Official rules out debate on Border Patrol facility
A permanent checkpoint will be built, he says
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/197387
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.21.2007



Border Patrol Tucson Sector Chief Robert W. Gilbert delivered an emphatic message Monday to critics of a proposed permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19: It's not a question of if — but when, where and how it will be built.

Gilbert addressed a host of "misconceptions" about the checkpoint during a press conference Monday afternoon at the Tucson Sector headquarters. His declarations came a day before a community work group from the greater Tubac area — co-chaired by Gilbert and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. — is scheduled to deliver its final reports and recommendations about the proposed permanent checkpoint during a meeting in Sahuarita.

"Working with the communities was to get involvement on the best way to go forward with building this — never to ask whether we should or shouldn't build it," said Gilbert, who in March took the reins of the Southwest border's busiest sector for human and drug trafficking. "We are America's law enforcement. We are America's border security experts. That's what we do; that's what we've done since 1924. We are not going to ask permission to do our job."

The agency is working toward the construction of a state-of-the-art checkpoint on I-19 that facilitates the flow of traffic, is safe for motorists and agents, and looks like something that belongs in the area, "not a broken-down trailer park on an overpass, which is what we have today," he said. "We need a proper facility in order to properly do the job."
Many Tubac and Green Valley residents oppose the idea on the grounds that it would be ineffective and detrimental to business, and would push smuggling activity into their neighborhoods. Longtime Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada also has questioned the need for a permanent checkpoint, arguing that it would be conceding ground to the smugglers.
Gilbert's comments surprised members of the working group. Carol Cullen, executive director of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, questioned why the Border Patrol instructed the group to form a committee to analyze alternatives to the permanent checkpoint if it was a done deal.

Nan Walden, a member of the working group and owner of a local pecan orchard, called Gilbert's comments shocking.

"Why would he have a press conference the day before the working group comes out with the recommendations?" Walden asked. "He's already on the offensive. That's not legitimate public participation. That's the Border Patrol thumbing its nose at the community."

Gilbert said the "not in my backyard" syndrome is prevalent among the opponents. "People want a checkpoint, but not where it impacts them," Gilbert said.

It's an opinion shared by Anthony Coulson, Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge in Tucson, who said property values are the driving force behind the opposition.

A citizens group from Southern and Central Arizona backs a new facility. On Monday at about 10 a.m., members organized a vehicle convoy and drove to the checkpoint with signs of support and U.S. flags on their vehicles, said Patti O'Berry, a Green Valley resident who is legislative chairwoman for District 30 and president of the Republican Women of Green Valley.

"We wanted our Border Patrol to know that we support them and that we support a permanent checkpoint on I-19," said O'Berry, whose son is a Border Patrol agent on the northern border. "They can put it in my backyard any day of the week."

The Border Patrol's Tucson Sector had been prohibited from opening permanent checkpoints since 1999 by a congressional mandate championed by since-retired Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., who argued that checkpoints serve little purpose because smugglers know where they are and can go around them.

The debate about the effectiveness of the permanent facilities was one of the issues Gilbert addressed Monday. Agency statistics show illegal-entrant apprehensions have increased 52 percent and marijuana seizures 70 percent at the checkpoint since they stopped moving it in November, he said.

"In the technological world we live in, cell phones, push to talk, there is no more element of surprise," Gilbert said.
Concerning the flanking of criminal activity that Tubac and Green Valley residents fear, he said a permanent facility will make the community safer, not more dangerous.
"We'll be able to put in the proper technology to have cameras where we can monitor the flanks," Gilbert said. "We can put in the ground surveillance radars, we can put in the ground sensors, all of this to be monitored out of a proper facility. We can't do that today with the facility we have."

And about the common refrain from the opposition that the Border Patrol should focus its efforts on the border, not 31 miles north, he said more than 90 percent of the Tucson Sector's resources are applied to the border daily, and that the agency has built an additional three miles of fence, 17 miles of border roads and 40 miles of bollard-style vehicle barriers in the past year.

"I've heard and read many times that the Border Patrol is abandoning the border — we're giving up 30 miles to the smugglers," Gilbert said. "That is just flat not true."

Despite Gilbert's strong words, he said he's eager to hear the recommendations of the work group. Even though a permanent checkpoint is a foregone conclusion, he wants input about where it should be, how it should work and what it should look like, he said.

The agency had identified Kilometer Post 50, north of Arivaca Junction, as a location for an interim checkpoint and possibly for the permanent one. But authorities have discovered drainage issues at that site during the environmental and engineering assessments that could force the agency to move it a few miles north or south, said John Fitzpatrick, assistant chief in the Tucson Sector.

The interim facility is expected to take one or two years to complete. It could take three to five years until the agency gets the funding and permits needed for a permanent checkpoint, he said. The agency's current checkpoint is at Kilometer Post 42, north of Tubac.

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