This roundup was near Palominas. Next: Lt. Al Tomlinson searches a culvert in Bisbee for signs of illegal
entrants. One of the motivations, he says, is personal: He was involved in the recovery of 38 bodies last year.
Posted on 05/30/2004 6:15:35 PM PDT by NewRomeTacitus
"We've been told and promised repeatedly over the last six years that this is a federal responsibility and that the federal government is going to get this area under operational control. The problem is, I still don't know what they mean by operational control."- Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever
This roundup was near Palominas. Next: Lt. Al Tomlinson searches a culvert in Bisbee for signs of illegal
entrants. One of the motivations, he says, is personal: He was involved in the recovery of 38 bodies last year.
Cochise deputies aid Border Patrol
It's just past midnight as the brown sedan carrying Octavio Gerardo and a companion makes its way through Bisbee.
The hope of the 18-year-old from the Mexican state of Michoacan, that the car will get him away from the border to a waiting job in Phoenix, fizzles quickly rounding the Lavender Pit mine.
A patrol car pulls behind them, its lights flashing. The travelers pull off Arizona 80 and their clandestine trip comes to an abrupt end 12 miles north of the Mexican border.
Gerardo and his companions think they've been nabbed by la migra. But as is the case with increasing regularity in this Southeast Arizona county, the busiest crossing point in the nation for illegal immigration from Mexico five years running, the lawman is a deputy with the Cochise County Sheriff's Department, not a Border Patrol agent.
Sheriff Larry Dever, citing recent cases of violent confrontations between illegal border crossers and local citizens, has ordered his deputies to take an increasingly active role in finding and apprehending illegal entrants, breaking ranks with other law enforcement agencies, such as his counterparts in Pima and Santa Cruz counties, as well as police in Bisbee and Tucson.
"This situation is unprecedented. This is not something we were prepared for," Dever said of illegal immigration across a county that shares more than 82 miles of border with Mexico.
"We've been told and promised repeatedly over the last six years that this is a federal responsibility and that the federal government is going to get this area under operational control.
"The problem is, I still don't know what they mean by operational control."
Dever's tough stance against illegal immigration reverses his initial opposition to federal efforts to make local law enforcement take an active role in fighting illegal immigration. One of those efforts was the CLEAR Act, the bill first proposed last year that would have required law enforcement agencies to check the immigration status of anybody they encounter or lose their federal funding. The acronym CLEAR stands for Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal.
Dever said the Department of Homeland Security's appeal in March for better cooperation from local law enforcement set the stage for his department's new effort, dubbed Operation United Stand. It has deputies working with the Border Patrol in traffic stops as well as helping agents track and apprehend illegal entrants.
Dever has organized volunteers around Palominas to shadow school buses and urged parents to keep an eye on their kids at bus stops in response to a carjacking in January in which a woman and her daughter were beaten and stabbed by three illegal entrants.
60% rise in apprehensions
There has been a 60 percent rise, to 321,857 people, in the number of illegal-border-crosser apprehensions this fiscal year compared with the same time in 2003, said Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. More than 153,100 of the apprehensions - nearly half - were made in what the Border Patrol calls the Naco-Douglas corridor in Cochise County.
Deputies will focus on violations of state law that are involved in smuggling activity, from carjackings to the recovery of stolen vehicles often used by smugglers. The department is also working to identify smuggling trails near residential clusters in rural Cochise County, and is putting deputies in those areas to drive smugglers away, said Sheriff's Department Lt. Al Tomlinson.
"We want to make it as uncomfortable as we can for them to be doing their business along this corridor," said Tomlinson.
Tomlinson also said he doesn't want a repeat of last year, when he was involved in the recovery of the bodies of at least 38 illegal entrants who died crossing through Cochise County.
Adame, of the Border Patrol, said he understands the Sheriff's Department's frustration at the agency's seemingly slow progress in curbing illegal immigration throughout southeastern Arizona.
"Deputies have plenty to do"
Cochise County's targeting of illegal immigration is, so far, not being embraced by other law enforcement agencies across Southern Arizona.
Deputies in both Santa Cruz and Pima counties are instructed to notify Border Patrol any time they encounter situations that might be of interest to the agency. Neither agency, however, is involved in joint operations with the Border Patrol and they do not actively pursue illegal immigrants.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is not eager to see legislation that would require his department to focus on immigration, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a department spokeswoman. "Our deputies already have plenty to do. We have our hands full and we don't have any plans to participate with Border Patrol in this type of operation," Barkman said.
It's the same in Santa Cruz County, where Sheriff Tony Estrada has stated his opposition to any move to require his deputies to enforce immigration law.
Bisbee's Police Department has been trying to interrupt people-smuggling since 1995, when officials first noticed cars loaded with illegal entrants passing through town.
The department's efforts then resulted in thousands of illegal entrants' being turned over to the Border Patrol and the seizure of thousands of vehicles that were sold at auction, raising money for the city. The state Attorney General's Office investigated the practice and though no wrongdoing was found, the city ended the practice.
While Bisbee police opted to pass on joining Dever's operation, they see the effort as vindication for their undertaking nearly a decade ago, said Sgt. Phil Eastburn, a spokesman for the department.
Residents living along the border, including Sandy Graham, one of the victims in the January carjacking near Palominas, said that for the most part she supports Dever's new effort.
