MARFA – Representatives from area public schools sat down with U.S. Border Patrol Big Bend Sector officials last Thursday to discuss the agency’s policy regarding school bus inspections at checkpoints following the recent incident where nearly 500 pounds of marijuana was discovered on a Van Horn school bus in Marfa.

“Our objective is ...]]> By ALBERTO TOMAS HALPERN

MARFA – Representatives from area public schools sat down with U.S. Border Patrol Big Bend Sector officials last Thursday to discuss the agency’s policy regarding school bus inspections at checkpoints following the recent incident where nearly 500 pounds of marijuana was discovered on a Van Horn school bus in Marfa.

“Our objective is the safety of the children,” Chief Patrol Agent John Smietana said to the room full of school officials from Alpine, Balmorhea, Fort Davis, Fort Stockton, Marfa, Pecos, Presidio, Sierra Blanca, Valentine, and Van Horn.

“We know how big an event this was. We want to make sure you’re comfortable the next time your bus goes through our checkpoints,” Border Patrol agent Steven Crump said as he explained the policies regarding school buses passing through a Border Patrol checkpoint and what Border Patrol plans to do in the future.

Border Patrol agent Steven Crump explains Border Patrol's checkpoint procedures to area school officials. (photo by ALBERTO TOMAS HALPERN)

Crump said that Border Patrol agents typically run drug- and human-detecting canines along the downwind side of vehicles stopped at checkpoints to detect any hidden contraband or passengers.

“We’re going to go a step beyond what we typically do,” Crump said regarding school buses, which is to have a canine unit check three sides of the bus instead of just the downwind side.

The canines, Crump explained, aren’t trained to find the substance, but rather the odor of narcotics or smuggled passengers.

In the event that a canine alerts to a hidden substance on a school bus, the bus will be sent to a secondary inspection, the bus driver and faculty notified of the situation, and all passengers, including the driver, faculty, school staff and students, will be asked to exit the bus and leave all their belongings on board.

Agents won’t inquire about the immigration status of students, he said. “Any student in your care, we will not be conducting an immigration inspection.”

A canine unit will inspect the exterior and interior of the school bus, and should any narcotics be found, large or small, the case will be handed over to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials and local police officers and school officials will be notified.

If a search yields a negative result, but Border Patrol agents are suspicious that a passenger is carrying narcotics, local law enforcement will be notified.

“We’re going to let the school or local law enforcement deal with that. We’re not going to be frisking students. We’re not going to be patting down children,” Crump said.

Bags of marijuana were discovered in the cargo hold of a Van Horn school bus in Marfa as the bus was making its way back to Van Horn from a basketball game in Presidio. (photo courtesy Presidio County Sheriff's Office)

Presidio ISD Superintendent Dennis McEntire suggested that area schools take a pro-active step in preventing narcotics or people from being smuggled on their buses.

“Presidio has been doing this for years. We know where we live. We know our kids are at risk. We invite the DEA and Border Patrol to our schools, but they are limited,” McEntire said, adding that his school district employs the use of drug-sniffing dogs on their vehicles and campuses.

Asked how the nearly 500 pounds of marijuana made it past the Marfa checkpoint in the first place, Crump and sector deputy chief patrol agent Carry Huffman said that a canine unit was simply not available that night.

Van Horn student athletes had played some basketball games in Presidio the night of November 19. The pot was discovered by the Van Horn bus driver and a coach when the teams stopped for a snack at the eastside Marfa Stripes convenience store before returning to Van Horn.

“In all likelihood, if a canine was there it would have alerted. We just don’t have the amount of dogs we would like to have,” Huffman said.

School officials see a demonstration by Border Patrol agents on school bus inspections at checkpoints. (photo by ALBERTO TOMAS HALPERN)

“The problem with the so called drug war,” Presidio County Judge Paul Hunt said during the meeting, “is it has created distribution networks that looks for soft spots in our society and co-opts our most precious things. We need policies in place like these to protect (Emergency Medical Services) and kids.”

McEntire agreed. “I think this is sending a message to everyone: don’t use our buses because we’re going to catch it.”

He said that the schools have a responsibility to help federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies combat these types of smuggling operations. He also addressed the negative perception that Presidio has received in the wake of this ordeal.

“You don’t need a (police) escort to go to Presidio. It’s not dangerous,” McEntire said. “We are preventative.”

