Thread: Nine border patrol offices will soon be deactivated

Border patrol office in Amarillo to be deactivated

Posted: Jul 06, 2012 3:29 PM PDT<em class="wnDate">Friday, July 6, 2012 6:29 PM EST</em>Updated: Jul 06, 2012 5:15 PM PDT<em class="wnDate">Friday, July 6, 2012 8:15 PM EST</em>By Angelina Perez



Amarillo, TX - The Border Patrol agents in our area will soon be permanently placed closer to the border.

Nine border patrol offices will soon be deactivated, meaning agents at interior offices in the U.S. will soon move to the border.

The U.S. Border Patrol said through spokesperson Bill Brooks, the deactivation is aimed at keeping the U.S. safer.

"Deactivations are consistent with our strategic goal which is securing America's borders and the objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest for those who are trying to cross illegally," said Brooks.

Local law enforcement say they are concerned the loss of the two agents in Amarillo will have a great impact.

"You know, I-40 is a corridor for not only narcotics but also for the human trafficking and we do use the Border Patrol quite a bit to come out and help us with those. They are the ones that have the authority to arrest them and detain them, we don't," said Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas.

Brooks says because of the Department of Homeland Security there will still be assistance for local law enforcement when it comes to dealing with illegals.

"Border Patrol agents that are currently stationed in these inland stations will receive permanent change of stations to somewhere on the border. Local law enforcement will have to contact Immigration Customs Enforcement if they have a need for assistance," added Brooks.

Sheriff Thomas is concerned if there is no immediate help for them, they would have to release the people they find.

"We could potentially have to release them if we don't have any resources here that could help us detain them or place them or any help with that,' said Thomas.

The changes are expected to take place in around six months.

Border patrol office in Amarillo going to be deactivated - KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, Sports

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/nine-border...orders-260774/

Closure of Border Patrol stations across four states triggers alarm

By Judson Berger
Published July 10, 2012
FoxNews.com

• 
  Feb. 15, 2012: A border patrol vehicle observes border fencing in Douglas, Ariz. (Reuters)

The Obama administration is moving to shut down nine Border Patrol stations across four states, triggering a backlash from local law enforcement, members of Congress and Border Patrol agents themselves.

Critics of the move warn the closures will undercut efforts to intercept drug and human traffickers in well-traveled corridors north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Though the affected stations are scattered throughout northern and central Texas, and three other states, the coverage areas still see plenty of illegal immigrant activity -- one soon-to-be-shuttered station in Amarillo, Texas, is right in the middle of the I-40 corridor; another in Riverside, Calif., is outside Los Angeles.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it's closing the stations in order to reassign agents to high-priority areas closer to the border.
"These deactivations are consistent with the strategic goal of securing America's borders, and our objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest of those trying to enter our country illegally," CBP spokesman Bill Brooks said in a statement. "By redeploying and reallocating resources at or near the border, CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission."

But at least one Border Patrol supervisor in Texas has called on local officers to "voice your concerns" to elected officials, warning that the "deactivation" will remove agents from the Texas Panhandle, among other places. Several members of Congress have asked Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher to reconsider the plan. And local officials are getting worried about what will happen once the Border Patrol leaves town, since they rely on those federal officials to assist in making immigration arrests.

"It could impact us tremendously since we've only got two agents up here now for 26 counties," Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas told FoxNews.com.

Potter County, in the Texas Panhandle, would be affected by the planned closure of the Amarillo station.

Thomas said that while his area is far from the border, it's still a major "corridor" for illegal immigrants -- and he said his office depends on Border Patrol to respond to their calls.

"I can't hold a carload of people out there on I-40 for eight hours while somebody comes from El Paso," he said. "I mean, that's just crazy."

Border Patrol's resident agent in charge in Amarillo expressed similar worries, in a recent memo to local law enforcement alerting them to the planned closure. The official, Robert Green, warned that the "entire complement" of two agents would be reassigned from Amarillo to somewhere closer to the border. He said "there is no active plan" right now for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fill the void on assisting local officials with stops.

