Border Patrol to Be Equipped With M-14 Rifles, Armored Cars

Some Border Patrol agents in San Diego will be armed with military surplus M-14 rifles and armored cars to combat what immigration officials call “the prevalence of violence” along the border, it was announced Thursday.

The M-14 will provide agents with increased firepower, and represents a radical departure from the .357 magnum revolvers and variety of rifles and shotguns currently used by agents.

The M-14, the standard U.S. infantry weapon prior to the introduction of the M-16 during the early days of the Vietnam War, is a 20-shot weapon that can be fired either as a semi-automatic or automatic weapon.

The M-14, which has a conventional wooden stock, was relegated to surplus status when it was replaced by the lighter M-16, made largely of plastic, in 1967. Duke Austin, an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman in Washington, said 1,000 rifles will be distributed to the various Border Patrol sectors along the Mexican and Canadian borders.

The first batch of M-14s, and the two Army-surplus armored cars being acquired by the Border Patrol, will be sent to San Diego, Austin said.

Border Patrol officials in San Diego said that since January, 1984, five agents have been shot and wounded by Mexican bandits who prey on illegal aliens in the rugged canyons along the international border. All of the agents were saved by armored vests. One agent was shot five times but recovered and has returned to duty.

“Our agents are in charge of guarding the border and providing national security. The border bandits and illegal aliens are becoming increasingly violent and more of them are coming across (the border) armed. . . . We need these weapons and vehicles,” said INS spokesman John Belluardo in Los Angeles.

Austin said that the rifles will not be issued to each agent but “will be distributed according to the prevalance of violence.” He said the weapons will be used by agents patrolling a “particularly dangerous area” and “in operations against drug smugglers.”

Asked if this means that all agents in San Diego--called the most dangerous border area by the INS--will be issued the new rifles, Austin replied: “If the situation warrants it, the rifles will be used accordingly. We didn’t want to wait until an agent was killed before acquiring the M-14s. It makes more sense to have them available when the agents need them.”

Belluardo said that agents welcomed the new rifles for another reason. He said drug smugglers are frequently better-armed than the agents who try to arrest them and the M-14’s firepower will serve as a “confidence booster” to the agents.

Austin said that use of the rifles and armored vehicles has “been under Border Patrol consideration for quite some time.” In addition to these items, the Border Patrol will also receive additional electronic sensors to detect both illegal foot and vehicle traffic across the border and night vision scopes.

All the items will be on loan from the Army at no cost to the Border Patrol and will probably be delivered in early 1987, Austin said.

The armored vehicles, which will be of the wheeled “war wagon” type instead of the tracked variety, are needed in the steep ravines and canyons that agents patrol along the border, said Austin.

“We’re having problems with the current field vehicles because of the terrain. I understand that the rugged canyons are taking a heavy toll on our vehicles and the new (armored) vehicles should be able to go in and out of those canyons without any problem” said Austin.

Belluardo said that the two armored vehicles will not be put on routine patrols but only be used “in dangerous locations where safety is of great concern.” Agents commonly use four-wheel-drive vehicles to patrol the border area.

Austin said that the M-14 rifles will replace the .308-caliber pump-action rifles now used by agents. The rifles were purchased by the Border Patrol in the late 1960s and are considered outdated. The Border Patrol is the only police agency in the United States that uses them, said Austin.

Border Patrol officials said that the Army rifles and armored vehicles will probably draw complaints from critics, but they defended the acquisitions on grounds that agents are frequent targets of border violence.

Roberto Martinez, San Diego director of the American Friends Service Committee and head of the Coalition for Law and Justice, called the arms acquisition a “another pretext to militarize the border.”

“To say that they (Border Patrol agents) are outgunned is just another pretext to militarize the border. It’s indisputable that 99% of the people who cross the border aren’t bandits or drug smugglers but people who come here looking for work. Even the shootings of border bandits are questionable. Many of the bandits who have been killed weren’t even armed,” said Martinez.

According to Border Patrol statistics, since January, 1984, agents assigned to the Border Crimes Prevention Unit have been involved in 19 shooting incidents. The unit is composed of agents and San Diego police officers who patrol the border canyons at night to arrest drug smugglers and bandits.

The 19 shooting incidents have resulted in 15 bandits being shot, six of whom were killed. Three agents wounded. In fiscal year 1985, 77 agents were assaulted along the border in San Diego. The number jumped to 128 assaults in 1986, the Border Patrol said.