Huffman, who said his children ride the school buses in the area, said the 500-pound drug event was an “eye opener,” and that Border Patrol is going to “be more aggressive. We’re going to be more demonstrative. They’ve taken a very positive stance in Presidio (schools). Presidio checks their buses. We want what we do at our checkpoints to equalize (what schools do).”

Smietana ended the discussion by saying that the communities in the Big Bend area are some of the safest communities “because everyone works together,” and that with further cooperation, “we’ll make sure this is the safest place in the country.”

“In 2011, CBP has contributed to our nation’s homeland ...]]> WASHINGTON, DC, MARFA – U.S. Customs and Border Protection this week released the agency’s fiscal year 2011 summary of CBP enforcement and border management efforts. The Big Bend Border Patrol Sector and the El Paso Field Office, which includes the Presidio port of entry, also released summaries.

“In 2011, CBP has contributed to our nation’s homeland security and economic vitality in ways that are immeasurable,” said Commissioner Alan D. Bersin. “However, these numbers illustrate the fact that this agency has invested significant energy in improving border enforcement, increasing efficiencies and building partnerships, all of which have significantly improved the way of life for all Americans.”

U.S. Border Patrol agents made 340,252 apprehensions in FY2011, down 47 percent over the past three years. Of those apprehended, the Border Patrol apprehended 87,334 people who had a record in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

The Big Bend Sector apprehended 4,036 people, a decrease of 31 percent from FY2010.

Border Patrol agents also rescued 1,070 people in distress in FY2011.

CBP officers and agents (including Air and Marine and Border Patrol agents) seized nearly five million pounds of narcotics, a 20 percent increase from FY2010, and more than $126 million in undeclared currency.

Big Bend Sector also showed an increase in marijuana seized. In FY2011, they seized 55,743 pounds, an increased of almost six percent over the previous year.

Big Bend Sector

“The men and women of the Big Bend Sector continue to successfully protect our border communities, Texas and the United States,” said Chief Patrol Agent John J. Smietana, Jr. “The statistics only show a small part of our success. The better measurement is the high quality of life in our area.”

At the nation’s ports, CBP agriculture specialists seized more than 1.6 million prohibited plant materials, meat, and animal byproducts; intercepted nearly 183,000 pests at ports of entry and conducted more than 700,000 examinations on cargo containers. Additionally, CBP officers arrested 8,195 people wanted for crimes, including murder, rape, assault, robbery and other crimes. CBP officers and agriculture specialists conducted these enforcement actions while processing approximately 340 million incoming travelers and more than 24.3 million containers, of which 11.5 million containers were processed at seaports, another 10.1 million at land border crossings and 2.6 million at rail crossings.

As a result of CBP pre-departure targeting efforts, more than 3,100 individuals were denied boarding U.S. bound aircraft at foreign airports who would be found inadmissible for national security, insufficient or fraudulent documents and other admissibility concerns.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees from the El Paso Office of Field Operations, which includes the port at Presidio, recorded a number of highlights during the recently completed fiscal year 2011 which began October 1, 2010 and ended September 30, 2011. For example, CBP personnel working at area ports of entry seized in excess of 46 tons of illegal drugs while processing more than 26 million people applying for legal entry to the U.S.

“Our number one priority at El Paso area ports of entry remains homeland security,” said Ana Hinojosa, Director of Field Operation in El Paso. “CBP officers, agricultural specialists, canine teams and support staff are working hard everyday. Their vigilance and commitment to duty are helping maintain the safety and security of our nation. I commend them on their success.”

Along the southern border, Arizona had the greatest number of arrests compared to Texas, California and New Mexico. Texas had the greatest amount of drug seizures of the four border states.

CBP’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems flew more than 4,400 hours in FY2011, the most in the program’s history and 75 percent more than in FY 2010.  The UAS program contributed to the seizure of more than 7,600 pounds of narcotics and the apprehension of 467 individuals involved in illicit activities.

CBP’s P-3 aircraft contributed to the national counter-narcotics effort, maintaining a strong presence within the smuggling transit zones.  P-3 operations accounted for 62 percent of the Joint Inter Agency Task Force – South detections and resulted in the detection and interception of 169 drug smuggling events throughout the Caribbean Sea, eastern Pacific Ocean and over Central America.

In FY2011, CBP increased the number of Border Patrol agents to 21,444, an increase of 886 agents. By the end of FY2011, the agency employed 20,582 CBP officers, a decrease of 105 officers compared to fiscal year 2010.