SUMMARYThe following Border Patrol stations are set for closure:
Texas: Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio.
Idaho: Twin Falls
Montana: Billings
California: Riverside

Empathizing with local officials, he wrote: "As a former deputy I found myself on the other end of the radio hoping to contact USBP to assist me with a vehicle full of undocumented foreign nationals on the side of the road."

And in an unusual plea, he urged the recipients of his memo to contact elected officials about the change. "I would encourage you, if you have found USBP assistance valuable in the past, to contact your political representatives and voice your concerns," Green wrote.
The letter was first posted online by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Thomas confirmed to FoxNews.com that he received it. Bob Dane, communications director with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, also said he's confirmed the letter's authenticity with ICE.

CBP later acknowledged the memo, but said in its statement that Green was expressing his "personal opinion."

Lawmakers have started to get involved. Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, who represents Amarillo, joined two other Texas lawmakers whose districts would be affected in asking the Border Patrol chief to "reconsider the proposal."

A letter sent Tuesday to Fisher warned the plan would "leave our area vulnerable." They noted that the Amarillo and Lubbock stations alone, two of those affected, accounted for 638 apprehensions of illegal immigrants just this year.

FAIR also blasted the Obama administration for the plans.
"It's part of the systematic dismantling of both border and interior enforcement," Dane told FoxNews.com. "It complements the non-enforcement policy of this administration."

He warned that local officials in those areas will have a hard time summoning far-away Border Patrol agents to assist, and said the tone of Green's memo was a "not-so-subtle shout-out" that the agency feels "outmanned, outgunned ... by their own government."

The stations set for closure in about six months include six in Texas. They are in: Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio. The other three are in Billings, Mont.; Twin Falls, Idaho; and Riverside, Calif.

Brooks said that the closures do not mean agents will be out of contact.

"Though Border Patrol agents would no longer be located in these areas, the Border Patrol intends to maintain strong and meaningful law enforcement partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies in these areas through continuing to actively share intelligence and information" and other avenues, he said.

Detractors, though, say the changes are part of a pattern. The administration recently announced it would stop deporting young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have not committed a serious crime. And after the Supreme Court upheld one plank of Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law last month, federal officials said ICE would be selective in responding to calls about immigration status - prioritizing cases that meet certain criteria, like whether the suspect is wanted for a felony.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, who signed the Thornberry letter, also voiced concern about the latest announcement on station closings in a written statement.

"The Department of Homeland Security hasn't demonstrated that sending additional resources to the border will be a more efficient use of resources than maintaining a presence further north," Neugebauer said. "I'd like to see numbers that reassure me that this strategy change won't ultimately result in fewer arrests."

Closure of Border Patrol stations across four states triggers alarm | Fox News

• Well well well imagine that
  he grants amnesty and will not deport,
  arms the agents with bean bags against automatics
  instructs agents to run and hide or possibly throw things at attackers "if" necessary
  now he will close the stations.
  Do you need anymore proof that this guy is surrendering the Republic?????
  
  
  

CLOSING BP offices will make us safer? Can Americans really be stupid enough to believe these lies?

Riverside Border Patrol office to close in coming months

By City News Service, on July 11, 2012, at 2:58 pm
By PAUL YOUNG

The U.S. Border Patrol office in Riverside will be shut down in six months in what federal officials say is part of a wider effort to “more effectively” utilize resources — a claim that a citizens’ advocacy group today called a cover for the Obama administration’s real motive to avoid enforcing immigration laws.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, around year’s end, the Riverside CBP station — in operation since 1967 — will be “deactivated” and its nine agents likely transferred to nearby offices.

The Riverside office was among nine CBP stations placed on a closure list released last week. The others are Abilene, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Billings, Mont.; Dallas; Lubbock, Texas; San Angelo, Texas; San Antonio; and Twin Falls, Idaho.

The CBP’s Southwest Border media affairs chief, Bill Brooks, released a statement saying the closures are part of a plan to “better align operations.”

“In order to accomplish its mission more efficiently and to use its personnel more effectively, Customs and Border Protection has increasingly concentrated its resources in the immediate border areas,” Brooks said.

“These deactivations are consistent with the strategic goal of securing America’s borders, and our objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest of those trying to enter our country illegally.

