May 2005 Cover Story:
Operation Gatekeeper: U.S. Border Patrol
Story by Ron Edwards
Photos by Arv Schultz
More than 10,000 illegal immigrants will slip across the border from Mexico into the United States on a given day. Some will be caught and returned, only to try again the next day -- and in some cases, the same day.
From the Rio Grande, east of Brownsville, Texas, stretching to the Pacific Ocean, south of Imperial Beach, Calif., the U.S. Border Patrol is constantly watching this 1900-mile expanse for illegal immigrants who challenge authorities daily in their attempt to penetrate the thin line separating Mexico and the U.S.
Arizona's 375-mile border with Mexico is the most heavily patrolled area in the nation. On any given night as many as 600 might climb the 14-foot-tall fence separating Agua Prieta, Mexico and Douglas, Ariz.
They cross the border and make their way across the desert without having to show any ID, be checked for explosives, remove their shoes and belts, or any other security procedures airline passengers endure. Some illegal entrants will make it to the city and obtain phony identification and bogus Social Security cards to mask their unlawful presence.
On March 1, 2003, the functions of several border and security agencies were transferred into the Directorate of Border Transportation Security within the Department of Homeland Security. The latest federal agency is named ICE, which could be confused with the name of a popular rap singer, but actually means Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Under Homeland Security, Customs was on one side and the U.S. Border Patrol on the other. The authorities took that apart and came up with ICE and CBP, or Customs and Border Protection.
As a result of this transition, the role of each agency has changed. ICE brings together investigative and enforcement of Customs and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service that handles a wide range of issues such as money laundering, fraud, cyber crimes, exports and contraband terrorist activity. The CBP, on the other hand, captures and processes illegal immigrants crossing the border into the U.S., seizes narcotics, and prevents terrorists and weapons from entering the U.S. from Mexico. CBP also targets "coyotes," the moniker for those who smuggle immigrants into Arizona. Many victims of "coyotes" are being raped, robbed of their meager possessions, and even taken at gunpoint by smugglers who attempt to extort money from immigrants and their families. Some smugglers accept large sums of money, then abandon their human cargo after crossing into Arizona, where many die in the desert from lack of food and water.
The incredible tasks performed by the Border Patrol on a daily basis requires various types of equipment. Ground-based units use several types of SUVs, vans and trucks. The Marine Operations Center uses 125 makes and models of vessels to patrol the coasts of California, Washington, Texas, Maine, Louisiana, Florida, the Great Lakes, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Air Operations have 115 airplanes and helicopters to patrol 6000-plus miles of international land and water borders.
It takes a special kind of person to wear a Border Patrol badge. Regardless of what area an agent would be interested in working -- ground, air, marine -- they must first survive the rigorous 19-week course at the Border Patrol Academy in Georgia or South Carolina.
Agent George C. Quinn, public relations officer at Border Patrol headquarters in Douglas, Ariz., says, "All agents must learn Spanish while studying immigration and nationality law, criminal law and statutory authority, behavioral science, border patrol operations, firearms, plus physical training designed to exceed the standards expected at Marine Corps boot camp.
Upon graduation, agents are assigned to an official duty station. And then things start to get busy every day. In a single year, more than 400,000 apprehensions are made in Arizona.
During a two-week period in February 2005, the Border Patrol targeting immigrant smuggling in the rugged, mountainous canyons west of Nogales captured 1500 immigrants and $1.8 million worth of marijuana. In March, agents seized nearly a ton of marijuana in Nogales from a Chevrolet Suburban. The street value was about $1.5 million and the Suburban had been stolen in Tucson.
In today's modern high-tech world, some agents perform their jobs in the same manner as Marshal Earp and other famous lawmen of the old West. The Border Patrol still use horses to roam the desert and prevent the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs coming into Arizona through remote canyons that have no roads. Horses can easily work in rugged areas where Humvees and four-wheel drive vehicles are impractical. Agents on horseback go through a three-week training course that include many maneuvers used by cavalry troops in the 1800s.
Horsemen with the patrol unit in Nogales recently arrested 360 illegal immigrants and seized over 2000 pounds of marijuana in a single day. A group of special response team agents camped out and surveyed the harsh landscape and reported what they saw to agents who galloped into action. The immigrants were taken by Border Patrol vans to rendezvous areas where ICE buses drove them to detention facilities.