WASHINGTON — In a move aimed at improving national security, House Republicans want to give the U.S. Border Patrol unprecedented authority to ignore 36 environmental laws on federal land in a 100-mile zone stretching along the Canadian and Mexican borders.

Under the GOP plan, the Border Patrol would have free rein to do such ...]]> by ROB HOTAKAINEN

WASHINGTON — In a move aimed at improving national security, House Republicans want to give the U.S. Border Patrol unprecedented authority to ignore 36 environmental laws on federal land in a 100-mile zone stretching along the Canadian and Mexican borders.

Under the GOP plan, the Border Patrol would have free rein to do such things as build roads and offices, put up fences, set up surveillance equipment and sensors, and use aircraft and vehicles to patrol in all national parks, forests and federal land included in the 100-mile zone. John Leshy, a professor at the U.C. Hastings College of the Law, told a congressional subcommittee that he questions whether such a law would be constitutional, calling the bill “the most breathtakingly extreme legislative proposal of its kind I have ever seen.” (AFP Photo/Jesus Alcazar)

If the legislation is approved, the Border Patrol would not have to comply with the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act and 32 other federal laws in such popular places as Olympic National Park, Glacier Park, the Great Lakes and the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area.

Under the GOP plan, the Border Patrol would have free rein to do such things as build roads and offices, put up fences, set up surveillance equipment and sensors, and use aircraft and vehicles to patrol in all national parks, forests and federal land included in the 100-mile zone.

Republican Rep. Doc Hastings of Pasco, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the Border Patrol “has become encumbered with layers of environmental regulations,” making it difficult to deal with drug smugglers, human traffickers and other criminals who are targeting public lands along the U.S. borders.

The committee passed the plan on a 26-17 party-line vote earlier this month.

A vote by the full House is expected soon, though no date has been set, and similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.

In Washington, where the zone would include nearly half the state, Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is questioning why such a law is needed. She noted that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Border Patrol, has not requested the change.

“The current approach, partnering with sister agencies – Interior and USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) – seems a reasonable approach,” Gregoire said.

Environmental groups say they’re alarmed by the proposal.

Jane Danowitz, the Pew Environment Group’s director of public lands, called the plan a sweeping waiver of environmental laws that would allow a single federal agency to destroy wildlife habitat and wetlands and hurt water quality.

“We’re talking about waiving laws that protect habitat and clean air and clean water in national parks and other beloved places that Americans really cherish – and that belong to all of us,” she said.

Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee and the bill’s chief sponsor, said the legislation is needed because the Border Patrol lacks sufficient access to millions of acres of federally-controlled land.

“The policies of the United States unfortunately and unwittingly make it easier for illegals to come across public lands,” he said.

While the Border Patrol has access to federal lands, it must follow procedures set up by other agencies. The bill would change that by giving the Border Patrol immediate access to any federal land. And it would specifically bar the U.S. Department of Interior and the USDA from “impeding, prohibiting or restricting” any work done by the Border Patrol in the 100-mile zone. The law would expire in five years.

At a hearing of Bishop’s subcommittee in July, the Obama administration said it opposed the legislation and argued it’s unnecessary.

Kim Thorsen, a deputy assistant secretary with the Department of Interior, said that a better way to protect the border would be to use “the current approach of collaborating among departments and using the best expertise in each to solve problems.”

“We also believe that these two objectives – securing our borders and conserving our federal lands – are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “We are not faced with a choice between the two. Instead, we can – and should – do both.”

John Leshy, a professor at the U.C. Hastings College of the Law, told the subcommittee that he questions whether such a law would be constitutional, calling the bill “the most breathtakingly extreme legislative proposal of its kind I have ever seen.”

“I firmly believe this legislation goes way, way beyond what is necessary and proper, in our constitutional system, to enforce the immigration laws,” Leshy said.

Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, the top-ranked Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, called the bill shortsighted and “just nonsense.”

“Expert after expert has explained to House Republicans that waiving all environmental protections affecting the air, water and entire ecosystems within 100 miles of our borders is not the answer to border security challenges, but they turned a deaf ear with this misguided legislation,” Markey said.

Backers of the legislation have enlisted support from a wide variety of groups, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, United Four-Wheel Drive Associations, the National Association of Police Organizations and the Motorcycle Industry Council. The motorcycle group said that an unsecured border “that allows terrorists or other lawbreakers to roam our public lands represents a real threat to riders who wish to responsibly recreate near these lands.”