“By re-deploying and reallocating resources at or near the border, CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission,” he said. “Though agents would no longer be located in these areas, the Border Patrol intends to maintain strong and meaningful law enforcement partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies in these areas through continuing to actively share intelligence and information.”

The Riverside office is one of four in the CBP’s El Centro sector, which encompasses all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, as well as portions of Imperial, Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

CBP Supervising Agent Armando Garcia told City News Service that in the fiscal year ending September 2011, the El Centro sector made roughly 31,000 apprehensions, nabbing suspected illegal aliens, drug smugglers and other lawbreakers.

Garcia declined to comment on what impact “deactivating” the Riverside office might have on enforcement operations in the region.

Ira Mehlman, with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told CNS that the decision to close the CBP office in Riverside tracks with the Obama administration’s “overall policy of non-enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.”

“For the last three-plus years, the administration has taken a position that says: `If you come here illegally, it’s no big deal; just don’t come here and commit a serious crime.’ They have dismantled any kind of meaningful enforcement. The country’s immigration policy should be to protect the interests of the American people.”

Mehlman compared the CBP’s closures to “eliminating a second line of defense.”

“These stations have agents who are stopping illegal aliens, drug smugglers and others on their way to the interior of the country,” he said.

“You can’t stop everybody at the border. Think of it like football. Would you put all of your offense or defense at the line of scrimmage?”

Mehlman said the closures, the president’s signing of an executive order last month suspending deportations of some undocumented immigrants who are under 30 years old and legal challenges to state laws cracking down on illegal immigration send the wrong message.

“They’re saying if a person can get past the first line of defense at the border, they’re home free and can stay here as long as they don’t commit a serious crime,” he said.

In the past several years, the Department of Homeland Security has initiated multiple nationwide sweeps to catch criminal undocumented aliens, netting thousands of arrests. Mehlman applauded the actions but said they fail to address the core problem of preventing illegal entry to the United States.

The Riverside CBP office has come under fire in the past for what pro-immigrants’ rights groups criticized as overzealous enforcement practices. In 2009, the Justice for Immigrants Coalition held protests outside the station, displaying videos of raids in which agents made random detentions and chased people into homes and markets to arrest them.

The group alleged the Riverside-based agents were trying to meet monthly arrest quotas, which the CBP adamantly denied.

Riverside Border Patrol office to close in coming months

Open-Border President Swings Open The Floodgates

Posted 07/11/2012 06:01 PM ET
Investor's Business Daily

Security: In the twisted logic of this administration, the "most secure" border ever just got more so with the announced closing of nine patrol stations in four states. Check points? We don't need no stinkin' check points.

When in Beaverton, Ore., in May 2008, candidate Barack Obama said he'd campaigned in 57 states with one left to go, it was treated by his defenders as a campaign fatigue-induced gaffe.

Judging by his recent actions as president, maybe he meant 57 and the missing seven are the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango and Baja California on or near the U.S. border.

He recently engaged in what one columnist called the "naked lawlessness" of granting de facto amnesty and work permits to 800,000 illegal immigrants who claim they were brought here as children. It was a shameless attempt to win Hispanic votes, placing Obama's re-election bid above the nation's border security at a time when millions of American citizens can't find work.

Now it's come to this: The Obama administration has announced plans to close nine Border Patrol stations across Texas, California, Montana and Idaho. Granted, waves of illegal aliens aren't flooding across our northern border. But we suspect that Idaho and Montana were thrown in to disguise another bid to win the Latino vote.

One soon-to-be-shuttered station in Amarillo, Texas, is right in the middle of the I-40 corridor.

Texas, one of the states with which the Obama administration is at war over this and other issues, bears the brunt of the closures, losing six out of the nine stations to be closed — in Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio. The other three are in Billings, Mont.; Twin Falls, Idaho; and Riverside, Calif.

"By redeploying and reallocating resources at or near the border," Customs and Border Protection spokesman Bill Brooks said in a statement, "CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission."
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Since when must border security be cost-effective? How about allocating more resources? CNN reports that closing the nine stations will save the government $1.3 million a year. We say, whoopee. The General Services Administration spends almost that much on Las Vegas hot-tub vacations.