Agent Quinn described an operation called linewatch. "It involves the detection, prevention, and capture of illegal immigrants at or near the border. Ground-based agents drive to a particular area overlooking the border. As the sun begins to settle on the horizon they wait for anyone to dash across the Mexican border into Arizona."
When darkness falls, the agents notice several people gathering on the other side of the border, patiently waiting for the right moment. Those preparing to cross do not know they are easily seen by agents using night-vision binoculars. Suddenly, one man runs to the fence, climbs over, and tries to hide among sagebrush and mesquite on the Arizona side. When it is obvious he has not been caught, an avalanche swarms toward the fence, some with ladders. Minutes later, they are over the fence and quickly swallowed by the moonless night.
Their freedom lasts for only a few minutes.
Just when they they feel secure in their escape from Mexico, bright lights on Border Patrol vehicles dash their hopes and turn night into day. The agents converge on the large group assembled in the desert gullies and begin to round them up.
One agent explained why they don't try to run away. "For one thing, it's too dangerous. They don't want to take a chance they might get lost on the desert without water. And they know if we arrest them, we will only send them back to Mexico, and they can try again tomorrow."
The Air Division performs the same duties as the ground patrols, except airplanes and helicopters replace Jeeps and Humvees.
Agents with a pilot's license can apply for aviation duty but must first spend three years on the ground. Pilot-candidates must hold a commercial license with an instrument rating, have an FAA Second Class Medical Certificate, and have logged 250 hours.
Mark A. Johnson is the agent in charge of Air Operations in Tucson. Today, Johnson logs more time behind a desk than at the controls of an aircraft. While others fly, he spends most of his time preparing flight schedules, keeping tabs on checkrides and medical exam dates, training sessions, and a myriad of other daily chores. Johnson says, "We get the applicants squared away in Cessnas and Piper Super Cubs and use the FBO in Chandler, Arizona, for tailwheel transitions.
"Applicants will fly until their logbook shows 1500 hours, at which time they go to the National Aviation Training Center in El Paso, Texas, for a commercial-instrument checkride to FAA standards. Upon being qualified as a Border Patrol pilot, the next step is a five-week course to transition into helicopters."
Upon getting a rotorcraft rating, the pilot will spend a minimum of 250 hours with a journeyman pilot, then be signed off for solo operations. Some helicopter pilots volunteer to fly night missions and receive instruction in the use of night-vision goggles and terrain avoidance procedures over the pitch black desert. Recurrency training in both airplanes and helicopters comes with a commercial-instrument checkride every six months.
Johnson says, "the old Customs aviation branch stayed with ICE and use Black Hawk helicopters and twin-engine Cessna Citation jets. The Border Patrol remained with CBP, and we use OH-6A, UH-lH, MD-600N and AS350 A-Star helicopters, as well as Cessna 210s, 182s, and Piper Super Cub airplanes."
Hourly expense for the helicopters is around $300, however, during 2004 the helos were responsible for seizing an estimated $273,000 worth of contraband everyday, which comes to about $2100 per flight hour. The arrest and narcotics seizure rate per flight hour of CBP aircraft represents the highest rate of any law enforcement aviation operation in the nation. In 2004, Border Patrol aviation units affected the arrest of 96,341 persons illegally entering the United States.
Border Patrol pilots in Arizona want to be airborne early in the morning, especially in the summer when the morning sun colors the dew-soaked brush a bright orange, and the long shadows reveal fresh footprints in the sandy desert.
Across an expanse of desolation where nothing marks the Mexican border but a thin line of barbed wire, a pilot manuevers his helicopter 500 feet above the ground and scans the surface for tell-tale signs of intruders. Upon spotting footprints or tire tracks, he follows the signs until he locates a group of illegals wandering along a northbound course.
A typical mission starts with a careful preflight of an AS350 helicopter. Agent Stuart D. Thompson, an experienced pilot who formerly logged time in attack helos in Vietnam, will fly this morning. Thompson straps himself into the right seat (policy at CBP) and soon has the huge rotor blades slicing through the morning breeze.
