Posted on 03/16/2003 1:27:54 PM PST by Spiff
 Ashley Evans, 11, of Sierra Vista holds up a protest sign along the streets of Bisbee as a caravan carrying Reps. Jim Kolbe and Raul Grijalva, Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain, and Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary for border and transportation security, drives by on their way to tour the Naco Border Patrol Station. (Suchat Pederson-Herald/Review) |
BY DAVID RUPKALVIS
Sierra Vista Herald/Review
15 March 2003
BISBEE – After listening to local elected leaders and area hospital representatives share their concerns Saturday, ASA Hutchinson and four members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation went to the heart of the action along the U.S.-Mexico border as they met with leaders of the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office.
David Aguilar, chief of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, sad that while the outcry over illegal immigration has peaked recently, the problem is actually coming under control.
“In the Douglas and Naco areas, entries have been reduced from their peak year which was 2000,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar told Hutchinson, the Department of Homeland Security’s undersecretary for border and transportation security, and Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and Reps. Jim Kolbe and Raul Grijalva that Nogales used to be the heaviest crossing point in the nation. Today it has only a trickle of activity. Three years ago, Douglas was the heaviest used crossing point, and the Border Patrol has been able to slow the invitation there, too, he said.
“When we go into an area we gain control of that area,” Aguilar said. “We leave enough resources behind to make sure we can control it and then we expand.”
Due to a lack of resources and manpower, the border Patrol has simply been unable to completely control the entire Tucson Sector, Aguilar said. While portions of Cochise County have been slowly controlled in the last three years, the heaviest flow of illegal immigrations has simply moved to the west, Aguilar said.
To defend his assumption that border crossing have dropped by 70 percent, Aguilar pointed to a chart that showed drops in the number of apprehensions. Aguilar admitted he does not know what percentage of illegals are apprehended and how many avoid detection.
“I don’t mean this to be negative, I think you are doing a great job,” Hutchinson said. “If you are getting 25 to 30 percent, I think as we add resources and infrastructures, even as the traffic slows, I would expect our apprehensions to grow.”
Others questions the Border Patrol leader’s claims.
Todd Evans and approximately 30 other people protested outside the station. Evans, who held a sign that read “Stop the Invasion,” said he wanted to make the congressional delegation stop and think.
“It seems the only representative that Southeast Arizona has in Congress right now is Tom Tancredo (from Colorado),” Evans said. “He’s toured this border more times than McCain, and he doesn’t come with an entourage.”
Another protestor, Cindy Kolb, took on Grijalva for more than half an hour as she repeatedly called on the freshman congressman from Tucson to apologize for calling her a cockroach.
Kolb said she was referring to an article where Grijalva was quoted as saying the members of militia groups were cockroaches. Screaming at the top of her voice, Kolb demanded an apology, but got no response.
Hutchinson and the congressmen also heard from Lee Morgan, resident agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Douglas.
Morgan said that due to the threat of terrorism, his department has changed the way it does business and is spending most of its time tracking and trying to capture people who could be a real threat to the county.
“We’re now concentrating on alien smuggling rings, particularly those who smuggle people from the middle east, from the areas of interest,” he said.
“We’ve located a couple of middle east alien smuggling groups and we’re trying to infiltrate them and track them up. These people are very smart and will do whatever it takes to deliver their product whether it is people or drugs. If we don’t stick to our guns and stop them at the border, we won’t know what is coming into our country.”
After briefly touring the station, the delegation spent some time on the border touring public lands and some private ranches.
DAVID RUPKALVIS may be reached at (520)458-9440 Ext. 180 or by e-mail at david.rupkalvis@svherald.com
VIPs Visit Overrun Arizona-Sonora Border - 3/15/03
American Border Patrol Was there
BLACKHAWK HELICOPTERS LIFT VIPS OFF RANCH
McCain, Kyl, Kolbe and Grijalva end tour at Lad Ranch
Palominas, AZ (ABP) March 15 -- Following a visit to the Border Patrol station at Naco and the Naco Port of Entry, the VIP tour of the border ended with a luncheon at the expansive Lad Ranch in a remote area of Southeast Arizona. American Border Patrol cameras got close enough to capture this photo of two of the three Blackhawk helicopters that took the VIPs away.
