Border Patrol told to stand down in Arizona

Border Patrol told to stand down in Arizona
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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."
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Watch for Continuing Coverage on KOLD News 13
FBI Sting in Southern Arizona
May 13, 2005, 12:17 AM

KOLD News 13 Staff

Sixteen current and former U.S. soldiers and law enforcement officers have agreed to plead guilty to participating in a widespread bribery and extortion conspiracy. Five airmen stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base are also implicated and will be handled by military courts.

The criminal charges against the defendants arise from Operation Lively Green, an FBI undercover corruption investigation that began in December 2001.

In documents filed today in Tucson, the sixteen defendants charged in federal court agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to enrich themselves by obtaining cash bribes from persons they believed to be narcotics traffickers. Those individuals were actually Special Agents from the FBI, and agents say the defendants used their official positions to assist, protect and participate in the activities of what they believed was an illegal narcotics trafficking organization engaged in the business of transporting and distributing cocaine from Arizona to other locations in the southwestern United States.

In order to protect the shipments of cocaine, the defendants wore their official uniforms and carried their official forms of identification, used official vehicles, and used their color of authority, where necessary, to prevent police stops, searches, and seizures of the narcotics as they drove the cocaine shipments on highways that passed through checkpoints manned by the U.S. Border Patrol, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and Nevada law enforcement officers. Many of the defendants also accepted additional cash bribes in return for recruiting other public officials they believed to be corrupt to further facilitate the activities of the fictitious narcotics trafficking organization.

According to court documents, all of the defendants escorted at least two shipments of cocaine from locations such as Nogales, Arizona and Tucson, Arizona to destinations which included Phoenix and Las Vegas, Nevada. The defendants pleading guilty today transported a total of over 560 kilograms of cocaine and accepted over $222,000 in cash bribes as payment for their illegal activities.

In one instance, on Aug. 22, 2002, several of the defendants drove three official government vehicles, including two military Humvees assigned to the Arizona Army National Guard (AANG), to a clandestine desert airstrip near Benson, Arizona, where they met with a twin-engine King Air aircraft flown by undercover agents of the FBI. Those defendants, while in full uniform, supervised the unloading of approximately 60 kilograms of cocaine from the King Air into their vehicles. They then drove the cocaine to a resort hotel in Phoenix where they were met by another undercover agent of the FBI, posing as a high-echelon narcotics trafficker, who immediately paid them off in cash.

In another instance, on April 12, 2002, defendant John M. Castillo, 30, while on duty as an inspector for the INS at the Mariposa Port of Entry located on the U.S. border at Nogales, Arizona, twice waved a truck he believed to be carrying at least 40 kilograms of cocaine through the border without being inspected. On or about Aug. 1, 2002, Castillo also sold an undercover FBI agent INS documents which fraudulently provided for the entry of undocumented aliens into the United States.

In addition to Castillo, the defendants who have agreed to plead guilty are:

* Robert L. Bakerx, 43, a Sergeant in the Arizona Air National Guard;
* David M. Bustamante, 35, formerly a corrections officer with the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC);
* Joel P. Bustamante, 33, formerly a corrections officer with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons;
* Jorge A. Calzadillas, 22, a private first class in the AANG;
* Demian F. Castillo, 33, a specialist first class with the AANG;
* Mark A. Fillman, 55, formerly a specialist first class with the AANG;
* Jimmy L. Ford, Jr., 29, formerly a corrections officer with the ADOC;
* Guillermo German, 36, formerly a corrections officer with the ADOC;
* Angel S. Hernandez, 31, formerly a sergeant in the United States Army;
* Moises Hernandez, 21, a Private in the AANG;
* Leslie B. Hidalgo, 24, a Private First Class in the AANG;
* John F. Manje, 36, formerly a sergeant in the AANG and formerly a corrections officer with the ADOC;
* Gladys C. Sanchez, 24, formerly a corrections officer with the ADOC;
* Angel M. Soto, 41, formerly a corrections officer with the ADOC;
* Phillip Varona, 22, formerly an officer with the Nogales, Arizona Police Department.

The Davis-Monthan Airmen charged in the sting:

* Staff Sgt. Vincent U. Kerley, 355 Aerospace Medicine Squadrom
* Senior Airman Jareese V. Jones, 355 Security Forces
* Tech. Sgt. Michael J. Dahl, 12th Air Force
* Senior Airman Manuela D.C. Scott, 355 Mission Support Squadron
* Airman First Class Adrian R. Watson, 355 Logistics Readiness Squadron

"Now more than ever, it is critically important that those on the front lines of our nation's borders remain uncorrupted," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richter. "A corrupted border creates a grave threat to the national security of this country. We will continue to work to ensure that those employed to protect our homeland do not sell their offices and badges to the highest bidder."

"The actions of those charged in this investigation should not reflect upon the integrity of the agencies that once employed them, nor should it be a reflection upon the honorable men and women who continue to serve within their ranks," said Special Agent-in-Charge Monroe. "We also want to commend these agencies for their partnership as they remained focus on their mission to serve and protect the American public."

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each defendant has agreed to cooperate in this ongoing investigation.
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