Thread: Nine border patrol offices will soon be deactivated

Border patrol office in Amarillo to be deactivated

Posted: Jul 06, 2012 3:29 PM PDT<em class="wnDate">Friday, July 6, 2012 6:29 PM EST</em>Updated: Jul 06, 2012 5:15 PM PDT<em class="wnDate">Friday, July 6, 2012 8:15 PM EST</em>By Angelina Perez



Amarillo, TX - The Border Patrol agents in our area will soon be permanently placed closer to the border.

Nine border patrol offices will soon be deactivated, meaning agents at interior offices in the U.S. will soon move to the border.

The U.S. Border Patrol said through spokesperson Bill Brooks, the deactivation is aimed at keeping the U.S. safer.

"Deactivations are consistent with our strategic goal which is securing America's borders and the objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest for those who are trying to cross illegally," said Brooks.

Local law enforcement say they are concerned the loss of the two agents in Amarillo will have a great impact.

"You know, I-40 is a corridor for not only narcotics but also for the human trafficking and we do use the Border Patrol quite a bit to come out and help us with those. They are the ones that have the authority to arrest them and detain them, we don't," said Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas.

Brooks says because of the Department of Homeland Security there will still be assistance for local law enforcement when it comes to dealing with illegals.

"Border Patrol agents that are currently stationed in these inland stations will receive permanent change of stations to somewhere on the border. Local law enforcement will have to contact Immigration Customs Enforcement if they have a need for assistance," added Brooks.

Sheriff Thomas is concerned if there is no immediate help for them, they would have to release the people they find.

"We could potentially have to release them if we don't have any resources here that could help us detain them or place them or any help with that,' said Thomas.

The changes are expected to take place in around six months.

Border patrol office in Amarillo going to be deactivated - KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, Sports

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/nine-border...orders-260774/

Closure of Border Patrol stations across four states triggers alarm

By Judson Berger
Published July 10, 2012
FoxNews.com

• 
  Feb. 15, 2012: A border patrol vehicle observes border fencing in Douglas, Ariz. (Reuters)

The Obama administration is moving to shut down nine Border Patrol stations across four states, triggering a backlash from local law enforcement, members of Congress and Border Patrol agents themselves.

Critics of the move warn the closures will undercut efforts to intercept drug and human traffickers in well-traveled corridors north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Though the affected stations are scattered throughout northern and central Texas, and three other states, the coverage areas still see plenty of illegal immigrant activity -- one soon-to-be-shuttered station in Amarillo, Texas, is right in the middle of the I-40 corridor; another in Riverside, Calif., is outside Los Angeles.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it's closing the stations in order to reassign agents to high-priority areas closer to the border.
"These deactivations are consistent with the strategic goal of securing America's borders, and our objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest of those trying to enter our country illegally," CBP spokesman Bill Brooks said in a statement. "By redeploying and reallocating resources at or near the border, CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission."

But at least one Border Patrol supervisor in Texas has called on local officers to "voice your concerns" to elected officials, warning that the "deactivation" will remove agents from the Texas Panhandle, among other places. Several members of Congress have asked Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher to reconsider the plan. And local officials are getting worried about what will happen once the Border Patrol leaves town, since they rely on those federal officials to assist in making immigration arrests.

"It could impact us tremendously since we've only got two agents up here now for 26 counties," Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas told FoxNews.com.

Potter County, in the Texas Panhandle, would be affected by the planned closure of the Amarillo station.

Thomas said that while his area is far from the border, it's still a major "corridor" for illegal immigrants -- and he said his office depends on Border Patrol to respond to their calls.

"I can't hold a carload of people out there on I-40 for eight hours while somebody comes from El Paso," he said. "I mean, that's just crazy."

Border Patrol's resident agent in charge in Amarillo expressed similar worries, in a recent memo to local law enforcement alerting them to the planned closure. The official, Robert Green, warned that the "entire complement" of two agents would be reassigned from Amarillo to somewhere closer to the border. He said "there is no active plan" right now for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fill the void on assisting local officials with stops.

SUMMARYThe following Border Patrol stations are set for closure:
Texas: Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio.
Idaho: Twin Falls
Montana: Billings
California: Riverside

Empathizing with local officials, he wrote: "As a former deputy I found myself on the other end of the radio hoping to contact USBP to assist me with a vehicle full of undocumented foreign nationals on the side of the road."

And in an unusual plea, he urged the recipients of his memo to contact elected officials about the change. "I would encourage you, if you have found USBP assistance valuable in the past, to contact your political representatives and voice your concerns," Green wrote.
The letter was first posted online by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Thomas confirmed to FoxNews.com that he received it. Bob Dane, communications director with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, also said he's confirmed the letter's authenticity with ICE.

CBP later acknowledged the memo, but said in its statement that Green was expressing his "personal opinion."

Lawmakers have started to get involved. Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, who represents Amarillo, joined two other Texas lawmakers whose districts would be affected in asking the Border Patrol chief to "reconsider the proposal."

A letter sent Tuesday to Fisher warned the plan would "leave our area vulnerable." They noted that the Amarillo and Lubbock stations alone, two of those affected, accounted for 638 apprehensions of illegal immigrants just this year.

FAIR also blasted the Obama administration for the plans.
"It's part of the systematic dismantling of both border and interior enforcement," Dane told FoxNews.com. "It complements the non-enforcement policy of this administration."

