http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/16241829.htm

Posted on Thu, Dec. 14, 2006



Chief says marijuana busts show region getting 'under control'

LYNN BREZOSKY
Associated Press

EDINBURG, Texas - The Border Patrol in one of Texas' five sectors has seized some 50 tons of marijuana just 10 weeks into the fiscal year, a huge increase the sector chief attributes to a change in immigration policy that has allowed agents to focus on drugs.

The spree of seizures in the Rio Grande Valley sector culminated this week with a three-day catch totaling more than 10 tons, including a 7,000-pound load in a tractor trailer heading through a highway immigration checkpoint.

The increase in seizures of 181 percent over the same time last year can be traced in part to so-called "other than Mexican" immigrants no longer being turned loose after capture with a notice to appear before a judge, which they often ignored, sector chief Lynne Underdown said Thursday. Unlike Mexicans, other illegal immigrants can't be immediately deported.

Word apparently has reached non-Mexican immigrants that they can be detained and eventually deported, and apprehension numbers are down 70 percent, Underdown said. As a result, she said, agents can spend more time chasing drug traffickers.

"It didn't take very long for the 'dissuasion factor' to materialize," Underdown said. "We have gained control in the area of aliens."

There have been reports of a bumper crop of marijuana due to unseasonably heavy rains in Mexico, which could lead to increased flow of the drug across the border.

But Immigration and Customs Enforcement added some 3,000 detention beds to the sector over the past year specifically to address the problem of non-Mexican immigrants.

There were special issues with Salvadoran immigrants, thanks to a 1980s court ruling that says they must initially be detained near their apprehension site and protects them from expedited removal procedures being used on other non-Mexican immigrants. The number of Salvadorans being detained has dropped 74 percent, Underdown said.

"A year ago, we would be sitting here having a conversation about OTMS," Underdown said, referring to non-Mexican immigrants. "The fact that we've gained this level of increased control in our area has enabled us to keep our agents out in the field as much as possible."

Underdown said the fact that traffickers would attempt to bring a load through a checkpoint signaled desperation at agents patrolling other routes, including some revealed through new mapping technology.

"Our agents are out on the road, disrupting those organizations that used those back roads," she said.

Javier Rios, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Washington, said marijuana seizures along the southwest border were up 21 percent over last year and that cocaine seizures had increased 69 percent.

He said the Tucson sector led in marijuana seizures, followed by the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso.

"Expedited removal, detention capacity, and improved removal has led to a decrease in the numbers of cross-border traffic," Rios said. "With less traffic, the agents are able to expand their enforcement effort."