Border Patrol: Not Much to Do About Repeat Illegal Crossers
September 13th, 2007 @ 3:28pm
by Doug Ramsey/KTAR

Border Patrol officials say there is not much they can do about repeat illegal border crossers.

Agents say the only thing they can do to repeat illegal crossers is to lock them up for awhile.

"They're going to spend some more time in a federal facility," said Border Patrol spokesman Chuy Rodriguez. "I mean that's all we can do at this point is to continue to incarcerate them when we apprehend them out in the desert."

Rodriguez said they catch repeat violators all the time.

"Every day in the Tucson sector we arrest someone who has been previously deported," Rodriguez said.

But until a biometric fingerprint scan is done, Rodriguez said, agents have no idea whether someone is crossing illegally for the first time or the 20th.

Once someone is identified as having been deported or having a criminal record, they can be locked up, but Rodriguez said that's about the only option.

And despite new technology, fencing and vehicle barriers, Rodriguez said they're not going to catch everyone.

Rodriguez said the agency is doing everything it can to reduce illegal entry.

"The agents out there working 24 hours patrolling the border," Rodriguez said. "We're putting technology out there. We're putting vehicle barriers out there to keep people from driving in."


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