ARIZONANS PROTEST FAILURE TO CONTROL BORDER
Demonstration at Naco Border Patrol Station one of largest in recent memory
Arizonans line road leading into Naco Border Patrol station.
Signs express concern over "invasion" "drugs".
Convoy of VIPs leaves Naco Border Patrol station enroute to Naco border crossing point.
American Border Patrol Mobile Satellite Transmitter (MIST) unit in front of Naco Border Patrol station.
See Saturday, 3/15/03 PM feature
Richard HumphriesABP Board Member on VIP Tour
Naco (ABP) 3/15/03 -- Unexpectedly, American Border Patrol board member Richard Humphries became a part of the official VIP tour of the Naco border area. After a brief meeting at the Copper Queen hotel in Bisbee, Humphries was not only asked to speak at the breakfast meeting, he gave Senator McCain a ride to the Naco Border Patrol station and, later to the Naco Port of Entry where he again addressed the group. Humphries identified himself as a board member of ABP and reminded the audience that Rep. Grijalva had once called people like him "cockroaches." All in all, his comments were friendly and even handed, observers noted. Humphries is a former undercover drug agent and pilot for the state of Arizona., and a former Phantom fighter pilot.
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Yes. He called us cockroaches. His first act as congressman was to undermine our efforts. He is an agent of Mexico, plain and simple.
I told the Tucson Citizen reporter the following (and he said he would not print it - coward):
Rep. Grijalva implies that we who want the border laws enforced are "racists". Who is the racist?Grijalva was a member of the La Raza Unida Party before he bacame a Democrat.
Grijalva celebrates Dia de La Raza
Grijalva's candidacy was supported by The National Council of La RazaLa Raza means, "The Race". Who is the racist here?
I didn't have time to mention that Grijalva is a former member of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA). Here's what they are all about in their own words.
In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal "gringo" invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlán from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny.We are free and sovereign to determine those tasks which are justly called for by our house, our land, the sweat of our brows, and by our hearts. Aztlán belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans. We do not recognize capricious frontiers on the bronze continent.
Brotherhood unites us, and love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner "gabacho" who exploits our riches and destroys our culture. With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlán.
For La Raza to do. Fuera de La Raza nada. [Translation: Outside the Race nothing]
See the entire racist, seditious manifesto of MEChA right here. Cringe as you learn that there is a MEChA chapter at almost every university and college in the United States. Register shock as you realize that this is the constitution of MEChA.
Does Grijalva renounce his former membership in MEChA? No. In fact, he spoke at a MEChA event in 1997.
Who, exactly, does Grijalva represent? Who is the racist cockroach?
Read even more about Grijalva at American Patrol's GrijalvaWatch
He's a frikkin' moron, and everyone knows it.
Remember when Aguilar said that all the trails and trash by the border couldn't have been caused by illegal border intruders because the number of apprehensions was down. And he suggested that the trails and trash must have been caused by the new influx of "campers and hikers" that have come to the now safe area.
No question. He is a blithering idiot. I pity the BP agents who have to serve under that jackass.
Border security chief draws protesters on both sides of immigration issue
Luke Turf Tucson Citizen March 16, 2003
BISBEE - A visit by the official in charge of U.S. border security drew protesters from both sides of the illegal immigration issue yesterday.
About 20 protesters supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants and a guest worker program picketed outside a meeting here attended by Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security at the Department of Homeland Security.
"We need a visitor workers program," said protester Paul Tompkins, a Palominas resident, who said he wants to avoid buying food harvested by illegal immigrants who risk their lives crossing Arizona's harsh desert.
When Hutchinson later visited the Border Patrol station in Naco, about 50 protesters lined the streets. Unlike their Bisbee counterparts, the protesters wanted the federal government to take more action to keep illegal immigrants out of Arizona.
"We have lived in a war zone for six years," said B.J. Kuykendall, who lives on a ranch about 30 miles north of the border. Kuykendall said illegal immigrants "have trashed our ranch, they have trashed our livelihood."
Hutchinson was joined in a two-day tour of the Arizona border by Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, and southern Arizona congressmen Raúl Grijalva and Jim Kolbe. The tour ended yesterday.
