Dogs Sniff for Illegal Aliens : INS Adds a Few Talented Noses

U.S. officials have begun using a new weapon in their never-ending quest to stem the tide of illegal aliens across the U.S.-Mexico border: dogs.

Authorities announced Tuesday that they have posted four people-sniffing dogs at border crossings in California. The idea is to detect undocumented immigrants who are being hidden in ever-more-sophisticated compartments in the more than 12 million cars, trucks and buses that cross the border each year.

“Some of these compartments are ingenious,” said Rolland Johnson, a supervisor for the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the San Ysidro border crossing.

Can Also Be Dangerous

The compartments can also be dangerous. Aliens have suffocated or been seriously injured while concealed in car trunks or other parts of vehicles. Smugglers also sometimes abandon vehicles while aliens are trapped inside.

“Lest we think in romantic terms of the alien smuggler, we should bear in mind that these same people are often involved in drug smuggling,” said Harold W. Ezell, INS Western regional commissioner. “Your average coyote (smuggler) isn’t overly concerned about the welfare of his client.”

As for the smugglers’ ingenuity, officials cited the case of a Compton man sentenced Monday to 8 years in jail in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The man was charged with driving a dump truck in which 20 aliens were concealed inside a long, metal compartment that was just 18 inches high. A prosecutor called it “an iron casket.”

Although the Customs Service has long used dogs to sniff out drugs, officials said this is the first time the INS has deployed the animals in an alien-sniffing capacity at the border crossings. The Border Patrol, the enforcement arm of the INS, uses dogs at its checkpoint along Interstate 5 just south of San Clemente.

The INS dogs, which cost $5,000 to 6,000 apiece, are Belgian Malinois, known for their acute sense of smell, and were specially trained at the Adlerhorst Training School in Riverside. The dogs are taught to find both humans and illicit drugs. INS inspectors were trained with them as special handlers.

The dogs are to be posted at the secondary, or supplemental, inspection areas, where officials direct vehicles suspected of carrying contraband. The hope is that the dogs will also save inspectors the time it takes to tear apart vehicles wrongly suspected of smuggling.

The dogs have been used for several months, but INS officials said the program began officially this week. It is a pilot program, and its efficacy will be evaluated after a still-undetermined period. More dogs may eventually be brought in, officials said.

Although the dogs are taught to sniff out people and drugs, officials said the animals’ primary function will be to find aliens. INS and customs officials already seize huge amounts of drugs at the border, so any drugs found by the animals would be a bonus, officials said.