Thread: AZ-Border Patrol checkpoint data scant, GAO says

Border Patrol checkpoint data scant, GAO says
By Brady McCombs

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.01.2009


A one-year evaluation of U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints by the investigative arm of Congress found that the agency's self-reported data aren't sufficient to determine if the inspection stations are efficient or effective.

A 147-page report, released on Monday by the Government Accountability Office, also shows that the agency overstated checkpoint results in the last two years as a result of a lack of management oversight and inconsistent data gathering and analyzing throughout the agency.

"We had a challenge in getting data that we were comfortable reporting," said Rich Stana, director of homeland security issues at the GAO.

The report also found that the agency has not analyzed the effect that the checkpoints have had on surrounding communities or determined how many agents are needed to respond to smugglers going around checkpoints when new checkpoints are built. "So that when the bricks and mortar come, the agents come as well," Stana said.

But the report stops short of questioning the need for permanent checkpoints, even pointing out that agents have more legal authority to stop and question motorists at fixed checkpoints than at roving checkpoints.

"Permanent checkpoints give you advantages that you can't have with a mobile checkpoint," said Stana, adding that permanent checkpoints provide more room, better facilities and more technology.

The report also backs the work officials in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector carried out in choosing a preferred location for a permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19 in Arizona. The report doesn't endorse the agency's selected location — Kilometer Post 42 north of Tubac, rather than Kilometer Post 50 and Kilometer Post 25 — but it found the agency followed its established guidelines in a full review of potential sites.

For Southern Arizonans opposed to the Border Patrol's proposed permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19, the report validates one of their primary concerns: that the checkpoints are not effective.

"It's a scathing criticism of the Border Patrol," said Harry Peck, an attorney and real estate agent in Tumacacori who opposes the Border Patrol's proposed permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19. "If they are not operating efficiently and effectively, they are not doing their job. That is the whole thing: We don't know if this huge expenditure is going to do any good."

The Border Patrol's permanent checkpoint will cost an estimated $25 million, the report found. An interim facility expected to be up by May 2010 will cost an estimated $1.5 million.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who requested the study, said the report should be viewed as a tool to help guide the community through an ongoing process — not an end-all document. She said she had not yet had a chance to read the entire report on Monday because she was preparing for health-care forums. But she said she would read it by Wednesday, when she is set to appear at a Green Valley community meeting about the checkpoint.

"This study will help guide us and help direct us as we move forward with looking at additional enforcement measures in Southern Arizona," said Giffords, D-Ariz. "I don't look to Wednesday's meeting as one where we are going to decide the future of checkpoints in Southern Arizona."

In response to the report's findings that the agency hasn't adequately reviewed the efficiency of its checkpoints, Giffords said she agrees that accountability measures are vital.

"The Border Patrol has to be responsible and accountable to the American people, and I believe they are interested in doing that, but we ordered the GAO study to have an independent group give the Border Patrol and the community direct feedback on how things are working," Giffords said.

Contact reporter Brady McCombs at bmccombs@azstarnet.com.


http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/dailystar/307169.php

Border official: Interstate 19 checkpoint needed, if not wanted
By Brian J. Pedersen
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.02.2009

GREEN VALLEY — A permanent Border Patrol checkpoint along Interstate 19 is not something the agency desires but rather is required to help control illegal immigration and drug smuggling, the Tucson Sector’s top official said Wednesday.
“A checkpoint is not something we want, but we’ve identified it as something we need,â€