Border Patrol Class Expands Boundaries of Perception

Cynthia Diaz is no cheerleader for the U.S. Border Patrol. Agents at a New Mexico checkpoint once tore open her car doors in a search for drugs she was not carrying, Diaz said. And, though U.S.-born, she has been stopped on the streets of San Ysidro and questioned about her citizenship status.

So how has the 20-year-old college junior been spending her Wednesday evenings lately?

She has been studying up on the agency--from its authority to search people to its stepped-up efforts to stem illegal immigration--at a new “citizens academy” conducted by the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector.

In two-hour sessions over seven weeks, Diaz and about 20 other people--college students, teachers, retirees--are introduced to topics ranging from anti-smuggling intelligence gathering to the use of deadly force in making arrests.

There will be no academic credits for these classes, though there is a graduation ceremony. The lectures at the area headquarters, and tours of the border, are largely an exercise in community outreach.

Besides the obvious public relations value, the classes offer residents a chance to peer more closely into the workings of an agency that is a prominent, often controversial, fixture of daily life along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The chance to get to know such a visible neighbor was irresistible to Lou Bareno.

“It’s like living in Washington, D.C., and going by the Washington Monument every day and never going up in it,” said Bareno, a retired salesman from Chula Vista, which sits a few miles north of the border.

This is the second round of classes since the academy was launched last fall by William Veal, the new chief of the San Diego sector. Veal, who formerly served in El Paso, had revived a similar program in that city.

He hopes that the academy improves his operation by garnering public input and creating “eyes and ears” in the community. If it wins a few hearts and minds, well, that’s all right too.

“We’re your Border Patrol,” Veal said. “And if you’d like to know how we do the job you’ve given us to do, we’d like you to see how we do it.”

Some class members answered newspaper and radio advertisements. Others were invited to attend by Border Patrol officials after making complaints about the agency, Veal said. (A woman in the first group had made news for being detained by agents, even though she was a U.S. citizen.)

Classes are led by Border Patrol station supervisor Ann Summers, an affable 15-year veteran. Other field agents serve as guest experts, leading discussions on seizures of contraband, checkpoint operations and community relations.

On the opening night, it’s clear that everyone has a different reason for attending. Some older residents know about the Border Patrol from having reported suspected illegal immigrants near their homes. Several younger members are scouting possible careers as agents.

Questions from the students, seated around a U-shaped table, are all over the map. What about recent news reports of budget cuts? How are relations between the Border Patrol and Mexican officials? Are all the Latino agents from Texas?

For those unfamiliar with the history of immigration enforcement in San Diego, there is a presentation on Operation Gatekeeper, the 4-year-old push to deter illegal crossings through beefed-up patrols and border fences, lights and ground sensors.

Using flip charts, Deputy Chief Harold Beasley describes a sharp drop in arrests, the usual way the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service measures illegal crossings. Migration, and enforcement efforts, have shifted east to El Centro. Beasley says fence-building in San Diego stymied smugglers who used to drive en masse over a steel cable that was the only barrier.

Those chaotic times are well known to enrollees George and Conchita Pritchard, who live in an Imperial Beach neighborhood once regularly traversed by immigrants. The couple used to call the local Border Patrol station so often they had the number programmed on their telephone.

Though illegal crossings there have fallen to almost zero, the couple stayed active in Border Patrol affairs and were invited to join the academy.

George Pritchard said the classes have given him a new appreciation for the quick thinking required of agents and the quantity of red tape faced by local officials.

The academy offers a lopsided view, to be sure. Not addressed in the Gatekeeper presentation are persistent charges by human rights advocacy groups that the policy has pushed migrants to risk often-deadly back-country routes. One instructor mocked news coverage of alleged rights abuses by agents as fanciful.

The students, who seem generally sympathetic to the Border Patrol, nonetheless inquire about wrongful arrests of citizens and what rights a person has to refuse answering an agent’s queries.

Bareno, 69, was critical of “immigrant bashing” by former Gov. Pete Wilson. During a break, Bareno said immigration enforcement seems to track economic cycles--becoming more strict when times are bad. He said the classes have helped ease his worries that the Border Patrol was insensitive to Mexicans.

Diaz, a criminal justice major at San Diego State University, agreed. Despite her past brushes, she is considering a career as a Border Patrol agent--one way to change the agency a bit from inside. Now Diaz feels a newfound empathy.

“They’re just doing their job,” she said last week. “You can’t say everything’s bad just because of a couple of incidents.”