Cochise County continues to apprehend an increasing number of illegal immigrants with the help of extra federal funding, increased border patrol agents and new tactics and technology in Southern Arizona.

In 2006, President Bush approved the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which made available $1.2 billion in funding to increase border patrol agents’ technology and infrastructure. The act also supports efforts to increase border patrol agents to 18,000 by the end of this year.

“Right now there are about 16,900 agents,” said Mike Scioli, a public information officer for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Tucson Sector. “We’re right on track to have about 18,000 by Dec. 1.”

Of all border patrol sectors in the nation, Tucson’s has the highest number of drug seizures and illegal immigrant apprehensions. The sector shares 262 miles of the southern border with Mexico and includes about 90,500 square miles.

“Ten years ago, we had a little over 700 agents,” Scioli said. “ Now we have a little over 3,200 agents.”

In 2007, there were 2,700 agents employed with Tucson Sector Border Patrol.

Extra federal funding has enabled agents and officers to work overtime and purchase extra equipment.

“We’ve had quite a bit of support for the last four to five years,” said Tombstone Marshal Merlin Jay Smith.

With the help of Operation Stonegarden, a grant awarded to four Southwestern border states by the Department of Homeland Security, the Tombstone police will be able to provide an extra eight hours a day in overtime.

For the fiscal year 2008, the state of Arizona received $9.85 million from Operation Stonegarden, according to Marlene Phillips of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Affairs Department. Cochise County received $2.3 million of those funds, according to Amy Bolton, Arizona State Department of Homeland Security (AZDOHS).

The Tombstone Marshal’s Office received about $40,000 from AZDOHS, which enabled them to expand working hours for a deputy.
“We’ve been able to purchase extra equipment like ATVS, and a four-wheeled drive pickup truck,” Smith said. “Officers will patrol the highways through town, like Middle March and Charleston.”

The purpose is to traffic stop vehicles for any violation, and if the subject is an illegal immigrant, the officers will call Border Patrol.
Not only are local funds increasing equipment and local agents, but national funds as well.

The national budget for Border Patrol from 2006 to 2008 increased $1.48 billion, according to Mike Reilly, field operation manager from HCOBP Office of Public Affairs.

The number of apprehensions along the border has decreased as a whole.

Tucson Sector’s apprehensions dropped 17 percent from 2007 to 2008.

“There are close to 350 illegal immigrants apprehended a day,” Scioli said.

He attributes the decrease to a newly adopted prosecution programs developed in San Diego’s sector in the early 90’s.

One new program, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), allows the Border Patrol to run criminal background checks quickly.

Previously, a fingerprint check could often take up to three months to complete. IAFIS makes it so Border Patrol can identify criminals while they are still in police custody.

“It was like a revolving door through Nogales,” Scioli said, “IAFIS get us results in 10 minutes or less.”

One Border Patrol program, Arizona Denial system, puts crossers in jail no matter the circumstance.

“If you come across in certain sectors of the border, you automatically get jail time,” Scioli said.

The areas are chosen based on heavy trafficking and smuggling.

Another system, Quick Court, speeds up the prosecution process.

“We’ll have a number of people being served in front of the judge at once for the same crime, so we can get them dispersed better,” Scioli said.

Yuma has also adopted these programs and seen dramatic results.  In 2006, the sector had 190,000 apprehensions and this year, only 6,000.

Technology increases include built-in ground sensors in highly trafficked areas, when hit, tell the agents how many people have crossed and what direction they’re heading.

“The only problem with the sensors is it could be cattle or other U.S. citizens,” Scioli said.

The agency has 90 different cameras, and scope trucks with 30-foot tall cameras built in also meant to catch immigrants crossing at night.

“We’ve seen a reduction in the number of apprehensions,” said Glenn Spencer, a member of American Border Patrol, an organization of citizens against the crossing of illegal immigrants.

However, Spencer believes the Border Patrol agents are being stretched to do their job.

“We’ve had many incidents where we tell them where people are at, and they don’t have enough agents to send out,” he said.
Spencer, a six-year resident of Arizona, has a ranch on the border alongside the San Pedro River. He keeps a camera set up to spot people crossing.

“We see where people are coming in, and give their location to Border Patrol,” he said. “We feel the agents are doing a good job, but management has their hands tied.”