From the Border Report #11

The border tour ended with a meeting on Tuesday morning with a meeting with the deputy chief of the local Border Patrol in the El Paso sector. He reiterated that since being subsumed by the new Department of Homeland Security in 2002, preventing terrorism is the patrol’s number 1 priority. The Border Patrol is very happy with the attention that the border has received in the last few years, because that attention has brought more resources to the patrol. Even the rhetoric of Lou Dobbs and the arrival of the Minutemen have brought attention that resulted in more resources to the patrol.

The Border Patrol has 11,000 agents in 20 sectors nationwide. In El Paso, there are 1,342 agents and 12 stations, responsible for 180 miles of land border and 88 miles of river border. El Paso is one of 7 sectors that gets resource priority. Like what we heard in San Diego, the deputy chief her emphasized the need for agents and technology. The patrol doesn’t need lighting and huge barriers (fencing) everywhere, but technology is needed everywhere.

In 2005, 12,500 criminal aliens were arrested in El Paso (perhaps half violent crime, including domestic violence; only small percent were LPRs). The deputy chief boasted that El Paso is the 2d safest city in the US over 500,000 population (something we also heard from local police offers), and the border patrol feels that it has contributed to that safety record. (On the other hand, local police credit the record to their own community police techniques, where the border patrol only plays a small role.)

As in San Diego, the border patrol in El Paso complains about its agents being assaulted with rocks, fists, and guns. They claim that agents exercise restraint and only resort to force when necessary. By increasing the number of agents, violence increased. The patrol argues that an increase of violence against its agents is actually an indicator of its own effectiveness!

The deputy chief would not comment specifically on the Sensenbrenner bill nor the CLEAR act, but noted that if local law officials stop someone for probable cause for a criminal activity and learn they are in violation of immigration law, they should and do call. Certainly they don’t want them at the border; but cooperation with local and state law enforcement is part of layered strategy. There are places for everyone. It’s up to local folks to ask about status. Do they have an obligation to act when they suspect someone is undocumented? That’s a moral question.

Regarding the Minutemen: The deputy chief reiterates that the job of border enforcement is best left to border patrol professionals. When they call, they aren’t treated differently nor given priority. He thinks the effort is waning now. It brought attention to the border, and that helped border patrol in terms of attention on the border. He does acknowledge that he told the Minutemen about areas where they should stay out of because of danger.

bh