At the Bisbee meeting, Douglas Mayor Ray Borane told Hutchinson a guest-worker program would help stem the flow of illegal immigration.
"I think (border enforcement) is a losing battle," Borane said. "First and foremost we have to recognize it's a labor problem"
Borane also pleaded with Hutchinson to keep the border open for commerce in the face of heightened security prompted by terrorism concerns. Between 60 percent and 75 percent of Douglas' economy depends on Mexicans shoppers, he said.
"We want to keep the borders open," Hutchinson replied.
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Four Illegals Caught in Act While Politicians Visit NACO BP Station
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Glenn:
At yesterday's breakfast at the Copper Queen hotel, I got to speak to and with Hutchinson, McCain and Kyl and, perhaps even more satisfying to me, I got to speak about Grijalva, in his presence, to a room full of elected officials, dignitaries, Border Patrol supervisors and the press.
I told the group that I was in no way there to represent the ABP, but that I am on the board of directors of that organization, whose members Grijalva had called 'cockroaches', when he labeled it a 'hate group'.
I pointed out that, when residents of a city neighborhood organized 'watch groups', they were praised for their efforts and supported by the authorities and that the ABP was nothing more than a group dedicated to the same end, with the focus on our borders, rather than just our back yards. I told Hutchinson that I felt, after hearing his remarks about 'sealing' the border, that he didn't understand what we meant when we requested that the border be sealed, that all that we wanted stopped were the people sneaking into our country illegally, most across the large remote areas between our official ports of entry, not the legal commerce or anyone with the proper documentation crossing legally.
Hutchinson seems pretty adamant, to my dismay, about not putting the military on the border. He spoke about having arranged for an additional 70 Border Patrol agents to be assigned to the Arizona border this year and I regrettably neglected to ask him if he knew that BP was losing many more agents than that every year. After the breakfast, McCain, at my request, rode alone with me in my Suburban to two other meeting places and we discussed a guest worker program, the military on the border, Mexico's attitude about America, etc. Then, I suppose because I had McCain in my vehicle, I was allowed to attend Aguilar's dog and pony show at the Naco Border Patrol station, where Aguilar's emphasis was, of course, how the apprehension numbers are down, showing that BP must be stemming the flow. He said nothing about the 'got-away' numbers but both Hutchinson and McCain seemed to take note of that.
I was gratified to see, from comments and questions posed by Hutchinson, that he didn't seem to be buying much of Aguilar's presentation. After that, I joined the caravan of vehicles, mostly Border Patrol, which went to a ranch west of Naco, on the border, where we had a picnic lunch, and I was again allowed to speak to Hutchinson, McCain, Kyl and Kolbe, while Grijalva just sat, smoked cigarettes and glowered at me. I told the group, which included all of the above dignitaries, that I was unhappy with Kolbe's micro-management of the Border Patrol, especially his orders that the check points be removed. I stated that I thought that Kolbe simply didn't understand just how the check points had operated and that their absence was allowing thousands of illegals to skate freely by on our highways into the interior of our nation, instead of being pushed into the more remote areas where people like me could see to it that they were apprehended.
He got angry, told me that he didn't want to argue with me then but that he would talk to me about it later.
It, overall, was the best time I have had since the day I first soloed. There really is more but I'll fill you in when next we meet.
Richard Humphries
Board Member
American Border Patrol
Borane also pleaded with Hutchinson to keep the border open for commerce in the face of heightened security prompted by terrorism concerns. Between 60 percent and 75 percent of Douglas' economy depends on Mexicans shoppers, he said.
Now this is a subtle piece of misdirection. No one is talking about shutting down the legal ports of entry. The shoppers Borane is so concerned about cross legally, do their business and go home again -- through the port of entry both times with legitimate border crossing cards issued by our government. None of that Matricula Consular crap.
The real problem is out on the border fence, where the thousands of illegals and drug smugglers cross over.
Borane is partially correct about it being a labor problem. If we manage to shut down crossings out on the fence line, just think of all the poor coyotes and narcotraficantes who would be out of a job. And think of all the hardworking gangbangers from Phoenix and Tucson laid off from stealing vehicles and providing drivers for all those loads of immigrants and drugs.
Who's "we"? Who keeps appointing despicable jerks like Ziglar and Hutchinson? Out the door in 2004...........
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