if sprinkled on the border, will rub off on the clothing of people running or crawling into the country. An ultraviolet flood light would illuminate the dust, allowing border patrol agents to find and send back those who would otherwise make the United States their home. The effect is the same as that of a black light on a white poster, Wattenburg said. His present work through Chico State deals with molecular biology and "has nothing to do with" the border dust theory. The idea actually came 25 years ago, when Wattenburg was showered with a flame-retardant substance during a forest fire. "Afterward, I noticed that my clothes sparkled when I walked by a UV light in a barroom," he said. That discovery led to a series of experiments. "We proved simply that if you dusted a fairly innocuous fluorescent material like zinc sulfide over the ground, someplace where it would rub off on you, that you could detect someone at large distances if you shined a UV light out." The scientist was challenged on the border dust issue by immigrant-rights group who said his tactics were inhumane. "Right now they're pretty brutal," Wattenburg countered. "Those coming over the San Diego border are being chased like cattle." In contrast, his plan requires sprinkling dust on the ground and shining a light into the darkness. "Literally, flour will do the job," he said. Today's high-powered UV lasers "make it a hundred times easier to do." "Fluorescence is not a harmful characteristic, cancerous or anything else," Wattenburg said. "All I'm proposing is something that is as innocuous and harmless as you could imagine." Back in the late 1960s, Wattenburg thought the technique would be best used to spot opponents on the battlefield. But today, he said he believes the invasion of immigrants deserves just as much attention. "The most chronic infiltration problem happens to be illegal immigration over our own borders, and when I looked into that I realized just how serious it was," he said. "Verified numbers are over $3 billion a year now," Wattenburg said. "Those are the direct costs for medical care, welfare and other services that have to be provided to illegal immigrants." He contends the amount of money spent in California each year on illegal immigrants is enough to cover the tuition of every college and university student in the state. Wattenburg is suggesting a six-month test of his theory on the border near San Diego. As part of the plan the Border Patrol would learn to distinguish between human reflections and those of animals which wander across the border. Illegal immigrants are also a hot topic in the world of politics. California voters will decide in November on Proposition 187, which calls for tougher immigration laws. After graduating from Chico State's electrical engineering program, Wattenburg went to the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his doctorate in nuclear physics. He is currently the host of "The Open Line to the West Coast," on San Francisco's KGO radio. The program requires him to "tackle everybody on everything." Copyright Wednesday, September 7, 1994 by The Orion Contact Bill Wattenburg: BillWattenburg2@yahoo.com
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