The legislation has been a work in progress for the GOP.

At first, backers wanted to create a 100-mile zone that would extend around the entire nation. But as a compromise, they scaled back the proposal, dropping off federal land that borders the West and East coasts.

The bill, which the GOP calls the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act, is part of the 2010 “Pledge to America,” in which Republicans vowed to give the Border Patrol more “tools and authorities to establish operational control” along the U.S. borders.

McClatchy Newspapers

“The name change better reflects the area of responsibility of our Sector,” said Sector Chief Patrol Agent John J. Smietana Jr. “All of our line stations ...]]> MARFA – The U.S. Border Patrol has announced that the Marfa Sector will change its name to the Big Bend Sector. The change will officially take place on October 1.

“The name change better reflects the area of responsibility of our Sector,” said Sector Chief Patrol Agent John J. Smietana Jr. “All of our line stations and our headquarters are within the area known as the Big Bend of Texas.

“The change will be meaningful to our many state, local and federal partners as we continue to expand our collaborative efforts,” said the chief. “We are active participants in the Big Bend Area Law Enforcement Officers Association and the name change will help curb the public misconception that our only jurisdiction is Marfa.”

The sector stretches from the Texas-Mexico border to Oklahoma.

The Sector began with two “mounted inspectors” in 1924. At that time the sector was part of the Big Bend District.

The Big Bend Sector has the most international border miles of any sector on the Southwest Border. The sector’s 510 miles of border is about 25 percent of the total U.S. border with Mexico.

The sector includes almost 700 Border Patrol agents and about 50 support employees. The sector comprises 165,154 square miles and includes 78 Texas counties. The state of Oklahoma is also within the sector.

Sector Headquarters will remain in Marfa.

ALPINE – It took 10 months, but Alpine Station Assistant Patrol Agent in Charge Lewis Reynolds’ plan for a memorial came to fruition on Sunday, September 11. Almost 700 people turned out for the unveiling of a twisted steel beam that had been carefully displayed as a reminder of the fateful 9/11 attacks.

A member of the Marfa Sector Honor Guard stands watch over the just unveiled 9/11 Memorial at the Alpine Border Patrol Station. (photo by DANA JONES)

Reynolds’ plan resulted in a 4,300 mile trip to New York to pick up the World Trade Center artifact. He and Supervisory Border Patrol Agent David Marshall made the trip in a stake bed truck.

Upon their return to Alpine, they were greeted with a solemn cavalcade of law enforcement vehicles and a lot of hard work to prepare a resting place for the beam.

With the assistance of Field Operations Supervisor Brent Johnson and a number of off duty agents, Marfa Sector facilities maintenance personnel and retired Border Patrol agents, a concrete pad was poured. Lighting was installed and proper steel mount was constructed. The mount is surrounded by a beautifully welded aluminum pyramid.

Ironically, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Alpine Station was held on the morning of September 11, 2001.

Brewster County Judge Val Beard was the keynote speaker for the unveiling ceremony. She was also present at the groundbreaking ceremony in 2001. During her speech she emphasized the importance of the Marfa Sector in the protection of the United States.

Chief Patrol Agent John J. Smietana, Jr., gave the memorial address and reminded the audience that as the World Trade Center fell the Alpine Station was rising to provide a beacon for the security of our nation.

Reynolds described the monument as a symbol of the American people, of our ability to rise above the adversity, to come together to defeat our enemies.

The memorial is on the grounds of the Alpine Station, and is open to the public. The station is located west of Alpine, Texas, on Highway 90.

FAR WEST TEXAS – Ten years ago this Sunday a terrorist attack killed 2,977 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.

Ten years later the global impact of this heinous crime is immeasurable. A sweeping summary of the grief, the violence, the political rhetoric and the spending that ensued is impossible. Still, ...]]> By EMILY JO CURETON

FAR WEST TEXAS – Ten years ago this Sunday a terrorist attack killed 2,977 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.

Ten years later the global impact of this heinous crime is immeasurable. A sweeping summary of the grief, the violence, the political rhetoric and the spending that ensued is impossible. Still, a few numbers and a lot of dark green uniforms speak volumes about how the events of September 11, 2001 changed life in the Texas/Mexico borderlands.