Potter County, in the Texas Panhandle, would be affected by the planned closure of the Amarillo station. "It could impact us tremendously since we've only got two agents up here now for 26 counties," Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas told FoxNews.com.

"I can't hold a carload of people out there on I-40 for eight hours while somebody comes from El Paso," he said. "I mean, that's just crazy."

We think so too. But then, this is an administration that thinks it doesn't have to enforce laws enacted by Congress and that the secretary of homeland security "shall determine" — in the parlance of this administration — who gets deported and who doesn't.

These decisions are blatantly political by an administration that considers illegal aliens merely undocumented Democrats, more people to ride the wagon that beleaguered American taxpayers are weary of pulling.

The administration claims that a decline in illegal immigration proves its policies are working. But we submit that any decline in the rate of illegal immigration and increase in those going the other way seems due to a decline not just in the number of jobs Americans allegedly won't do, but in the jobs anyone can do.

You don't need nannies, busboys and gardeners when the homeowner is unemployed, cuts his own grass,babysits his own children while at home and doesn't take the family to restaurants anymore because he can't afford it.

The abysmal failure of Obamanomics does not constitute a substitute for robust border security.

One Old Vet

President Obama Closes Nine Border Stations To Save A Million Dollars - Investors.com

Neugebauer dislikes decision to close Border Patrol offices in Abilene, elsewhere

By Michelle Frizalone, mfrizalone@ktxs.com
POSTED: Jul 12 2012 03:23:45 PM CDT UPDATED 1 hour ago


ABILENE, Texas - Congressman Randy Neugebauer and other West Texas lawmakers don't agree with the decision to close six border patrol stations in Texas, including one in Abilene.

U.S. congressional leaders in Texas aren't OK with the decision and want border patrol enforcement to stay in our area and not just on the border.

Congressman Randy Neugebauer, Mac Thornberry and Michael Conaway have written a letter to the chief of the US Border Patrol.
They said at the very least, they want more time to look over why the offices are being closed in places that just aren't on the border.

The U.S. Border Patrol station in Abilene employs two people and will be closing its doors, but political leaders said it's crucial to have law enforcement in multiple locations.

KTXS spoke to Congressman Randy Neugebauer via satellite.
"Border security is just not about securing the border, but also once people slip through the border it's making sure we have an interior enforcement," Neugebauer said.

Texas Border Patrol officials said once illegal immigrants cross the border many are found and detained in our area.

"Abilene, Lubbock and San Angelo and those other stations have been arresting a lot of people who enter this country illegally," Neugebauer said. "We've asked border patrol to give us an analysis of why (they're) doing this and what was the basis for the decision."
Neugebauer said the change could trickle down and affect local law enforcement in Taylor County and Abilene.

"It certainly could be because they've been used to working hand-in-hand -- and it's an overall collaborative effort," Neugebauer said.
The U.S. Border Patrol's plan is to shut down those nine stations around the U.S. over the next six months.

According to the Amarillo and Lubbock border patrol stations, they detained 638 illegal immigrants this year alone.

In 2011, each agent at the four stations had an average of 142 illegal immigrants detained.

Neugebauer dislikes decision to close Border Patrol offices in Abilene, elsewhere | News - Home

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/congress-de...ations-261201/

House Republicans Decry DHS Plan to Shutter Nine Interior Border Patrol Stations

By: Mickey McCarter
July 24, 2012
HSToday

Plans being enacted by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to close nine interior patrol stations in four states have drawn protests from House Republicans, igniting a debate over the appropriate allocation of federal law enforcement agents along and away from US borders.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, led by chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) wrote to Border Patrol chief David Aguilar last week to request his agency keep the nine stations open.

"We are highly concerned that these closures will undercut proven methods to intercept drug smugglers, human traffickers and illegal immigrants in corridors they use extensively north of the US-Mexico border. We urge you in the strongest terms to rescind the decision," Smith and the others wrote in their letter, dated July 20.

The plan first was outlined in a June 22 directive from CBP, but received public attention due to the release of a July 2 memo sent to local law enforcement agencies in Texas from Robert Green, Border Patrol resident agent in charge, based in Amarillo, Texas. Six of the nine shuttered stations would be within the state of Texas.

