Where is the border with Mexico? At the official border or 100 miles inland?
by Hugh Holub on May. 24, 2011, under border issues, border patrol, border patrol tucson sector, customs and border protection, drug smuggling, mexican drug cartels, politicsIn spite of President Obama’s claims that the border is sufficiently secure to allow for immigration law reform, a lot of people in the rural areas near the border don’t agree.
Residents in the borderlands upside Mexico demand that the border be secured at the border.
Over the last decade we have seen the number of Border Patrol agents increase from around 4,000 to over 20,000 agents.
This huge increase is touted as showing the federal government’s committment to securing the border.
If all those new agents had been concentrated at the actual border, things would probably be a lot better than they actually are.
What has happened is a lot of Border Patrol agents were concentrated near the border in border cities such as Nogales, Arizona.
Illegal entry and illegal alien problems significantly diminished in border cities where Border Patrol agents were concentrated, and the border fence was constructed.
Border Patrol and White House officials can boast about how border city Mayors, such as Nogales Mayor Artuiro Garino, can sing the praises of how safe and secure their communities are because of the saturation of border cities with Border Patrol agents.
But one only has to go a few miles west of Nogales where the border fence ends, and where there is no easy road access along the border, and notice a sudden drop in the saturation of Border Patrol agents near the border. They just are not there.
These are the gaps in the border through which drugs and illegal aliens continue to flow.
These are the gaps in which border bandits such as those who murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry still have free access.
Where do you find Border Patrol agents in Arizona?
Drive around the southern third of the state and there are Border Patrol agents all over the place 20 and 30 and even 90 miles away from the border. I routinely see more Border Patrol agents at the Petrol truck stop in Eloy than I’ve ever seen in California Gulch on the border.
I have done many border area tours for media and politicians and the same scene repeats itself. We see more Border Patrol agents between Arivaca and Amado than we do on the Ruby Road corridor near the border.
Under federal law the Border Patrol can operate freely anywhere within 100 miles of the border, stop anyone without probable cause to determine whether or not they are legally inside the US, and just prowl around hoping to stumble across drug smugglers or illegal aliens.
Instead of concentrating themselves close to the border, the Border Patrol bosses have decided to spread their forces out all over the 100 mile zone. Checkpoints are all over the place…though these are mostly closer in at places like the I-19 checkpoint north of Tubac, about 25 miles north of the line.
The checkpoints are clearly effective in catching a lot of smuggled drugs…but they are often by-passed by drug smugglers and illegal aliens walking through the mountains on either side of the checkpoint. A lot of illegal aliens and drug smugglers are still getting inside the US in spite of the Border Patrol’s checkpoints and deployment. They are still freely crossing the actual border.
Consider the Tucson Sector zone of the Border Patrol deployment…262 miles of border. Take the 3,000 Border Patrol agents currently assigned to that sector…figure 1,000 per shift…and either scatter them in an area 262 miles long and 100 miles wide (26,200 square miles)…or
262 miles long and 10 miles wide (2,620 square miles).
In the current scenario that works out to one Border Patrol agent for every 26.2 square miles.
In the close-in deployment the agent density would drop to one agent per 2.62 square miles.
Do you understand the difference?
We probably have several agents per square mile inside Nogales, and maybe 1 agent in 100 square miles west of Nogales.
We are probably at the point where simply adding more Border Patrol agents may not change the reality on the ground if these additional agents are scattered all over the 100 mile wide zone from the border.
A lot of us border areas residents cannot understand what the point of putting so many Border Patrol agents all over the place many miles from the border. Conspiracy minded folks see this zone as an experiement in how much violation of our Constitutional rights the feds can get away with. See Consitution Free Zone.
What is really needed is someone way high up in the Administration to challenge the Border Patrol’s strategy of scattering their assets all over the 100 mile wide zone, and concentrate them closer to the real border. Say within 10 miles of the line.
The more the flow of illegal aliens and drugs can be stopped at the actual border, the fewer incidents there should be of chasing people around Pinal County.
And we would not be worrying about encountering drug cartel bandits 20 miles north or 60 miles north of the border as we now do.
100 Mile jurisdiction:
8 C.F.R. PART 287—FIELD OFFICERS; POWERS AND DUTIES Title 8 – Aliens and Nationality
8 CFR § 287.1 Definitions.
(a)(1) External boundary. The term external boundary, as used in section 287(a)(3) of the Act, means the land boundaries and the territorial sea of the United States extending 12 nautical miles from the baselines of the United States determined in accordance with international law.
