http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/134569.php




Published: 06.21.2006

National Guard arrives at Tucson Sector
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
The National Guard troops promised for border duty last month by President Bush have begun to arrive in the Tucson Sector.
The deployment — about 100 arrived Tuesday, with as many as 2,500 expected by the end of August — is being greeted with optimism by U.S. officials who said the soldiers will free federal Border Patrol agents to get out into the desert and catch more illegal entrants.
But the Border Patrol's push for "operational control" on the southern border — something the agency has sought for decades — could mean increased problems for Nogales, Sonora, which is a landing pad for illegal border crossers who are caught and deported.
"If more come, it could become a social problem for the city," said Emilse Valencia Gómez, communications director for the city of Nogales, Sonora. "What affects us isn't the crossing but the repatriation."
Although the flow of illegal entrants in the Nogales area has slowed after a decade of increased enforcement, Nogales is the Border Patrol's drop-off point for those who crossed east and west of Nogales, Valencia Gómez said. Between 250 and 300 migrants are deported daily into Nogales, Sonora, at present, and that could easily increase to 500 to 1,000 per day with the arrival of the National Guard troops, she said.
Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector have been catching an average of 880 illegal entrants per day since Oct. 1, Border Patrol spokesman Jim Hawkins said.
All migrants apprehended in the sector — which stretches east to New Mexico and west to Yuma — are brought to the Nogales processing center, Hawkins said. Most, at least 800 a day, are deported at one of the two ports of entry in Nogales, he said.
The city of Nogales, Sonora, runs a migrant shelter that can hold as many as 150 adults and a shelter for minors that can hold 30 to 50 children, Valencia Gómez said. Sixty-four people were housed at the adult shelter on Tuesday, said Homero Hernandez Alvarado, manager of that shelter.
This years, the shelter has served an increasing number of migrants each month, with 658 in May. But the year-to-date total of 3,467 is down from last year's pace, he said.
Paying for the shelters gets expensive, but the bigger problem comes from deported migrants who don't go to the shelters and roam the streets looking for food, shelter and direction. Some become crime victims, while others commit crimes, Valencia Gómez said. Many keep trying to cross again and again, she said.
"It doesn't matter how much vigilance they put forth," she said in Spanish. "They are going to continue crossing, but now they're not going to arrive at their destinations, and they are going to be deported."
The National Guard troops won't be apprehending illegal border crossers, Border Patrol spokesman Gustavo Soto said. They will be supporting Border Patrol agents by manning radios and control rooms, and repairing vehicles, roads and fences.
The first 100 National Guard troops, all from Arizona, were distributed among six of the Tucson Sector's stations — in Nogales, Tucson, Ajo, Casa Grande, Naco and Douglas. On Tuesday in Nogales, the troops spent the day indoors, working in the garage and in the radio room, spokesman Hawkins said.
"Added troops means additional agents out in the field," Soto said.
But more agents doesn't necessarily translate into more apprehensions or fewer illegal immigrants in the country.
The number of Border Patrol agents has increased nearly threefold since 1991, but the estimated number of illegal entrants arriving in the United States has remained nearly the same, according to figures from the Pew Hispanic Center. Apprehensions have fluctuated up and down during that time. This year, they are down 6 percent from fiscal year 2005, according to Border Patrol figures.
The new U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, W. Ralph Basham, said Tuesday that it would take a combination of fencing, technology and staffing to slow illegal-immigrant traffic.
"I don't support, I don't believe the administration supports, a wall," Basham said in Tucson, where he met with patrol officials and agents before taking a tour across the Arizona desert.
Concerning Senate- and House-approved measures to build walls 380 or 700 miles long, respectively, he said: "It doesn't make sense. It's not practical."
In a May 15 address, President Bush pledged to send 6,000 National Guard troops to help out along the 2,000-mile southwestern U.S. border and add 6,000 Border Patrol agents by the end of 2008.
More troops are expected in the coming weeks, Hawkins said.
● Contact Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.


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