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Border checkpoints disappear
Sierra Vista Herald, Sierra Vista Arizona ^ | Jonathan Clark

Posted on 04/25/2006 6:54:00 PM PDT by SandRat

BISBEE — Motorists along three of Cochise County’s major north-south throughways may have noticed the recent disappearance of some familiar landmarks — the Border Patrol checkpoints that had long been fixtures on highways 80, 90 and 191.

A Border Patrol spokesman at the agency’s Tucson Sector headquarters said Monday that because the management of checkpoints is an operational issue, he could not comment on why or precisely when the permanent revision points in Cochise County had been dismantled.

A spokeswoman at Congressman Jim Kolbe’s office in Washington, however, said that any removal would be appropriate given a law prohibiting long-term checkpoints in the area.

According to a provision inserted into Border Patrol appropriations bills by Kolbe, the Tucson Sector must relocate checkpoints every seven days and may not return to the previous location until at least another week.

The Tucson Sector — which includes all of Cochise County — is the only Border Patrol sector to have such a restriction.

“We already have a permanent checkpoint — the U.S.-Mexico border,” Kolbe said in a prepared statement released by his office.

“Using permanent checkpoints is not as effective — those sneaking across the border will know where they are located, and simply go around them.”

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said he had noticed that the checkpoints had been taken down, but had not yet had a chance to talk with the Border Patrol about it. But he said that since the permanent checkpoints had been removed, he had seen more randomly deployed revision points on county highways — a strategy he says ultimately makes his job easier.

“When [stationary] checkpoints go up, our work at the Sheriff’s Department actually increases because rather than driving down the highways, these guys start driving through people’s backyards and across country,” he said.

“And as a result, we get more trespassing complaints.”

In the past, Border Patrol leaders have argued that constantly putting up and taking down checkpoints wastes time and resources, and have advocated an approach that combines the use of stationary and mobile revision points.

In order to circumvent the restriction on permanent checkpoints in southern Arizona, the agency had employed a strategy of shutting down stationary checkpoints briefly and then reopening in the same spot.

In 2005, Kolbe asked the federal Government Accountability Office to investigate the practice. But while the GAO report did find the Tucson Sector was sidestepping the law, it also said that the effectiveness of checkpoints in the area had fallen by 77 percent since the time-limit rule went into effect.

Kolbe, however, said parts of the report could also be interpreted to show the superiority of mobile revision points.

Royce Conner, a Tucson resident who commutes daily to a job in Bisbee via routes 80 and 90, said he noticed the checkpoint on Route 80 near Tombstone was gone about two weeks ago. He thought the stop north of Sierra Vista on Route 90 had disappeared more recently.

And while traffic delays have been used in the argument against checkpoints, Conner said that he generally lost no more than a minute of time at the Tombstone stop and perhaps slightly more at Sierra Vista.

“They would just ask me my nationality and wave me through,” he said.

“They were always polite and courteous.”

But another observation by Conner suggested a potential flaw in the on-again, off-again, approach used at the permanent checkpoints: predictability.

“You always knew when they weren’t going to be there because you knew the number of days they had been there already,” he said.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Mexico; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: aliens; arizona; border; checkpoints; disappear; gaykolberino; illegalaliens; immigrantlist; kolbe
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1 posted on 04/25/2006 6:54:01 PM PDT by SandRat
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To: HiJinx; Spiff; Borax Queen; idratherbepainting; AZHSer; Sabertooth; Marine Inspector; A Navy Vet; ..

BORDER PING!


2 posted on 04/25/2006 6:54:44 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
"A spokeswoman at Congressman Jim Kolbe’s office in Washington, however, said that any removal would be appropriate given a law prohibiting long-term checkpoints in the area."

Wasn't this law pushed through by Kolbe?
3 posted on 04/25/2006 6:55:07 PM PDT by Texas_Jarhead (Say NO! to "No Illegal Alien Left Behind" legislation...)
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To: All
And this is what Tucson's "Arizona Daily (RED) Star" thinks of the MMM.

Disgusting ain't it?!


4 posted on 04/25/2006 6:59:06 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: Texas_Jarhead

Yep!!


