Border Patrol told to stand down in Arizona

Border Patrol told to stand down in Arizona
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published May 13, 2005
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050513-122032-5055r.htm

U.S. Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens
along the section of the Arizona border where protesters patrolled last
month because an increase in apprehensions there would prove the
effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers, The Washington Times has learned.
More than a dozen agents, all of whom asked not to be identified for
fear of retribution, said orders relayed by Border Patrol supervisors at the
Naco, Ariz., station made it clear that arrests were "not to go up" along
the 23-mile section of border that the volunteers monitored to protest
illegal immigration.
"It was clear to everyone here what was being said and why," said one
veteran agent. "The apprehensions were not to increase after the Minuteman
volunteers left. It was as simple as that."
Another agent said the Naco supervisors "were clear in their intention"
to keep new arrests to an "absolute minimum" to offset the effect of the
Minuteman vigil, adding that patrols along the border have been severely
limited.
Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar at the agency's Washington
headquarters called the accusations "outright wrong," saying that
supervisors at the Naco station had not blocked agents from making arrests
and that the station's 350 agents were being "supported in carrying out"
their duties.
"Border Patrol agents are the front line of defense against terrorism,"
Chief Aguilar said, adding that the 11,000 agents nationwide are "meeting
that challenge, head-on ... as daunting a task as that may sound."
The chief -- a former head of the agency's Tucson sector, which includes
the Naco station -- said that with the world watching the Arizona border
because of the Minuteman Project, agents in Naco "demonstrated flexibility
and resilience in carrying out their critical homeland security duties and
responsibilities."
But Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, yesterday said "credible
sources" within the Border Patrol also had told him of the decision by Naco
supervisors to keep new arrests to a minimum, saying he was angry but not
surprised.
"It's like telling a cop to stand by and watch burglars loot a store but
don't arrest any of them," he said. "This is another example of decisions
being made at the highest levels of the Border Patrol that are hurting
morale and helping to rot the agency from within.
"I worry about our efforts in Congress to increase the number of
agents," he said. "Based on these kinds of orders, we could spend the
equivalent of the national debt and never have secure borders."
Mr. Tancredo, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus,
blamed the Bush administration for setting an immigration enforcement tone
that suggests to those enforcing the law that he is not serious about secure
borders.
"We need to get the president to come to grips with the seriousness of
the problem," he said. "I know he doesn't like to utter the words, 'I was
wrong,' but if we have another incident like September 11 by people who came
through our borders without permission, I hope he doesn't have to say 'I'm
sorry.' "
During the Minuteman vigil, Border Patrol supervisors in Arizona
discounted their efforts, saying a drop in apprehensions during their
protest was because of the Mexican government's deployment of military and
police south of the targeted area and a new federal program known as the
Arizona Border Control Initiative that brought manpower increases to the
state.
The Naco supervisors blamed the volunteers for unnecessarily tripping
sensors, disturbing draglines and interfering with the normal operations of
the agents. They said that their impact on illegals was "negligible" and
that civilians should leave immigration enforcement "to the professionals."
Several field agents credited the volunteers with cutting the flow of
illegal aliens in the targeted Naco area, saying the number of apprehended
illegals dropped from an average of 500 a day to less than 15 a day.
More than 850 volunteers, in a protest of the lax immigration
enforcement policies of the White House and Congress, sought to reduce the
flow of illegal aliens along a popular immigration corridor on the
Arizona-Mexico border near Naco by reporting illegals to the Border Patrol
as they crossed into the United States.
Their goal was to show that increased manpower on the border would
effectively deter illegal immigration. Organizers said the protest resulted
in Border Patrol arrests of 349 illegal aliens.
Area residents, in a half-page ad in the Sunday edition of the Sierra
Vista Herald, told the volunteers: "Thanks for doing what our government
won't -- close the border to illegal aliens. It was the quietest month we've
had in many years ... You made us feel safe because the border was closed."