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Border Patrol at top nationally in detainments, seizures
BY SARA INÉS CALDERÓN
The Brownsville Herald

September 3, 2006 - Personnel, technology, intelligence analysis and the National Guard have allowed the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector to improve upon itself since last year, officials said.

The Valley sector continues to lead the nation in other than Mexican (OTM) immigrant detainments and cocaine seizures, according to federal officials.

“Everything that we have is very dynamic,” said Mario Villarreal, assistant chief patrol agent for the Valley sector. He stressed the combined use of resources as the cause for positive changes here, adding that the improvements have not escaped the notice of major decision makers.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, President Bush, the Border Patrol chief David Aguilar, as well as Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham have all come to the Valley in recent months, testifying to the importance of the work done locally by the Border Patrol, Villarreal said.

As of August 2005, the number of apprehensions had decreased by 15 percent. Historically, the Valley sector has led the nation in arrests of OTM immigrants, which also has decreased since by 30 percent, according to the agency.

To date, the sector leads the nation in confiscating cocaine and is second in marijuana seizures. To date this fiscal year, agents in the sector have confiscated 218,000 pounds of marijuana and 6,200 pounds of cocaine, according to the Border Patrol.

An increase in drug seizures is in part due to better law enforcement in the Valley, said Will Glaspy, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.


"There’s no doubt that law enforcement is working better and smarter today, and there is more intelli-gence sharing going on between the various agencies in the Rio Grande Valley,” Glaspy said. “I would attribute some of the drug seizures to that.”

Most drugs are intercepted at the Falfurrias and Sarita federal checkpoints, Villarreal said, adding that the Valley’s Border Patrol staff boasts some of the best dog handlers in the country.

“We have the most productive Border Patrol checkpoints in the country,” he said.

Villarreal stressed intelligence analysis as crucial to the agency’s success here.

With help from the border intelligence center, where information taken from the field is continuously analyzed, managers can deploy resources daily or hourly based on recent intelligence. Understanding the various tactics that smugglers use means that agents are better able to do their job.

Another factor is the National Guard troops, who were deployed to the Valley in mid-June. The troops have freed-up more than 70 agents from administrative duties and allowed them back into the field, Villarreal added.

New technology, such as aircraft and surveillance, also has allowed the Patrol to improve its monitor-ing of the border, according to the agency.

Compared with last fiscal year, OTM arrests in August were down by 72 percent compared to this time last year, Villarreal said.

Villarreal suggested that the combined work of the Patrol and ICE has acted as a deterrent for would-be immigrants, echoing thousands of miles away in their home countries.

The decrease is due to the agency’s work, as well as a strong partnership with Immigration and Cus-toms Enforcement. Together, the agencies announced the end to “catch and release,” meaning that 99 percent of OTMs are now detained until they are deported.

sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com



Posted on Sep 03, 06 | 12:00 am