Over the past decade the US Border Patrol (USBP), a branch of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), has doubled in size, from just shy of 10,000 agents in 2001, to upwards of 20,000 today. There are now 700 agents in the Marfa Sector, triple the ranks of 2001.

Redford resident and area historian Enrique Madrid reflects of a decade of changes as he looks across the US/Mexico border. (staff photo by EMILY JO CURETON)

Agents in this 135,000-square mile sector of Texas and Oklahoma are concentrated along and near 420 miles of river border, more than half of which runs through Presidio and Brewster Counties, where human occupation on both sides of the Rio Grande predates the American and Mexican governments by thousands of years.

Founded in 1924, the Border Patrol’s primary mission was to prevent smuggling and illegal immigration, but in 2003 the newly created US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) combined the resources of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (specifically, immigration inspectors and the Border Patrol), and the United States Customs Service, making the number one priority of USBP to prevent terrorists from entering the country and beefing up the CBP budget to $11.3 billion in 2011.  The total 2011 budget for DHS was $56.3 billion, up from $3.5 billion in 2003.

“Before 9/11, we realized our job was more than just immigration, but after 9/11, I think everybody realized that there was more to border security than just illegal immigration,” Chief Patrol Agent of the Marfa Sector John Smietana Jr., said last week.

Southwest Border Field Branch Chief for the Office of Public Affairs Bill Brooks was present for all interviews conducted with Border Patrol personnel.

The very first responsibility listed on the CPB recruitment brochure is apprehending terrorists and preventing their weapons from illegally entering the US, followed by actively patrolling the border in known smuggling areas, apprehending illegal entrants, processing smugglers and aliens, conducting traffic checkpoints and inspecting vehicles.

Some of the rhetoric might be different, but the day to day is largely the same as it was ten years ago for rank and file agents: stopping cars, asking questions, watching highways, tracking footprints in the desert and staving off boredom in the face of heat, dust and endless repetition.

The difference today is the mentality, the budget and twice as many agents equipped with newer technology, like radiation detectors and more aviation security.

“I believe the growth was too sudden, too quick and didn’t allow for us to properly train agents that would eventually train other agents,” commented Gerardo Gonzales, Patrol Agent in charge at the Presidio Station for the past 8 months.

“The basic job we do in securing the border hasn’t changed. It’s just a different mindset,” said Lewis Reynolds, Assistant Patrol Agent in charge at the Alpine Station for the past year and a half.

Father Melvin La Follette. (photo by SAM SCHONZEIT)

Since the USBP doubled its force, the number of illegal immigrants apprehended along the Southwest border has dropped by 65 percent, from 1.2 million people in 2001 to less than half a million in 2010.

87 percent of all illegal immigrant apprehensions in the US were of Mexican citizens in 2010. The number of apprehensions of people from countries other than Mexico rose by 40 percent from 2001 to 2010.

During this period the Marfa Sector apprehended 5,288 illegal immigrants, 534 of these people were from countries other than Mexico. The sector logged one assault on an agent in 2010 and three so far in 2011. Nationwide last year, there were 909 assaults against BP agents: 685 involved throwing rocks and 28 involved shootings.

So how many terrorists has the largest Southwest sector caught since doing so became their primary mission?

One.

Marfa Sector Border Patrol agents working a checkpoint coming out of Big Bend National Park questioned 38-year-old Kobie Williams of Houston twice over the course of two years and both times alerted the feds that his back country camping stories didn’t add up. The FBI arrested Williams in 2006 and he eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring with foreign nationals to engage in paramilitary training, often at Big Bend National Park, in preparation to join the Taliban, according to the Department of Justice. In 2009 he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and fined $5,000.

“I think our greatest success has been our part in putting Kobie Williams in jail,” Reynolds said of the past ten years at USBP, “Being part of DHS, that is our top priority, that that is our biggest accomplishment here. By and large, that’s tops for me”.

Reynolds recently spearheaded an effort to acquire a piece of the World Trade Center wreckage and install it as a memorial to 9/11 at the Alpine station, which coincidentally, broke ground on September 11, 2001.

The artifact will be dedicated at 2pm on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at the Alpine Station off of Hwy 90, on the west end of town.

Gonzales thinks the memorial will help keep the memory of 9/11 and the mission of Border Patrol in the minds of people who see it.

