Tucson CitizenTucson Citizen

Move I-19 checkpoint, Giffords letter asks

Lawmaker also wants more agents

In a letter to Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona asks that the agency move a temporary checkpoint from Interstate 19 north of Tubac and station more agents in the area to reduce the impact of human and drug smuggling on residents and businesses.

Giffords’ letter, dated May 14, comes amid reports of increased violence in the communities around the checkpoint and the Border Patrol’s push to build a seven-lane, permanent checkpoint along the I-19 corridor.

The letter detailed residents’ concerns that smugglers were circumventing the semipermanent checkpoint, which has been there since November, and invading neighboring communities. Residents experienced threats to their homes and have been affected by violence associated with what appears to be a war among drug smugglers, Giffords wrote.

“This is completely unacceptable,” she said, “and local law enforcement cannot be expected to manage the problem alone.”

Giffords also asked the Border Patrol to deploy “more sensors, radar, cameras and other technology” to alert authorities to smugglers going around the checkpoint so they can be apprehended.

Border Patrol spokesman Xavier Rios said that Aguilar had likely not received the letter yet but would respond to Gifford as soon as he does.

Citizen Online Archive, 2006-2009

This archive contains all the stories that appeared on the Tucson Citizen's website from mid-2006 to June 1, 2009.

In 2010, a power surge fried a server that contained all of videos linked to dozens of stories in this archive. Also, a server that contained all of the databases for dozens of stories was accidentally erased, so all of those links are broken as well. However, all of the text and photos that accompanied some stories have been preserved.

For all of the stories that were archived by the Tucson Citizen newspaper's library in a digital archive between 1993 and 2009, go to Morgue Part 2

Search site | Terms of service