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Sheriff says border plan works

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times

The plan to have sheriff's deputies help Border Patrol agents tighten border security has already been tested in El Paso County and it worked, El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego said Thursday.

Samaniego said his department conducted an eight-week operation around Fabens and Tornillo about a year ago, paying sheriff's deputies overtime to flood the area. The result: a 40 percent drop in crime compared with the same period the year before.

"The word gets back across to Mexico that there are a lot more officers on patrol, and they cease to cross," Chief Deputy Jimmy Apodaca said.

Sheriff's officials declined to give more details about the pilot operation, such as what kinds of crimes dropped and how many officers worked in the area.

Samaniego is a member of the newly formed Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, which was promised $9.7 million in grants by Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday for its plan called Operation Linebacker.

"We don't want to take the place of the Border Patrol. We want to help them. They don't have the manpower. There are a lot of gaps along the border," Samaniego said.

Border Patrol officials praised their long-standing working relationship with local law enforcement agencies but declined to speak about the specific plan.

The coalition hasn't decided yet how much money will come to El Paso, but officials said it'll be enough to pay for officers' overtime.

The sheriffs are also asking for $35 million from Congress to hire and train new deputies -- 24 in El Paso -- for Operation Linebacker. El Paso County sheriff's officials said the county would need $3.3 million to implement the plan.

They said that with the state's funding, the first phase of the operation could start by the end of the month.

But some people are still worried about blurring the lines between law enforcement and immigration enforcement.

Representatives of the Border Network for Human Rights predicted that law-abiding immigrants would stop calling the sheriff's office for help if they thought they could get deported.

Ana Maria Walsh, an immigrant who lives in the Segundo Barrio, said police are already acting like the Border Patrol in her neighborhood.

"The police are walking around asking people for their papers. They're asking people who are not doing anything wrong," she said.