He warned that local officials in those areas will have a hard time summoning far-away Border Patrol agents to assist, and said the tone of Green's memo was a "not-so-subtle shout-out" that the agency feels "outmanned, outgunned ... by their own government."

The stations set for closure in about six months include six in Texas. They are in: Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio. The other three are in Billings, Mont.; Twin Falls, Idaho; and Riverside, Calif.

Brooks said that the closures do not mean agents will be out of contact.

"Though Border Patrol agents would no longer be located in these areas, the Border Patrol intends to maintain strong and meaningful law enforcement partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies in these areas through continuing to actively share intelligence and information" and other avenues, he said.

Detractors, though, say the changes are part of a pattern. The administration recently announced it would stop deporting young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have not committed a serious crime. And after the Supreme Court upheld one plank of Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law last month, federal officials said ICE would be selective in responding to calls about immigration status - prioritizing cases that meet certain criteria, like whether the suspect is wanted for a felony.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, who signed the Thornberry letter, also voiced concern about the latest announcement on station closings in a written statement.

"The Department of Homeland Security hasn't demonstrated that sending additional resources to the border will be a more efficient use of resources than maintaining a presence further north," Neugebauer said. "I'd like to see numbers that reassure me that this strategy change won't ultimately result in fewer arrests."

Closure of Border Patrol stations across four states triggers alarm | Fox News

• Well well well imagine that
  he grants amnesty and will not deport,
  arms the agents with bean bags against automatics
  instructs agents to run and hide or possibly throw things at attackers "if" necessary
  now he will close the stations.
  Do you need anymore proof that this guy is surrendering the Republic?????
  
  
  

CLOSING BP offices will make us safer? Can Americans really be stupid enough to believe these lies?

Riverside Border Patrol office to close in coming months

By City News Service, on July 11, 2012, at 2:58 pm
By PAUL YOUNG

The U.S. Border Patrol office in Riverside will be shut down in six months in what federal officials say is part of a wider effort to “more effectively” utilize resources — a claim that a citizens’ advocacy group today called a cover for the Obama administration’s real motive to avoid enforcing immigration laws.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, around year’s end, the Riverside CBP station — in operation since 1967 — will be “deactivated” and its nine agents likely transferred to nearby offices.

The Riverside office was among nine CBP stations placed on a closure list released last week. The others are Abilene, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Billings, Mont.; Dallas; Lubbock, Texas; San Angelo, Texas; San Antonio; and Twin Falls, Idaho.

The CBP’s Southwest Border media affairs chief, Bill Brooks, released a statement saying the closures are part of a plan to “better align operations.”

“In order to accomplish its mission more efficiently and to use its personnel more effectively, Customs and Border Protection has increasingly concentrated its resources in the immediate border areas,” Brooks said.

“These deactivations are consistent with the strategic goal of securing America’s borders, and our objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest of those trying to enter our country illegally.

“By re-deploying and reallocating resources at or near the border, CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission,” he said. “Though agents would no longer be located in these areas, the Border Patrol intends to maintain strong and meaningful law enforcement partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies in these areas through continuing to actively share intelligence and information.”

The Riverside office is one of four in the CBP’s El Centro sector, which encompasses all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, as well as portions of Imperial, Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

CBP Supervising Agent Armando Garcia told City News Service that in the fiscal year ending September 2011, the El Centro sector made roughly 31,000 apprehensions, nabbing suspected illegal aliens, drug smugglers and other lawbreakers.

Garcia declined to comment on what impact “deactivating” the Riverside office might have on enforcement operations in the region.

Ira Mehlman, with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told CNS that the decision to close the CBP office in Riverside tracks with the Obama administration’s “overall policy of non-enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.”

“For the last three-plus years, the administration has taken a position that says: `If you come here illegally, it’s no big deal; just don’t come here and commit a serious crime.’ They have dismantled any kind of meaningful enforcement. The country’s immigration policy should be to protect the interests of the American people.”

Mehlman compared the CBP’s closures to “eliminating a second line of defense.”

“These stations have agents who are stopping illegal aliens, drug smugglers and others on their way to the interior of the country,” he said.

“You can’t stop everybody at the border. Think of it like football. Would you put all of your offense or defense at the line of scrimmage?”

Mehlman said the closures, the president’s signing of an executive order last month suspending deportations of some undocumented immigrants who are under 30 years old and legal challenges to state laws cracking down on illegal immigration send the wrong message.

“They’re saying if a person can get past the first line of defense at the border, they’re home free and can stay here as long as they don’t commit a serious crime,” he said.

In the past several years, the Department of Homeland Security has initiated multiple nationwide sweeps to catch criminal undocumented aliens, netting thousands of arrests. Mehlman applauded the actions but said they fail to address the core problem of preventing illegal entry to the United States.

The Riverside CBP office has come under fire in the past for what pro-immigrants’ rights groups criticized as overzealous enforcement practices. In 2009, the Justice for Immigrants Coalition held protests outside the station, displaying videos of raids in which agents made random detentions and chased people into homes and markets to arrest them.

The group alleged the Riverside-based agents were trying to meet monthly arrest quotas, which the CBP adamantly denied.

Riverside Border Patrol office to close in coming months