Posted on 12/24/2003 2:06:22 PM PST by SandRat
COCHISE COUNTY-- Operation Pipeline has been shut down.
Claiming it a success, the U.S. Border Patrol has ended the monthlong operation that netted 3,028 illegal immigrants, seized 4,835 pounds of marijuana and confiscated 272 vehicles used to transport people and drugs, said Charles Griffin, a spokesman for the agency's Tucson Sector.
The operation concentrated on the Naco Corridor, an area mostly in Cochise County that goes from the border north to Interstate 10, he said. The eastern boundary was the San Pedro River and the western limits were the western side of the Huachuca Mountains, that included part of Santa Cruz County.
"Intelligence says the trails are drying up," Griffin said Tuesday.
When the operation began on Nov. 17, 320 illegal immigrants were apprehended. By the last day of the program, which was last Thursday, the number of people taken into custody was down to 28, he said.
Although most of the agents brought into the area to help have left, there still are small teams watching the trails, Griffin said.
While Operation Pipeline was going on, other activities by the U.S. Border Patrol continued and additional illegal immigrants were picked up in Cochise County.
As an example, from Dec. 1 through Monday night, 7,625 illegal immigrants were apprehended in Cochise County -- a number that includes some taken into custody during Operation Pipeline, Griffin said. In 2002, the first 22 days of December saw 3,886 illegal immigrants apprehended in the county.
Due to the success of Operation Pipeline, the agency is looking at other areas where operations can be done, Griffin said. Decisions will be made early next year if additional operations will be done and where.
Illegal immigrant traffic historically increases after the Christmas holidays when illegal immigrants try to cross over the border to return to their jobs in the United States, Griffin said.
Whether the amount of traffic through Cochise County will pick up is unknown but the agency is ready to respond to wherever the flow will be the heaviest.
In the past the nearly 90 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County has been the hottest point for illegal immigrant traffic, with nearly 60 percent of all those apprehended in the Tucson Sector, a region that includes almost all of Arizona except the far western counties, being done.
From a national perspective, nearly 20 percent of all illegal immigrants taken into custody who crossed the southern border last year were apprehended in the county.
The illegals sure as heck haven't stopped!
The Bush Administration doesn't want to stop the invasion by illegals.
It's a rule of government. Programs only exist as long as they aren't successful. If they become successful, they're discontinued. Of course, this often means people involved in the programs don't want their own programs to be successful (and therefore cut).
To give the agents a rest. You can only operate at a high tempo for a while, or you'll burn people out. They also had to allow the agents to go back to their home areas; many of them were from elsewhere and wanted to spend some time with their families, not living in some motel room or camping out in the boonies forever.
Attention all Mexican travel agents and tour guides: The coast is clear!
"Intelligence says the trails are drying up," Griffin said Tuesday.
Then "intelligence" must also have a bridge to sell you, Mr. Griffin.
All the more reason to continue the operation.
If Bush doesn't do something to stop the invasion of illegal aliens into the U.S., he may have to worry about trying to stop the invasion of angry Americans as they converge on the White House.
Yeah, well, DUH! Watch what happens when Christmas is over and they all start coming back.
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