In response to an inquiry from Homeland Security Today, CBP spokesman Bill Brooks provided an official statement explaining that the closures would enable Border Patrol to allocate effectively more resources along the border instead of away from it.

"To better align operations with the Border Patrol Strategic Plan, the US Border Patrol is deactivating nine interior BP stations: Billings, Mont.; Twin Falls, Idaho; Abilene, Texas; San Angelo, Texas; Riverside, Calif.; Dallas, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; and Amarillo, Texas," the statement read.

"In order to accomplish its mission more efficiently and to use its personnel more effectively, Customs and Border Protection has increasingly concentrated its resources in the immediate border areas. These deactivations are consistent with the strategic goal of securing America's borders, and our objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest of those trying to enter our country illegally. By redeploying and reallocating resources at or near the border, CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission," the statement said.

Smith and other Republicans decried that reasoning as shortsighted.

"These stations were placed in these locations because they were and remain high-volume travel corridors for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers who successfully cross the border without apprehension," the lawmakers wrote.

In the case of the California station, for example, it is located in a strategic location in Riverside to intercept illegal immigrants and drug smugglers heading toward Los Angeles. These criminals often avoid major routes and slip into the interior of the United States undetected, the congressmen said.

"These stations have proven exceedingly effective in seizing millions of dollars in drugs and thousands of illegal immigrants. With key stations closing, it will be much easier for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers to reach their intended destinations in the interior if they succeed in crossing the border undetected," they added.

The lawmakers requested documentation that supported the closure of the nine interior stations and the schedule for closing them down, along with statistics for seizures of illegal drugs and other contraband accredited to those stations.

Border strategy

In the June 22 memo, Green wrote that the deactivation of the stations would occur "no sooner than six months" from July 2.

The agents simply can be used more effectively elsewhere, Green wrote, pointing to the example of Amarillo.

"In all, two agents, the entire complement of [Border Patrol] agents in Amarillo, will be removed and reassigned to areas at or near the border," Green said.

Nelson Balido, president of the Border Trade Alliance (BTA), tentatively endorsed the CBP plan to strengthen enforcement at US borders if done properly.

"We are disappointed any time we see stations close anywhere, especially in some of these areas that are in highly trafficked corridors not only for illegal immigration but also illegal drugs," Balido said, voicing the concerns of BTA, a nonprofit organization representing private companies and government agencies in concerns of securing legitimate trade and travel.

"However, we are encouraged that we are seeing more resources going to the border. I think that's important. If we can stop them at the border, that's where we should stop them. Once they have gotten inside, the job becomes a little more difficult," Balido told Homeland Security Today.

Balido endorsed a secondary strategy whereby US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would coordinate with local law enforcement agencies communicating with the nine interior border stations to be closed.

"I'm a little concerned about making a sharp division between border and interior enforcement. That's always difficult. But ICE should be doing more of the enforcement inside the border as opposed to the Border Patrol, who should be stopping the flow of illegal entry of drugs or anything else at the border itself," Balido elaborated.

As Border Patrol has strengthened its presence between US ports of entry, drug traffickers often try to get through the ports, prompting a need for more manpower, technology and infrastructure at the official entry points, Balido reflected.

Unfortunately, in his memo to local law enforcement, Green said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) currently has no plans to fill the void left by the small number of CBP agents leaving the nine outposts with assistance from ICE.

"At this time, there is no active plan for ICE assets to assist local authorities in this area when alien smuggling or alien transportation situations are encountered by your personnel. ICE may establish a protocol for providing assistance in these situations in the future. The creation of that protocol and the form it takes may depend largely on you and whether or not your agency feels that response to alien-in-transit situations is of value to your personnel in the field," Green wrote.

Green encouraged local law officers to contact members of Congress and voice their concerns about any border security plans. In their letter to Aguilar, the House Judiciary Republicans suggested ICE should have a plan to fill the gap in federal resources if Border Patrol goes through with its plan to close the stations.

Homeland Security Today: House Republicans Decry DHS Plan to Shutter Nine Interior Border Patrol Stations