Posted on 09/13/2005 7:52:18 AM PDT by Ajnin
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents said apprehensions of illegal immigrants have been on a decline in the El Centro Sector compared to last year due to an increase in Border Patrol specialty units.
Border Patrol senior agents and public information officers Lloyd Frers and Enrique Lozano said they keep detailed records of all apprehensions through their fiscal year, which begins in October.
Frers said the numbers should be accurate because the fiscal year is coming to an end.
Frers added in fiscal 2004 apprehensions were at 72,000 by the end of September.
"This year we have 51,000 apprehensions thus far," he said.
Frers said a number of different things could have contributed to the decline in apprehensions, including a shoring up of the sector's infrastructure.
"We have been putting up more barriers and we have more agents working the line," he said.
He added the Border Patrol has been patching a number of holes in fences along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"We made them taller and stronger," he said.
Specialty units, such as the Border Patrol all-terrain vehicle units, have shut down many illegal immigrant foot traffic areas in the east and west ends of the desert, said Frers.
When it comes to drug trafficking, the Border Patrol sees more than people think. Agents deal mostly with loads of marijuana going through the desert but have also dealt with loads of cocaine, but not many, Frers said.
Lozano said the oldest and most effective method agents use to detect and apprehend illegal immigrants is when agents use old tires to drag and smooth the sand of the desert floors in order to pick up footprints of illegal immigrants that lead into the United States.
Lozano added many new and updated systems also are in place such as video surveillance cameras, helicopters, airplanes and sensors along the border.
Some illegal immigrants found dead in the desert due to heat exposure or dehydration are not because of systems failing, he said.
Lozano said the reason is because some smugglers cross illegal immigrants after they have been waiting in the sun for several hours without food or water and die some 20 feet from the border.
Border Patrol agents sometimes find body parts out in the desert and must handle it as if it were an entire body that was found.
In 2004 Border Patrol agents found 35 dead bodies or remains. So far in 2005 there has been a slight decrease with 26 bodies found, said Lozano.
Several rescue towers are positioned along the desert for illegal immigrants. The towers have signs in English and Spanish explaining what to do to get help, Lozano said.
The towers also have pictures showing how to push the help button for those who don't understand or cannot read the signs, Lozano added.
"Those towers are positioned strategically in certain areas to save lives," he said.
The towers are more of a life-saving device than an apprehension device, he added.
Every Border Patrol agent is trained as a first responder and is equipped with basic medical supplies to possibly save a life when needed or to keep someone alive until emergency medical personnel arrive, Lozano said.
Frers added agents conduct water rescues as well when illegal immigrants attempt to cross local canals to get into the U.S.
There were three water rescues in 2004 and there have been eight in 2005. A rescue consists of someone drowning and not just someone swimming inside the canal, he said.Frers said given the circumstance, smugglers who cross illegal immigrants will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"But we take special interest of those who endanger people's lives," he added.
Frers encourages anyone who knows of someone smuggling or hiding illegal immigrants inside their homes to contact the U.S. Border Patrol at (800) 901-2003.
When asked about their thoughts of the Friends of the Border Patrol coming to the Valley, Lozano and Frers said they have not given it much thought.
"It will be business as usual," Frers said.
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"Frers encourages anyone who knows of someone smuggling or hiding illegal immigrants inside their homes to contact the U.S. Border Patrol at (800) 901-2003."
Ya know this is such a joke...give me a friggin' break!
All these clowns at the INS & Border Patrol have to do is drive by any Home Depot in America and they'll be busy arresting illegals and filing paperwork 'til their retirement!
LOL...yep.
Or is it just the result of the "stand in one spot and don't move" policy, leading to less apprehensions because...no effort is being made to apprehend anyone?
The decline in illegal crossings are real in El Centro Sector. The traffic has shifted into Yuma and Tuscon Sectors because those Sectors don't have the resources and manpower that El Centro has. The illegals believe it's much easier to cross farther east.