Area Border Patrol agents and retired agents continue the construction of a 9/11 memorial at the Alpine station west of town. (U.S. BORDER PATROL photo)

“After ten years we are still in the healing process, but it is a reminder of how our daily life, the things we took for granted, our freedom, was pretty much whisked away that morning,” he said.

100 miles south, a memorial for a different tragedy reminds Enrique Madrid of the fragility of freedom.

A humble wooden cross marks the spot where on May 20, 1997, 18-year-old American Esequiel Hernandez Jr. was shot to death by a unit of US Marines while he herded his family’s goats.

“This is where you became afraid of your own government and you became unfree,” Madrid said as he stood on the hilltop where Esequiel died, looking out on the family’s nearby home, their son’s grave, their church.

From the rugged high banks of the Rio Grande here, things look a lot like they did 10, 20 or even 500 years ago. Small Mexican farms color the valley below a brilliant green. The river is hardly more than a trickle at some points, but resentments run deep along this shallow section of the Rio Grande.

“All of us here have post traumatic stress disorder from that event. They didn’t send any psychiatrists to Redford”.

They did send more USBP agents.

“The Border Patrol has been impacting us since 1923. It’s not just the last year or the last ten years. They are a very direct impact on our lives,” said Madrid, a lifelong Redford resident, historian and activist.

Once coined the drug smuggling capitol of the Southwest, this quiet speck of a town, with a population just over 100, has been a war zone for decades. As to who is battling whom, that depends on who you ask.

“The only people we’re afraid of around here is the Border Patrol,” said Father Melvin Walker La Follette, a retired Episcopal priest who has lived in Redford since 1984.

At one point he ran six missions in Chihuahua and Coahuila.

“That ministry would be impossible now,” he said.

The blocked crossing at Redford. (photo by SAM SCHONZEIT)

Redford, Lajitas, Candelaria and Boquillas were all class B ports of entry in to the United States until 1996, when the crossings were outlawed, and using them became subject to a $5,000 fine.

But the Mexican villages of Palomas, Numero Uno, Bustillos, Loma de Juarez, Valle Nuevo, Monte Marqueño and Mulato lie just across the river bed from Redford, and with thousands of years of history paving the way, people continued to drive through the crossing to do their shopping, see their families, work and visit friends on both sides of the border. But in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, USBP dumped boulders and gravel in the path to prevent vehicles from crossing.

“It’s an 80 mile trip to visit the neighbors,” La Follette explained, “I went to a birthday party of a friend a year ago. He lives a mile away and I drove three hours and 80 miles to be present at the party”.

“I could get in my truck and drive down to the river right now and by the time I started back I’d have at least one tail,” he added, then described being followed by agents all the way to Presidio while delivering the fresh eggs he produces on his small farm.

Formerly the home of several stores, a school and a gas station, all the businesses in Redford are now shuttered and residents make the 32-mile round trip drive to Presidio or Ojinaga, Chihuahua for all the essentials.

According to Sector Chief Smietana, USBP agents are just doing their jobs.

“Border Patrol doesn’t make the rules and the laws,” he said, “Congress does. As I’ve always said, you don’t want us making the decision on which laws we enforce and which ones we don’t,”

“Basically we have to do our best to keep bad people and bad things out of the country. We have to be willing to put aside our prejudices that we have in society about others in order to achieve that,” Smietana went on.

Plans to build a wall in the Marfa Sector are on hold for now.

After the catastrophic 2008 flood, the important task became rebuilding the levee in Presidio. The proposal to incorporate a barrier in to the levee is still on the books, but there is no funding, according to Brooks.

The levee in Redford still has not been repaired.

“Communities that have been in existence for hundreds of years don’t count. The only thing that counts is the mission,” La Follette lamented.

“Someday, we’ll ship these rocks back to Lajitas were they belong.” Madrid said as he looked at the makeshift wall blocking the Redford crossing, “For 1,000 miles on either side of these rocks the water is very low”.

WEEKLY BLOTTER

Total Calls: 129

Total Investigations: 68

Offense:                           Date:           Location:                           Disposition:

A Marfa native and Marfa High School class of 1974 graduate, Ceniceros was the oldest member of the ...]]> MARFA and YUMA, Ariz. – Alfredo “Freddie” C. Ceniceros of Yuma, Arizona and formerly of Marfa has retired from the U.S. Border Patrol after 32 years of service and several missions abroad as a special operations team member.

A Marfa native and Marfa High School class of 1974 graduate, Ceniceros was the oldest member of the BORTAC Unit Class I.

