Border Patrol intent on opening new station
national
By BRADY McCOMBS
Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The U.S. Border Patrol appears to be moving forward with its plans to open a permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19 despite concerns of some residents in the area.

At a town hall meeting on immigration hosted here Tuesday by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar emphasized the importance of permanent highway inspection stations within the agency's national strategy for decreasing smuggling.

And while Giffords stopped short of endorsing the permanent checkpoints, she sounded more supportive than ever before. Fresh off a trip Monday to Laredo with Aguilar to view a state-of-the-art permanent checkpoint the agency wants to model its I-19 checkpoint after, she reminded about 200 people in attendance that the Tucson Sector is the only one on the Southwest border without permanent checkpoints.

"Smugglers realize this. It doesn't take a lot to see the fact that there is a big, wide, gaping hole," said Giffords, pointing at a map. "I wanted to let everyone know that part of my job as your representative is to make sure we have all the tools and technology to adequately address immigration issues."

The debate over roving versus permanent checkpoints has heated up since November, when the Border Patrol opened a semi-permanent checkpoint north of Tubac at kilometer post 42. The agency used to toggle its I-19 checkpoint between that location and one south of Tubac at kilometer post 25.

Congress had withheld funding for permanent inspection stations in the sector since 1999 and required the stations to be moved every seven or 14 days since 2002, thanks to a congressionally mandated rule championed by Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., who has since retired.

That requirement was omitted from the fiscal 2007 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, opening the door for the agency to leave the inspection point in one spot.

Many area residents say checkpoints cause delays that inconvenience them and deter visitors, which hurts commerce. And perhaps most troubling, they are concerned about an increase in violence among smugglers as smugglers travel through outlying neighborhoods to get around the checkpoint.

But Aguilar told the crowd their opinions of highway checkpoints have been skewed by seeing only inefficient checkpoints in the Tucson Sector that were hamstrung by the congressional mandates. Permanent checkpoints in Texas that are backed by sensors, cameras and other technology in surrounding areas aren't intrusive, don't affect commerce and avoid violence because they have agents and technology to catch smugglers in the nearby areas, Aguilar said. When such a facility is opened here, residents will understand, he said.

But many residents in the Tubac area have a philosophical problem with a permanent checkpoint - they think border enforcement should stay at the border and out of their neighborhoods and backyards.

The checkpoint has pushed illegal activity onto people's properties and negatively affected the entire greater Tubac community, said Stewart Loew, whose Agua Linda Farm sits east of the checkpoint. If the Border Patrol focused its efforts on stopping illegal entrants at the border, it wouldn't be an issue for communities farther north, he said.

The Border Patrol will offer community members the opportunity to join a committee to be involved with future checkpoint plans. The selection of a location, getting permits and permission, and acquiring funding for permanent inspection stations could take years, Aguilar said.

While the agency is keeping its options open for a location, there have been indications that it is looking at a spot north of the current location either at kilometer 50 or 53. The agency wants to be able to buy land to construct a building on the frontage road and have more than two lanes for inspections, said Gustavo Soto, a spokesman for the Border Patrol Tucson Sector. Kilometer 50 could be more conducive to that, he said.


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