(2) Reasonable distance. The term reasonable distance, as used in section 287(a) (3) of the Act, means within 100 air miles from any external boundary of the United States or any shorter distance which may be fixed by the chief patrol agent for CBP, or the special agent in charge for ICE, or, so far as the power to board and search aircraft is concerned any distance fixed pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) Reasonable distance; fixing by chief patrol agents and special agents in charge. In fixing distances not exceeding 100 air miles pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section, chief patrol agents and special agents in charge shall take into consideration topography, confluence of arteries of transportation leading from external boundaries, density of population, possible inconvenience to the traveling public, types of conveyances used, and reliable information as to movements of persons effecting illegal entry into the United States: Provided, That whenever in the opinion of a chief patrol agent or special agent in charge a distance in his or her sector or district of more than 100 air miles from any external boundary of the United States would because of unusual circumstances be reasonable, such chief patrol agent or special agent in charge shall forward a complete report with respect to the matter to the Commissioner of CBP, or the Assistant Secretary for ICE, as appropriate, who may, if he determines that such action is justified, declare such distance to be reasonable.
(c) Patrolling the border. The phrase patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States as used in section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act means conducting such activities as are customary, or reasonable and necessary, to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States.
May 24th, 2011 on 9:46 am
Take about 80,000 U.S. Army troops (combat division types) change their uniforms to Border Patrol uniforms, change thei paychecks to Border Patrol and send them here. Posse Commitus problem solved.
Any nation that refuses to at least try to defend its own border… .is not a country. We are cowards. .Or at least the leadership is. And companies who hire the illegals are traitors.
This is just like it was in the 1870′s. The government refused to have a large enough Army to deal with the Apaches. The citizens took matters into their own hands and many people died. The Apache Wars went on way far to long. Too many Apache lives lost and ours.
Yes, overwhelming force does work. If we are too cowardly to use it then we dont deserve to have a country. It’s pretty obvious that Nappy (thats why she was hired) and Obama want the illegals made citizens, votes. Remember “alligators and moats, alligators and moats”.
May 24th, 2011 on 10:00 am
Border Patrol check station between Tombstone and Benson I stop and hand them my passport. They looked it over, walked around my Laredo thumping the doors and get back to my window and ask me if I’m an American Citizen! “you’re holding my passport sir!”
1,800 miles of border – 20,000 agents! No wonder our country is in trouble, wasted money to feed this broken money hungry system!
May 24th, 2011 on 10:33 am
The configuration of border patrol agents is by intentional design, as is the open and unprotected sections of the border. This way human offal like George W. Filth and Obama can boast about the numbers, spend zillions of taxpayer dollars, and make sure the cheap-labor cheap-retail sales flow continues unbridled. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce – owned crowd in Washington have been getting away with this for well beyond the past decade. As Arizona prepares to put up it’s own fencing, watch the Beltway cosa nostra throw up every restriction and regulation they can dream up to stop it. The U.S. federal government is a criminal organization made of Teflon. You can vote-them-out until you puke, but the Chamber is mentoring new candidates to replace them 24/7. Americans are idiots and can be easily bamboozled.
May 24th, 2011 on 6:05 pm
I am aware of our border history. Thanks. I just think we need to act like men and take care of our border. Why are we afraid of these peons.
Keep posting comments! We are outnumbered in this liberal electronic newspaper.
May 24th, 2011 on 10:09 pm
Hey wyatt, don’t trip on 007′s comments. He writes the same comments over and over on all the border articles. Kid just plays video games, thinks US armed forces are amazing. But at the end does nothing but hide behind his computer.
May 24th, 2011 on 11:17 pm
So you think you know what kind of person I am…. Pretty funny. So what kind of answer do you suggest, if you have one. Oh let me guess. Open the borders, make them all citizens. You are a tool of the Cartels and the “Open Borders” crowd. Funny how you can be naive and a tool at the same time.
But thanks for knowing that I post on all the border articles. Very nice of you.
May 25th, 2011 on 9:36 am
As every rancher knows, always shut the gates.
Makes no sense to leave the gates open and then fan out for miles to catch what you were trying to contain.
May 25th, 2011 on 10:25 am
Obama is miffed, he’s done some window dressing to try to placate those who advocate sovereignty for the United States, and feels he’s provided enough Thousand Island that we should now be happy to let him push through the immigration anarchy agenda.
Earth to open borders advocates: Many of us believe it is not “enforcement first”, it is “enforcement only”. And furthermore, border enforcement is not the only enforcement required. Something like 40% of illegal aliens came in legally on temporary visas and then stayed after their visa expired. We need to implement the visa entry/exit tracking system NOW.
We also need to abolish birthright citizenship to children born in the US to illegal alien parents. That is a massive loophole in our immigration system.
And we need a fraud-resistant mandatory system for employment verification. A better social security card will do. For those who say that is a national ID: Fine, but you had better be prepared to be consistent then and also advocate abolition of social security, because the social security number is in fact a national ID number, just one that is prone to identity fraud.