AZMEX POLICY 3-4-14

AZMEX POLICY 3 APR 2014


Note: Today's reality: Keep in mind government doctrine; If it's not documented / reported, it didn't happen. When an agency wants more, or less, arrests, it will happen.


Updated 21 minutes ago.
Border Patrol sends agents from Arizona to help in South Texas
Source: Arizona News
Originally published: Apr 2, 2014 - 1:30 pm

http://ktar.com/22/1719441/Border-Patrol-sends-agents-from-Arizona-to-help-in-South-Texas

McALLEN, Texas (AP) -- The U.S. Border Patrol has shifted more than 100 agents from California and Arizona to the southernmost tip of Texas, its busiest sector for illegal immigration.

The agency announced Wednesday that the temporarily assigned agents had arrived to the Rio Grande Valley this week.

While arrests of immigrants entering the country illegally have stabilized or fallen at other parts of the Southwest border, they've soared in South Texas. Last year, the Border Patrol made more than 154,000 arrests in the sector, an increase of 58 percent from the previous year.

The sector has already made more than 95,000 arrests midway through this fiscal year and seized more than 300,000 pounds of marijuana. The agents from Arizona and California join those already sent from the neighboring Laredo sector.

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Note: ? Hasta Quando? Someday? Another question is where are they coming from?


170 Additional CBP Officers Assigned To Busy Arizona Ports Of Entry
By: Anthony Kimery, Executive Editor
04/02/2014 ( 8:57pm)

http://www.hstoday.us/single-article/170-additional-cbp-officers-assigned-to-busy-arizona-ports-of-entry/a4ffe0d6f6fcd1b6da0d3325e3ababbd.html


Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) announced Wednesday that 170 additional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have been assigned to Ports of Entry (PoE) in Southern Arizona – a build-up he sought a month ago.

Barber had told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in a March 4 letter that undermanned Arizona PoEs needed additional CBP field operations officers to improve security and improve the smooth flow of cross-border commerce.

Barber was joined by seven of his colleagues in Arizona's congressional delegation – Republicans and Democrats – in urging Johnson to authorize additional CBP officers for Arizona.

"They noted that drugs cartels have been increasing smuggling through ports because of a build-up of Border Patrol officers elsewhere along the border," Barber's office said in a press release.

"Without adequate resources at Arizona's ports of entry, increased attention of cartels may result in lengthy delays of shipment inspections, thus causing economic damage to small businesses operating at the border," Barber and his colleagues wrote in their letter to Johnson. "This threat would also likely increase wait times for legitimate tourists, whether crossing by foot or vehicle."

In their letter, they asked to "receive an adequate share of [CBP] officers for [Arizona's] Ports of Entry, including the revamped Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales." He said "It is estimated that Arizona needs an additional 500 customs officers to effectively run its Ports of Entry, and that the Mariposa PoE alone requires an additional 250 Customs officers."

"In recent years," the Arizona lawmakers told Johnson, "the emphasis by Border Patrol on interdiction efforts between the Ports of Entry has caused cartels to look for weaker locations to conduct illicit activity. As you know, CBP recently seized a record 20,000 pounds of marijuana in a shipment of fresh produce sent through the Mariposa PoE in Nogales. This brazen attempt of drug smuggling indicates just how weak the cartels consider the Ports of Entry.

When this reporter spent time at the Nogales PoE in the Fall of 2010, CBP officers discovered six hay-bale-sized bundles of marijuana [see photo] wrapped in lead sheets (the first time such bundles of
pot had been found at the Nogales PoE encased in lead) that were artfully hidden among cars that were trying to be imported into the United States on one of the many freight trains that pass through the port. The bundles were estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Without adequate resources at Arizona's Ports of Entry, increased attention of cartels may result in lengthy delays of shipment inspections, thus causing economic damage to small businesses operating at the border. This threat would also likely increase wait times for legitimate tourists, whether crossing by foot or vehicle," the legislators told Johnson.

Barber, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said Wednesday 120 additional CBP officers will be assigned to the two border crossings in Nogales, and that 25 will be assigned to the Douglas port and 25 to the San Luis port near Yuma.

In the federal spending plan Congress approved in January, funding was appropriated for an additional 3,300 CPB officers, including 2,000 for the busiest ports of entry. Barber and his colleagues had asked Johnson to assign 500 of them to southern Arizona.

"I am disappointed that Arizona did not receive the full 500 officers because that means the ports still will not be able to operate at full capacity," Barber said. "But 170 is a good start, and I will continue working on the Committee on Homeland Security to ensure that southern Arizona ports receive the resources they need."

"Customs and Border Protection officers are essential to the smooth flow of legal goods and commerce across the border," Barber said.

The Mariposa PoE is nearing completion of a $200 million expansion that will increase both cargo lanes and passenger vehicle capacity.

"The need for increased personnel is acute," Barber said. "Currently, only 1,600 trucks enter the country each day through the PoE. With full staffing in the expanded cargo lanes, CBP predicts capacity would be more than 4,000 trucks per day. This represents a huge opportunity to boost trade between Mexico and all of Arizona."

For more about the Nogales, Arizona Port of Entry, read the Homeland Security Today report, "A Day In the Life of Nogales."


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