BORTAC is U.S Border Patrol tactical unit, serving as a special response team for the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. Members are a handpicked, specially trained, highly mobile, on-call team of agents who represent the agency during national emergencies and selected operations.

Ceniceros took part in 30 missions during his career, including operations to Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Ghana, and Egypt.

In the United States, Ceniceros was deployed during the Cuban detainee riots at the Krome Detention Center in Miami, the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the World Bank riots in Washington, DC, the Hurricane Katrina response in New Orleans and numerous operations along the Southwest border.

A retirement dinner took place at the American Legion Hall in Yuma on July 31. Those attending were his wife, Maria Silva Ceniceros; his two sons, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Alfredo Ceniceros Jr. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Abel Ceniceros of Tucson, Arizona; his mother, Corina C. Ceniceros of Marfa; his sister, Elsa Dominguez of Alpine; and his sister and brother-in-law, Terri and Jose Jimenez of Midland.

Numerous members of the U.S. Border Patrol and BORTAC attended in his honor from Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Texas, including Alpine and Marfa.

The artifact is being transported back to Alpine from New York in a truck driven by two Border Patrol agents.

When they arrive at the Brewster County line, there will be a solemn multi-agency ...]]> ALPINE – Alpine Border Patrol Station agents, Marfa Sector, have obtained an artifact from the World Trade Center disaster of September 11, 2001.

The artifact is being transported back to Alpine from New York in a truck driven by two Border Patrol agents.

When they arrive at the Brewster County line, there will be a solemn multi-agency procession through Alpine to the Border Patrol Station on the west side of the city.

The procession will happen around noon Saturday, Aug. 6.

At the Border Patrol station, the procession will be met by the Marfa Sector Honor Guard and escorted into the facility. The procession will disband and there will be a public viewing of the artifact. Refreshments will be served.

On September 11, 2011, there will be a dedication ceremony as the artifact is laid into its permanent home on the grounds of the Alpine Border Patrol Station. The public is invited to the dedication ceremony.

If you would like to attend please send an email to: william.brooks@dhs.gov, or call Bill Brooks at: 432-729-5217 office, or 432-386-6394 cell.

FAR WEST TEXAS – The two national parks in Far West Texas will close if Congress fails to reach a budget compromise by midnight Friday, but federal law enforcement personnel will remain on the job, officials said late Friday afternoon.

“All personnel in security and law enforcement will continue to do their jobs,” said ...]]> By ROBERT HALPERN

FAR WEST TEXAS – The two national parks in Far West Texas will close if Congress fails to reach a budget compromise by midnight Friday, but federal law enforcement personnel will remain on the job, officials said late Friday afternoon.

“All personnel in security and law enforcement will continue to do their jobs,” said Marfa Border Patrol Sector spokesman Bill Brooks, including the agency’s air operations and Customs agents at the Presidio port of entry.

Civil Service workers in area Border Patrol and Customs offices may be furloughed on Monday if a federal budget isn’t agreed to, Brooks added.

At Fort Davis National Historic Site, the entry gate won’t open at is regular time of 8am Saturday, said John Heiner, a park ranger and chief of visitor services.

“We will be closed until further notice,” he said of the impending government shutdown.

One ranger likely will remain on duty for resource protection, Heiner said.

It’s a bit more complicated at Big Bend National Park, where tourists can camp or stay at lodge accommodations in the Chisos Mountains basin.

Supervisory Park Ranger Mark Flippo called it a “soft approach” to the closure over a 48-hour period beginning Saturday morning, allowing tourists to leave the park as they come out of the backcountry.

But all further hiking and camping have to cease Saturday morning, he said, adding that the visitor centers also will close.

Park law enforcement personnel will be stationed at the parks two entrances, from US 385 from Marathon and Texas 118 from Alpine, alerting visitors that the park is closed. However, the two entry roads likely will remain open as will San Vicente School.

All tourists must vacate the park by Monday morning.

“Hopefully (Congress) will resolve this over the weekend and we’ll be back in business Monday,” Flippo said.

He said the soft closure plan came together in the last few hours of Friday in consultation with National Park Service officials in Washington, DC, and at regional headquarters in Denver, Colorado.

And like at Fort Davis NHS, a small staff will remain on duty for safety and to protect park resources.

“We’re not just going to abandon the park,” Flippo said.

Other park employees will be furloughed until further notice.