Thread: Border Patrol plans on rolling out stricter punishments for repeat offenders

Border Patrol plans on rolling out stricter punishments for repeat offenders

by Crystal Cruz
azfamily.com
Posted on January 17, 2012 at 8:40 PM
Updated today at 9:01 PM

ELOY, Ariz. -- The Silverbell Estates in Eloy is quiet but neighbors are shouting for help.

“We’re stuck between a rock and a hard spot,” said Jo Bode, captain of the block watch.

Bode said the homes are stuck in the middle of a drug corridor and neighbors have to carry guns at all times.

An abandoned ranch house close to Bode’s home was found packed with clothes, backpacks and water bottles.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the house is used by the drug cartel for both human and drug smuggling.

“You always have this fear in the back of your mind when you leave your house what you’re going to come home too,” Bode said.

Two neighbors' homes were recently robbed. Bode is sure border crossers broke into the homes.

Pennee Murphree also lives in Silverbell.

Murphree is fed up with border crossers coming right back to the United States after they're deported to Mexico.

“There is a criminal element that is very, very strong in this area,” Murphree said.

The Border Patrol Agency hopes to end the revolving door with a color coded “Consequence Delivery System.”

The plan would divide border crossers into seven categories.

First-time criminal offenders could face prosecution.

Under the plan first-time offenders would face different punishments from those who have several border crossing offenses.

Illegal immigrants would also be sent back to Mexico cities far away from their smuggling contacts.

“We’d like to see our federal government tell us the truth and I don’t believe they are telling us the truth,” Murphree said.

Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Mexico and border security remains on the top of her priority list.

“While we keep our eye on the Middle East, Africa and other places that are obvious hotspots, this is one that we also work very closely with because it's so close to home,” she said.

Last year agents caught a little more than 300,000 people crossing the border, down from nearly 2 million arrests more than a decade ago.

Border Patrol credits a beefed-up staff to the drop off of people trying to get into the U.S.

But Murphree and Bode say the criminal element from the drug carter is only getting stronger.

“You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times,” Bode said.

Border Patrol plans on rolling out stricter punishments for repeat offenders | azfamily.com Phoenix

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Punishment of undocumented immigrants changing

Detainees will be classified based on their criminal histories, as part of new strategy

Written by
Elizabeth Aguilera
9:51 p.m., Jan. 17, 2012

For years, the majority of illegal immigrants from Mexico caught by the Border Patrol were fingerprinted, photographed and sent back fairly quickly, while repeat border-crossers and those with criminal records were charged with federal crimes or officially deported.

Since 2009, though, Customs and Border Protection has been gradually rolling out the Consequence Delivery System, which aims to stiffen punishment of undocumented immigrants.

The program’s measures include sending people far away from where they entered the United States so it’s tougher to reconnect with their smugglers, putting them through immigration court, sending them to prison and working with Mexico to prosecute smugglers.

The program is key to a new national strategy for dealing with illegal immigration that’s expected to be released this month. Immigration officials in San Diego and Washington, D.C., would not discuss that broader plan Tuesday.

Consequence Delivery, first used in Arizona, assigns illegal immigrants one of seven levels of punishment based on factors such as how many times they have been apprehended and their criminal history, according to Border Patrol officials.

“This system is not a change in policy. It is an improvement in our enforcement efforts designed to impact an individual’s decision on whether to cross the border illegally,” a Customs and Border Protection official familiar with the program said Tuesday.

The official asked not to be named because the agency declined to issue an official response to an Associated Press story about Consequence Delivery. That article described the system as a new initiative.

Last fall, Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher explained the program to Congress this way: “It aims to break the smuggling cycle and deter a subject from attempting further illegal entries or participating in a smuggling enterprise.”

Fisher said the system was developed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which handles deportations. On Tuesday, ICE officials did not offer additional information about Consequence Delivery.

The U.S. attorney in San Diego, Laura Duffy, who oversees federal prosecutions including certain immigration cases, has said the limited resources of her office make it necessary to prioritize those cases based on a detainee’s criminal record and other factors.

The Border Patrol said each jurisdiction is using the program differently, based on its staffing and budget.

Last year, the Border Patrol apprehended fewer than 400,000 illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, including 42,477 in the San Diego sector. Tuesday, the agency could not specify how many apprehensions represent voluntary returns — those without deportation proceedings.

Punishment of undocumented immigrants changing | UTSanDiego.com

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