Thread: AZ: GOP Sheriffs' accounts at odds with Border Patrol's over

GOP Sheriffs' accounts at odds with Border Patrol's over security
Posted: Apr 08, 2011 6:33 PM PDT
Updated: Apr 08, 2011 8:50 PM PDT

Reporter: Claire Doan

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – Two local Arizona sheriffs – Cochise Co. Sheriff Larry Dever and Pinal Co. Sheriff Paul Babeu – said they heard that Border Patrol agents in Arizona have been instructed not to arrest all illegal border crossers to keep apprehension numbers down, but the Chief of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said there is no truth to their accounts.

"That assertion is completely, 100% false and, most disturbingly, it unfairly casts a negative light on the hard work done each day in service to the Nation and at risk to themselves by the mend and women of Border Patrol," wrote Chief Michael Fisher, in a letter to Dever.

Dever sent out this statement in response: "I do not make this stuff up … I can unequivocally say what I have told you comes from Border Patrol agents who work the problem everyday and other federal government officials from various organizations."

Babeu backed up his claim in his testimony at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Thursday, attesting to hearing the same accounts from his Lt. Matt Thomas.

"He said, ‘Sheriff. I have heard that myself directly from Border Patrol Agents in Tucson," Babeu told the committee, adding that he heard the same from T.J. Bonner, a retired president of National Border Patrol Council, an agents' union.

Republican Sheriffs Babeu and Estrada are partners in BorderSheriffs.com, an online fundraising effort.

However, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada, a Democrat, said the accounts do not reflect his decades-long partnership with Border Patrol.

"I've never heard anything like that. I've been down at the border for over 40 years and this is the first time I've heard anything like this," Estrada told KGUN9 News.

When 9 On Your Side's Claire Doan asked Estrada to explain the differing accounts from sheriffs who all work in Arizona, Estrada replied: "I think it goes along party lines. I'm pretty sure that has a lot to do with it … [The political gain] being that the administration is not doing everything it can to secure the border."

Jeffery Self, Commander of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Joint Field Command in Arizona, issued the following statement to KGUN9 News: "I can confirm that the claim that Border Patrol supervisors have been instructed to underreport or manipulate our statistics is unequivocally false," Self said. "To suggest that we are ambiguous in enforcing our laws belittles the work of more than 6,000 CBP employees in Arizona who dedicate their lives to protect our borders every day."

Border Patrol apprehended 1.6 illegal border crossers in 2000; last year, that number fell to roughly one-third.

http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=14413903

Watch a Video Report of Sheriff Babeu with the committee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGEWzaN928U