If the Border Patrol wants to strike gold, all they have to do is raid Santa Ana, California, illegal alien heaven. (and Santa Ana isn't the only town, there's many others just like it).
Were there not specific orders from On High in the Border Patrol shortly after the Minuteman event last spring to deliberately keep apprehensions low? As I recall, those orders were issued to demonstrate that the Minutemen were not effective and that the drop in apprehensions had nothing to do with them.
And now we are supposed to believe these statistics as if they mean something?
And speaking of Santa Ana, Sheriff Corona talked about wanting his deputies to enforce the immigration laws, well all he had to do was walk outside his office in downtown Santa Ana. LOL
All this illegal immigration rhetoric is such a load of BS from GWB, Gonzales, RINOld right down to the local cop on the beat, it's not even worth discussing anymore!!!
It IS a load of BS! I have a feeling that when "reconstruction" starts in the hurricane-devastated areas, the jobs BETTER BE GIVEN TO AMERICAN CITIZENS, or the proverbial sh** hitting the fan will erupt against the Bush administration (the very good friends to slave labor).
"It will be business as usual."
That's what we're afraid of....
Those orders were supposedly issued in Tuscon Sector not in El Centro. Illegal crossings in El Centro, as the artcle states have decreased.
Would be nice if the sectors east of you got some additional capability.
There are still a lot of questions left unanswered. Although several Sectors along the border have shown a decrease in crossings with the increase in manpower and equipment, I wonder what is going to happen when all the Sectors are equal. All the manpower and equipment in the world is for nothing if the government keeps taking a politically correct approach to enforcing immigration law. You probably already know that the service's policy on pursuits prevents agents from following load vehicles that violate traffic laws. What good is an army of agents if they have to let a load vehicle go when the driver goes one mile over the speed limit?
If the next terrorist attack comes from someone who came across the border, the Democrats will finally have the smoking gun they've tried to make every situation into to impeach President Bush.
And I, regrettably, will have to agree with them for once.
Well, I thought that only mean't breaking off a chase when it got bad, with reckless driving - a judgement call. But I'm on the outside, just reading about it.
I would say that most likely every smuggler now knows that the simple way to succeed is - speed up. Create the situation they know will result in no pursuit. So it would appear that the policy will generate more dangerous situations, not less. In addition to letting more get through.
That brings me to a general observation. Recently I have seen things on TV like a video of a smuggler T-Boning a Marine in a government truck, in an attempt to push him and his truck out of the way. That was astonishing to me. Years ago, only the craziest of SOBs in Mexico would have attempted something like that. Most were terrified of U.S. law enforcement, because unlike Mexican "law enforcement", you couldn't negotiate or intimidate them.
Not anymore. The PC policies you describe have told them they don't have to be afraid: the U.S. ties up their police and makes them weak. At least that's how the traficantes will undoubtedly interpret it. I believe that's why there is far more violence now than 20 or 30 years ago, not conditions in Mexico, and certainly not because the BP or sheriffs are turning the screws. Quite the contrary.
Terrorist attacks from across the Mexican border happen all the time in the U.S. A guy in Los Angeles parked his truck on a LART track and killed 10 people in the derailment. He was an illegal alien from Mexico, and he did it on purpose.
That's not a terrorist attack?
The people - mostly white people, but increasingly black people - are victimized in violent attacks every day in California, Arizona, NM, Texas by illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America. My own father, for instance, just a few months ago. This is never characterized by the press, or the police, as an act of terrorism, or "hate crimes", which they most certainly are, since we are undoubtedly targeted based on the color of our skin or our perceived ethnicity.
But terrorism and hate crimes they most definitely are. The Southwest I grew up in was so safe, we didn't lock our doors. But that ended in the late '60s. Now there are entire towns and parts of major cities in the West that are basically "Injun Country" for Americans.
That's not terrorism? If not, what is?
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