Posted: Monday, August 19, 2013 7:25 pm

Ildefonso Ortiz | The Monitor


Gabe Hernandez
Border Patrol agent Christopher Ortiz takes an oath Monday Aug. 19, 2013 at the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector Headquarters in Edinburg.

EDINBURG — As Rosendo Hinojosa walked into the room, 48 new trainees — all wearing business suits — jumped to their feet.

“Class 1019 reporting for duty, Sir,” the group said in unison.

Hinojosa, the chief for the U.S. Border Patrol’s RGV Sector, swore in the new trainees and spoke with them about life as a Border Patrol agent.

The group will be shipped off to an 11-week academy after which they will return to the Valley for an additional eight weeks of training, said Border Patrol spokesman Enrique Mendiola.

The current group is just one of seven similar-sized classes that are expected to fully join the agency by February, boosting the sector’s numbers from 2,800 agents to about 3,100, Mendiola said.

During their time at the academy, the trainees will be trained in immigration law, operational procedures and physical conditioning, said spokesman Daniel Tirado.

The increase in manpower comes after agents in the sector have seen their workload multiply exponentially after immigration and drug smuggling routes have shifted from Western states to Hidalgo County, statistics show.

According to the most recent statistics, agents have apprehended more than 100,000 people suspected of illegally entering the country in the Rio Grande Valley sector since October 2012.

The agency has also seen an increase in narcotics trafficking and human stash houses that have begun to pop up in residential areas.

“It’s crucial to make sure we are flexing our resources to the areas that are the most problematic, and right now that area is the McAllen area,” Hinojosa said. New trainees “will give us more boots on the ground to complement the agents out in the field.”

The added manpower comes not from an expansion of the agency but as a redirection of assets from other sectors, the chief said. While the agency as a whole is not expected to grow, the new agents will bring up the RGV Sector’s manpower to an all-time high, which according to the chief is a big jump from the 393 agents that were originally stationed in the RGV Sector in 1993.

“The Border Patrol regularly conducts analysis of which areas present the largest threat and the largest need; this location for a while has been deemed as one,” Hinojosa said. “This is where the flow is the heaviest at this current time.”

Joining the Border Patrol is an exciting step in the life of Rebecca Lazcano, a Crystal City native who is expected to be assigned to the Weslaco Station.

“I am very excited to be given this opportunity and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Lazcano said. “As a woman, hopefully I can serve as an example for other women who may wish to pursue a career in the Border Patrol.”



http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...9bb30f31a.html