March 29, 2004

In response to claims by Arizona local law enforcement authorities that they are under siege from drug smugglers and human traffickers and overwhelmed by illegal immigration as far north as Phoenix, 200 miles from the US-Mexico border, Border and Transportation Under'secretary Asa Hutchinson announced the Arizona Border Control Initiative on March 16. Department of Homeland Security seeks to gain "operational control" of the Arizona-Mexico border area through the initiative. The multi-agency initiative will bring together agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Justice Department in addition to various other law enforcement agencies. The program is expected to cost in excess of $10 million thru the end of the current fiscal year and will also serve to support the detection and deterrence of terrorist activities.

Human and Drug Traffickers Targeted

Security improvements in other border states have resulted in sharp increases human and drug trafficking and the number of illegal aliens transiting Arizona which local authorities have struggled to contain. Approximately 400,000 illegal migrants were apprehended in Arizona last year while there were a record 151 fatalities in the Arizona desert during the same period.

Phoenix has suffered an explosion in violent crime recently precipitating the claims of an area under siege, and in November of last year federal authorities launched a high-profile effort to dismantle drug and human trafficking networks which has included the seizure of assets and active prosecution of smugglers. Known as "Ice Storm", the effort involved the assignment of additional agents to the area; around 100 ICE agents to the Phoenix area, and over 130 to Tucson which covers the southwestern part of the state's border area. To date the effort has resulted in more than 1600 arrests and the seizure of around $2 million in assets.

Border Patrol Numbers to be Boosted

The Arizona Border Control Initiative will add more than 260 additional Border Patrol agents and hardware and hardware including helicopters and aircraft in an attempt to stem the numbers of illegal immigrants entering the country through Arizona's 350 mile border with Mexico. The increased number of agents will boost to approximately 2000 the total number of Border Patrol agents in the Tucson-Yuma area.

The Arizona Republic newspaper noted that in a meeting with reporters March 15 Hutchinson described how the initiative would dovetail with efforts by the federal government to curb the hiring of undocumented migrants. The federal government also plans to voluntarily repatriate undocumented immigrants to Mexico; however agreement with the Mexican government has yet to be finalized.