47 Border Agents Added in Arizona

Federal immigration officials announced Friday that 47 more Border Patrol agents would be sent to help slow the number of illegal immigrants coming into southeastern Arizona.

Border traffic that used to come through San Diego or El Paso has been squeezed into Arizona through beefed up patrols in those regions, turning Douglas, Ariz., into one of the nation’s busiest crossing points and alarming many residents.

“We’ve seen a significant shift in the traffic of border crossing,” said Virginia Kice, regional spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. “Certainly, there is cause for concern. But I want to reassure them we are aware of the situation and we are moving in to address it.”

That is why, she said, the Border Patrol will bring back 17 agents who had been assigned to Douglas but were working in other areas and will bring in 30 additional temporary agents until permanent ones can be hired.

Some of the added agents will be used to create a special enforcement team to target immigrant smuggling and respond to complaints by ranchers in the Douglas area.

The plan announced Friday also includes more overtime to increase the patrols by the 321 agents already in the Douglas area. Eighteen stadium-style portable flood lights will be placed along the 65 miles of border near Douglas.

Residents, however, say that the plan doesn’t do nearly enough.

“We need 10 times that amount,” said rancher Larry Vance Jr. “Any help is a step in the right direction. But anything small is just a Band-Aid on a huge, gaping festered wound.”

He and other residents have been clamoring for months for more help along the border, accusing illegal immigrants of trashing their property and attracting dangerous bandits.

John Seagle, a retired engineer and rancher, said federal officials need to come up with a permanent, nationwide solution.

“Forty-seven agents is too little too late. It’s to placate us. It’s a joke,” he said. “This is trying to make political hay.”

Vance said the federal government needs to do more to help the entire border region and needs to do it fast.

“This has been at a fevered pitch for a year now. . . . Something has to happen soon,” he said.

Vance said he fears tension between residents and illegal immigrants will escalate into something more serious if the federal government doesn’t do more soon.

But Sen. Jon Kyl said he is not expecting to see any quick, permanent action on the issue.

The Border Patrol is unlikely to hire all the additional agents that it has funding for by the end of the fiscal year in October, he said. The Arizona Republican said the agency will probably hire 200 to 400 of the 1,000 agents it is authorized to get.

The Border Patrol’s recruitment plan “is a very long-term plan,” Kyl said Friday.

But Kice said the agency must be selective in whom it hires and that it is bolstering patrols near Douglas in phases, the same way it did in San Diego and El Paso.