Guest Editorial
Restore Our Border (ROB) Security Plan
Arizona Cattlemen’s Association | April 21, 2010
Position on Borderland Security
• The U.S. Mexico/Arizona Border is out of control. Current security measures and Border Patrol and County Law Enforcement assets deployed in Arizona are insufficient to improve much less correct the situation.
• The U.S. Mexico Border must be credibly and sustainably secured and existing immigration laws judiciously enforced. Talk is over, time to act! Achieving immediate Border Security is the most important critical success factor in protecting U.S. citizens from U.S. Mexico Border smuggling and the extensive amount of criminal acts caused by it. The unacceptable risks associated with not knowing who crosses the Border poses a grave threat and increases the vulnerability to a likely terrorist attack. The political and lengthy Immigration debate is a serious distraction in the battle to credibly secure the U.S. Mexico Border.
• If you extrapolated the number of Arizona Borderlands burglaries, home invasions, fires property and ranch infrastructure damage to a comparable per capita urban area or, to a national disaster such as Katrina, the Arizona Borderlands would qualify for National Disaster Area financial relief and U.S. military presence to restore Arizona/New Mexico Borderlands Community Security.
• The cumulative financial costs and the ongoing financial burden upon Arizona residents and ranching operations attributable to illegal immigration and smuggling have become intolerable. As a business enterprise, we have a system which is providing consistent destructive actions upon our lives and businesses. These destructive influences will increase consumer costs and ranch failures.
Restore Our Border Action Items
1. The judicial and law enforcement systems, which handle prosecution of these criminal activities, shall recognize and apply an enforcement mechanism that provides for the prosecution of illegally crossing into the U.S. over the Border, for the first time, as a felony barring any person from ever working or receiving residency visa status in the U.S. No exceptions.
2. Immediately deploy operational units of the U.S. Military to the Arizona/Mexico Border. Station overwhelming Border Patrol/Military blocking force denying illegal entry at the Border.
3. Establish permanent Forward Operating Bases (FOB) immediately adjacent to the U.S. border with Mexico. (Suggesting at least one FOB every 12 miles)
4. Overhaul and add teeth to the “Pursuit and Apprehension” policies for Law Enforcement to assure deterrence and protect U.S. residents and State authorities from potential harm. In the first instance, authorize the U.S. Military, Border Patrol, State and Federal Law Enforcement Agencies to use these beefed up policies to enforce existing laws.
5. Authorize the use of force in the interdiction of vehicles and aircraft illegally crossing the U.S. Mexico Border. Empower the Local Law Enforcement leaders to adjust policies to meet conditions on the ground and not rely only upon inflexible procedures preventing Border Security.
6. Enforce all existing immigration laws without exception. Streamline and expedite deportation of illegal aliens.
7. Add 3,000+ Arizona BP field agents by 2011. Assure additional incremental hardware is part of Field Agent deployment.
8. Increase County Law Enforcement permanent “Stonegarden Funding” for additional deputies and fully equipped 4 x 4 patrol vehicles.
9. Expedite 2010 deployment of new generation digital radio technology to Arizona and New Mexico Border Patrol.
10. Substantially increase Border Patrol Recon 3, MSS/Radar and FLIR mobile surveillance units and operators. Assure additional incremental agents are deployed to operate this hardware and technology.
11. Replace outdated Border Patrol Air & Marine Rotorcraft air support with contemporary rotorcraft and small single engine fixed wing. Deploy air support on/near the U.S. Border.
12. Establish mandatory Cellular coverage for remote non-service areas.
13. Equip Border Patrol and County Law Enforcement with GMRS “Rhino” GPS radios allowing homeowners and ranchers to communicate in remote areas.
14. Establish “No Seam” Wilcox/Douglas, Arizona and Lordsburg New Mexico Border Policy Corridor into its own Border Patrol Sector.
15. Increase and fund additional Arizona Horse Patrol Units.
16. Streamline federal claims process for recovering damages caused by illegal alien burglaries, vandalism and ranch infrastructure/livestock losses to include feed stock losses on both private & public lands (fires).
17. Adequately fund State and Federal Attorneys’ Offices to assure timely prosecutions of Border related offences. Stiffen 9th Circuit Appeals Court immigration and narcotics prosecutorial policies.
18. Measure Border Security success on the community via a monthly disclosure of all crimes, by title and code, committed and suspected to be committed by illegal alien activities which have conducted burglaries, home invasions, and ranching infrastructure/livestock losses. Establish operational transparency for Arizona residents of illegal alien and smuggling activity in their respective Border Patrol Sector and Communities to include County law Enforcement statistics and inc
Background Information
The U.S./Mexico border in southern Arizona has become a lawless region. Criminals, bandits and an international organized crime unit are operating with impunity in the region. Their trades are burglary, home invasion, drug smuggling, human smuggling, murder, extortion and kidnapping rackets. These organized crime units have been terrorizing northern Mexico for 20 years and have been terrorizing Southern Arizona for at least 10 years. These entities are extremely violent and dangerous and they have now succeeded in creating terror in Southern Arizona as they have in Northern Mexico.
The level of fear and frustration from southern Arizona’s Ranching Families has been building for sometime now. Along with these families other residents in the area have also experienced the mayhem and terror of these illegal actions and crimes. The level of lawlessness reached such a point that a small tight knit group of Southern Arizona individuals, who were determined to find solutions, began a quest of fact finding to identify actions needing to be deployed along the border with Mexico. These individuals have been meeting with prosecutors, law enforcement officials, judicial officials, and agency personnel charged with securing our border.
This Report is the culmination of over 18 months of meetings, research, fact finding and interviews regarding potential solutions to the current border crisis. The basis for this Report is to provide concrete actions which have been vetted as viable and needed along with measurable results regarding the implementation of these needed actions directly adjacent to the U.S./Mexico border.
We do not pretend to have all of the answers. However, we do believe the actions items contained in this Report have been vetted to the extent that they will enhance and provide security along our border with Mexico. They will begin to provide some semblance of lawfulness along the border.
The ACGA is providing this Report first hand to all of the elected or government officials who have the responsibility of securing our border with Mexico. We will directly ask them to implement the action items which represent their duties and official positions. We will follow up with each official to demand action on these items. Where we deem action is lacking or not forthcoming we will notify southern Arizona citizens and all levels of media. We demand action.