Joint Task Force West to monitor entire southwest U.S. border

Posted TODAY, 10:10 PM
Updated TODAY, 10:22 PM
By Jessie Degollado

SAN ANTONIO - Protecting America’s southwest border now has a San Antonio connection.

“It represents a new era of border security and the way we approach border security,” said Robert Harris, director of the newly formed Joint Task Force West, reporting directly to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

There is also the Joint Task Force for Investigations in Washington, D.C. and Joint Task Force East overseeing maritime operations.

Harris said this is the biggest change within the DHS since it was created in 2003.

Harris, the former Border Patrol sector chief in Laredo, said, “It’s a significant change in the way we’ve done business in the past.”

Until recently, Harris had overseen the South Texas Campaign, one of four regional operations along Mexico’s 2,000-mile border with the U.S.

“What we hope to do is repurpose, realign and redirect those four campaigns into one unified effort,” Harris said.

He said it also will be under one roof, a building being renovated near Fort Sam Houston.

A spokeswoman said it should be fully operational with 100 people on staff by the end of July.

Harris said Joint Task Force West will include 16 federal agencies, including the DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He said it will be much like having a “forward-deployed” Department of Homeland Security in San Antonio, “but it’s more at the operational level instead of the policy level.”

“Bringing all the elements of power together,” he said will help in tracking down trans-national criminal organizations responsible for smuggling humans, narcotics, weapons and currency.

Monitoring trends, intelligence and movements also could be useful “to make sure we are prepared and positioned to address any influx in the flow of people like we had last summer,” Harris said.

“That is something here we are monitoring very closely on a daily basis,” Harris said.

Johnson met with many of those Central American children and families last year.

Harris said Johnson visited South Texas 10 times during his first 12 months on the job.

Johnson announced the Southern Border and Approaches Campaign, with Harris and the leaders of the other joint task forces, during a tour of the yet to be opened family detention center in Dilley last December.

http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat...n-antonio.html