http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/117539

Cochise sheriff will testify on border woes
By C.J. Karamargin
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.25.2006
advertisementCochise County Sheriff Larry Dever hopes this trip to Washington will make a difference.

Dever will appear Wednesday before two U.S. Senate panels to give a firsthand account of violence on the U.S.-Mexican border.

"It's pretty pervasive, no doubt about that," the 30-year law enforcement veteran said. "It seems to be escalating rather than us getting a hold of it."

Overseeing more than 83 miles of border that has become an unofficial gateway into the United States for an incalculable number of border crossers has made Dever something of an expert on the impact of illegal immigration.

Drug smuggling, human smuggling, high-speed chases — Dever first told federal lawmakers about some of the problems his deputies were having in 1997, his first year as sheriff in Arizona's southeastern-most county.

"Much of what I'm going to say is the same," he said. "A lot of it is still valid today."

What has changed, he said, is both the level of violence and public awareness of the problem.

"Twenty or 25 years ago, people would just give up," Dever said of the encounters he had as a young deputy with smugglers or illegal border crossers. "Now it's a fight. They're much more brazen."

They're also much more sophisticated. Smugglers often "have better communication systems than we do," he said, including forward surveillance teams, encrypted radio transmissions and mountaintop antennas.

"The stakes are much higher," he said. "I guess failure is not acceptable to smuggling cartels."

But it's the awareness — the catapulting of illegal immigration onto the national stage — that Dever hopes will prompt Congress to act.

"We've been pounding the gavel for nine years," he said. "The nation is awakening to the danger."

In his State of the Union Address last month, President Bush called for "orderly and secure borders" and "a rational, humane guest-worker program that rejects amnesty, allows temporary jobs for people who seek them legally, and reduces smuggling and crime at the border."

The House passed an immigration bill last year that did not include provisions for a guest-worker program, but called for building a border fence, allowing local law enforcement officials to enforce immigration laws, and requiring employers to verify the legal status of their employees.

The Senate is expected to begin debate next month on two immigration-related bills. One, proposed by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, would grant temporary work permits to illegal migrants and gives them the ability to apply for permanent residence.

The other, proposed by Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas, would require migrants to leave the country to apply for temporary work permits.

Dever will testify before a joint meeting of the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship. The committees, chaired by Kyl and Cornyn, are holding hearings on strategies to reduce border violence.

Also appearing is U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar, who spoke about border violence on a visit to Nogales in January.

Asked if he's nervous about his testimony, Dever said he is long past being intimidated by Washington.

"I've delivered this message so many times I'm beyond the realm of being uncomfortable," he said.

● Contact reporter C.J. Karamargin at 909-8482 or at ckaramargin@azstarnet.com.