Seated to his left is Agent Jimmy Chism, who is also a certified EMT and will serve as an extra pair of eyes during the flight.
Thompson departs Tucson International Airport and flies low on a westward heading. Thompson and Chism probe the desolate desert but nothing is seen except a straggling wake of trash left by previous groups that crossed the border.
Then, movement on the ground -- oh, it's just a jackrabbit. Boy, they really grow big out here; this one was almost the size of a small antelope. Perhaps this is were the term jackalope had its origin (the mythical jackrabbit with horns). A few more minutes pass and a meandering herd of javelina scatter from the noise of the advancing helicopter.
Suddenly, Chism spots twelve people moving slowly ahead. Thompson descends and uses a loudspeaker attached to the A-Star to order the group in Spanish to stop. He touches down and Chism jumps to the ground, grabs an automatic rifle, and runs toward the group corraling them near a mesquite bush while Thompson calls headquarters for a truck. After the immigrants are on their way to a holding cell, Thompson rises into the tranquil sky and continues westward. Within minutes, he spots fourteen people who look up, recognize the Border Patrol helicopter, and realize their journey is over. Again, Chism jumps out, gathers the group, and holds them until another truck arrives. The third group, spotted about ten minutes later, includes forty-eight people and Thompson calls another helicopter crew to assist in the round-up.
The rag-tag collection of unfortunate nomads will be taken to headquarters for processing. Illegals with outstanding criminal warrants will be sent to Phoenix or Tucson for action in the courts. All others will be documented and sent south of the border on a bus.
To a casual observer this mission would be a unique, exciting adventure to rival an action-packed movie thriller, but Thompson shrugs and says, "It's just another routine day."
Most of those crossing the border are poor Mexicans looking for work, but officials are becoming alarmed because a growing number hail from Central and South America, Asia, and even the Mideast countries such as Syria and Iran. In 2004, agents arrested over 65,000 people other than Mexicans along the southwest border.
Border Patrols do more than arrest illegal invaders who jump the fence in search of a better life in the U.S. Members of the search and rescue teams have saved the lives of hundreds who became stranded or lost in the desert, including families with small children who make it across the border but soon become extremely dehydrated. The number of families with children has increased dramatically since the twin towers of the World Trade Center became targets for terrorists. During the past five years, more than one-third of illegal immigrants crossing into Arizona were under the age of 17.
Smugglers are not the least concerned with the humanitarian needs of those seeking a doorway to Arizona. Often, "coyotes" demand large fees then lie about the distance illegals must walk, and abandon those who can't keep up. All Border Patrol aircraft and ground vehicles carry extra water to prevent illegals from becoming another statistic at the coroner's office.
More than 200 bodies are recovered each year, but no one knows how many are never found in the secluded areas of the Arizona desert. When a pilot spots the body of an intruder who ran out of water in the searing heat, he calls his dispatcher who calls the county medical examiner. All attempts are made to identify the person, but it's not always possible, especially if the body bag is holding a sun-bleached skeleton.
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano recently signed a bill targeting "coyotes" who have made Arizona a preferred border crossing where illegal immigrants are often left to die in the desert or hide in temporary homes without food and water. Senate Bill 1372 makes human smuggling a Class 4 felony punishable by up to three years in prison.
Arizona Senator Jon Kyl is sponsoring legislation to provide an additional 2,000 front-line Border Patrol agents. Kyl said an amendment to the Senate Budget Resolution calls for an allotment of $352 million to assure sufficient funds are available to train more agents.
Homeland Security officials are worried that terrorists may try to exploit the vulnerability of the Southwestern border and are putting more resources into a comprehensive strategy to secure Arizona's gateway. Robert Bonner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, has pledged to add 534 agents and 23 more aircraft within the next six months.
Last year, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Tucson and Yuma sectors made 589,831 arrests, more than those of California, Texas and New Mexico combined.
The Arizona-Mexico border has become the focal point where more than three million illegal immigrants will attempt to cross the fence and head north this year -- enough to fill 22,000 Boeing 737 airliners making 60 flights every day for a year. The U.S. Border Patrol, armed with the latest technology and sophisticated equipment, will attempt to turn them back. It's a never-ending cycle.
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