5 posted on 04/25/2006 7:01:01 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

The cartoon shows childish fear on the part of the cartoonist.


6 posted on 04/25/2006 7:01:14 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: SandRat
This is a somewhat misleading headline. These checkpoints aren't at the border, but at points inland from the border. The agents are kind of like the outfielders of border protection - setting up shop miles from the border to catch illegals.

BTW - Mexican citizens with border crossing cards (a.k.a. laser visas) are allowed to visit the U.S. within 25-75 miles of the border (depending on the state) for up to 3 days to shop or visit relatives. Some of these border checkpoints are there in part to stop border crossing card Mexicans from going further into the country. It doesn't sound like these checkpoints have that purpose, since they are southeast of Tuscon.
7 posted on 04/25/2006 7:02:22 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
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To: SandRat
Indeed it is. That inverted flag is a nice touch although it was the invader hordes that have been flying it in that manner. Of course the cartoonist wouldn't let reality interfere with this propagandistic portrayal.
8 posted on 04/25/2006 7:03:28 PM PDT by Texas_Jarhead (Say NO! to "No Illegal Alien Left Behind" legislation...)
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To: SandRat

What a sick and twisted cartoon.


9 posted on 04/25/2006 7:06:02 PM PDT by KoRn
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To: conservative in nyc

They are set up at north-south chokepoints on improved and rural highways.

Kolbe - the RINO Soros-funded stool pusher, put a rider in a appropriations bill.

Sure the sherriff likes it, cause they catch and release less illegals.


10 posted on 04/25/2006 7:07:30 PM PDT by axes_of_weezles
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To: cripplecreek

It shows bigotry and prejudice of the worst kind. That is why you cannot have a rational argument with a liberal. They have already made up their minds as they lump all of those catagories of groups together and imply that we all are racists and potential murders just waiting for a chance to shoot some pregnant Mexican in the head.


11 posted on 04/25/2006 7:08:01 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: Blood of Tyrants

In reality the cartoonist is on the same side as the true racists like neonazis, he just isn't smart enough to recognize it. The neo nazis and their "kind" hate the minutemen.


13 posted on 04/25/2006 7:12:56 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: SandRat; 1_Inch_Group; 2sheep; 2Trievers; 3AngelaD; 3pools; 3rdcanyon; 4Freedom; 4ourprogeny; ...


Lame-Duck Dufus Ping!

"We already have a permanent checkpoint — the U.S.-Mexico border," Kolbe said in a prepared statement released by his office.

"Using permanent checkpoints is not as effective — those sneaking across the border will know where they are located, and simply go around them."

What ignorant arrogance. If the border weren't such a porous sieve, we wouldn't need the checkpoints - doof!

14 posted on 04/25/2006 7:13:23 PM PDT by HiJinx (Secure Our Borders ~ Now.)
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To: SandRat

Must remove any obstacles to the invasion.


15 posted on 04/25/2006 7:15:10 PM PDT by isrul
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To: SandRat; kstewskis

K - be sure to see post 4 propaganda from Commie liberal "cartoonist."

SandRat - way to make my head spin, hearing about slime like K-O-L-B-E.


16 posted on 04/25/2006 7:15:22 PM PDT by Borax Queen
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To: HiJinx

In california they move them from time to time


17 posted on 04/25/2006 7:17:47 PM PDT by roverman2K6
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To: Borax Queen

sin loi minoi -- from another time = "Sorry about That."


18 posted on 04/25/2006 7:21:09 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
According to a provision inserted into Border Patrol appropriations bills by Kolbe, the Tucson Sector must relocate checkpoints every seven days and may not return to the previous location until at least another week.

No problem. During the off-days they can convert them to "Click it or Ticket" or "DWI" checkpoints.

It's easier to harass the citizens anyway, and has the added benefit of being revenue-positive.

19 posted on 04/25/2006 7:21:56 PM PDT by elkfersupper
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To: SandRat

lol

En mi nueva lingua, lo siento!


20 posted on 04/25/2006 7:23:03 PM PDT by Borax Queen
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