"It's not like it used to be"
Despite the constant flow of illegal entrants moving past her home near Hereford, Graham, 35, had not felt threatened until she and her daughter were attacked. Her sense of security, Graham says, has not returned four months since.
"Anything they're doing now that is more than what they were doing is a great idea," Graham said. "These illegals aren't just coming over here to work anymore; it's not like it used to be."
But Molly Darlington, 37, who for 18 years has lived in the Palominas area some 10 miles north of the border, says the sheriff's response is an overreaction that is motivated, in part, by politics.
She said Dever needs to concentrate on local law enforcement issues, such as domestic violence and drug dealing.
"To be honest, it's pretty rare that we see anybody," she said of illegal border crossers. "And when they do come through, it's women and kids in poor, poor shape and in desperate need of water."
"These illegals aren't just coming over here to work anymore; it's not like it used to be."
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But Molly Darlington, 37, who for 18 years has lived in the Palominas area some 10 miles north of the border, says the sheriff's response is an overreaction that is motivated, in part, by politics.
"To be honest, it's pretty rare that we see anybody," she said of illegal border crossers.
IMO, these two women are part of the problem. Graham never cared much about illegals until she was attacked. And I guess since Molly says that it's "rare that we see anybody", then that means that it's rare for illegals to venture acoss the border.
Turn Sheriff Dever loose and let him make life extremely uncomfortable for these border crossers.
Someone in the gubmint is actually showing signs of life.
Larry Dever is a man with a problem. The Sheriff's Department only has a staff of about 75 and a few volunteers. Cochise County is the size of Connecticutt. The tax base is small here as we only have 120,000 residents -- and a big chunk of them are soldiers from out of state.
Small tax base = small tax revenues = small staff.
The Feds reimburse his department for services rendered (mostly for incarceration costs) at a rate of about 11 cents on the dollar. About 40% of his budget gets eaten away by the illegal alien problem -- and he isn't funded for it in the first place.
Ping.
With all that going against Sheriff Dever (and the lameness of the other nearby sheriffs and police chiefs) I felt what he's trying to do is nothing short of magnificent.
Both women live just far enough away from main branches of the trails that they would seldom see an illegal. All it takes is the right luck with local topography.
Freepers Spiff, AZHSer, and idratherbepainting are not so lucky. They get the constant parade right through their yards. Not their pastures -- their yards.
Larry is a good guy and a friend. He has been trying to hold the Feds' feet to the fire to reinforce the Border Patrol here for years.
It used to be that the illegals kept to the shadows and avoided all contact with the gringos. Now they'll end up at your front door demanding food, water, use of your telephone, rides...whatever. If they don't get it, they take it. And they always seem to know which houses contain the elderly and infirm.
Quite a few coyotes are now armed; the drug smugglers have discovered the joy of carrying AKs. Geronimo was never this much of a hassle.
Common sense finally rammed into DC!
"The acronym CLEAR stands for Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal."
Now it is time for Clear Academia, CEO's and Financial Institutions for Alien Removal. This isn't brain surgery...locate them and then throw them out.
My only suggestions would be trip wires, fences, electricity, the occasional sneak attack at night with a cattle prod, getting on the roof and setting off LOUD firecrackers, leaving out tainted food (egg salad sandwiches with lots of mayo that have "fermented" in the afternoon sun), etc. What are the chances of retaliation from the Mexican "tourists"?
He sure beats the socks off of law enforcement here in El Lay.
I watched Cheech Marin's 1987 movie "Born in East L.A." this morning and noted that he'd be hard pressed to mine any humor from the situation today. He included a pair of violent coyotes in his tale that were prepared to kill any illegals in their keep who couldn't extract money from relatives. Hollywood happy ending, hero gets the girl, etc.
Now you say illegals are coached on where to pick on the seemingly defenseless and behave like Pancho's banditos. It's a wonder you guys don't have the best darn gardens in Arizona.
Wish you all a great Memorial Day.
Best bet is that it's usually a coyote doing the talking. Few illegals can speak English all that well and very few of us gringos speak Spanish. Besides, the coyote specializes in his particular route.
To tell the truth, I suspect the mayo could be the culprit in some alien deaths. Seriously, we always seem to find a couple of mayo jars abandoned at load out sites. Having a salmonella sandwich when you're already hovering on the edge of dehydration is not wise. One good bout of Montezuma's Revenge could put you in Death's shadow.
A lot of the illegals come from Mexico's tropical or semi-tropical regions and don't realize the hidden danger of Arizona's patented Dry Heat. You can be sweating like a horse, losing fluids and electrolytes like crazy, but not realize it because your sweat is evaporating as fast as it reaches the surface of your skin. You don't know you're in trouble until you're really in trouble and then it may be too late. Various body functions just start shutting down and without medical intervention you end up as just one more mummified puzzle for the coroner.
datum.
"Yup, that was definitely an illegal alien all right. He won't be mutilating any
more cattle around these parts."
Good grief. That's a model of a space alien made up by some goofballs out in Roswell, New Mexico, in case anyone thought I was making light of an infant's death or something.
I've met Lt. Al Tomlinson before. Good man. Involved in the Miracle Valley shootout (look it up) back in the '80's.
ummm, ...Santa Cruz County Sherriff Estrada, do you think that if you took a look, I mean a real look, at everything that's on your plate you just might find out that you were doing most of it if followed Sheriff Deaver's lead.
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