Council hears two sides to border issues debate

At its Oct. 26 meeting, the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council welcomed guest speakers Carol Cullen, executive director of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, and Roger San Martin, head of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Station, who spoke separately on border issues effecting our community.

Cullen gave an update on the Coalition for a Safe and Secure Border, which participated in the Community Workgroup on Southern Arizona Check-points, organized last summer by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in an effort to gauge public response to a prospective permanent checkpoint along Interstate 19.

Cullen said the community has not been informed of updates on the status of the checkpoint, as promised by Giffords and by John Fitzpatrick, head of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, in August of 2007 when both met with the workgroup.

She cited a letter several residents have recently received from the Army Corps of Engineers which threatened the condemn private property to be used for a permanent checkpoint. Cullen blames the Border Patrol for the lack of communication, though she says Giffords and Fitzpatrick both say they were unaware of the letters.

Cullen also made the point that checkpoints have not stopped the escalation of violence in our local communities. She cited high-speed chases through residential neighborhoods, school lock-downs and shootings in rural Santa Cruz County. A slideshow she presented included a photo of a road sign in Madera Canyon warning motorists that the canyon is a known smuggling area.

She said checkpoints, both permanent and temporary, are designed to “intentionally push smugglers into our communities” and onto our backroads in order to increase their visibility and create easier targets for agents.

“I’m not against the Border Patrol, but I am against their strategies,” Cullen said.

Roger San Martin, Patrol Agent in charge of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Station, responded to several of Cullen’s comments when he spoke later in the meeting.

“The Border Patrol isn’t ‘selecting’ the Green Valley area,” he said, pointing out that the chase that led to the lockdown at Amado’s Sopori School earlier this year “started at the border.”

“Our battlefield is at the border, but we have to pursue those people who make it past us.”

In April, after an SUV full of illegal immigrants crashed through a Green Valley home, the Border Patrol implemented a “surge operation,” increasing the number of agents assigned to the Green Valley area from zero or one, to six agents per shift. San Martin says the surge was a success.

Immediately after the increase in agents, the Border Patrol was making 60 to 100 arrests per day in heavily trafficked areas such as the pecan groves and Calle Tres, he said.

“We’ve gone from that number to maybe 10 or 15 arrests per week,” he said.

San Martin asked the Coordinating Council to help publicize the phone number of the Tucson Station’s duty supervisor. The line is manned at all times by the supervisor, who can contact agents in the field directly to alert them of a problem. That number is 520-514-4662. He also said he welcomes feedback from members of the community, who can reach him at 520-514-4700 or roger.sanmartin@dhs.gov.

In other Green Valley Community Coordinating Council news, executive board member Susan Blodgett was named Vice President. Eddie Peabody Jr. was nominated and accepted onto the council’s executive board.

Rich Richey, Chair of the GVCCC Community Services Committee, and Richard Ducote, Regional Communications Manager for Freeport McMoRan, announced a $2,500 grant from Freeport McMoRan to fund the Expired Medications Proposal Initiative, which will place special collection boxes at each of the Green Valley fire stations by the end of the year.

The double-locked collection boxes are meant to encourage the safe, secure disposal of expired medications, which can be dangerous to humans as well as the environment.

Richey also announced a household hazardous waste collection event, to be held Sat., Nov. 8 at the Valley Presbysterian Church Parking lot. The list of items that can be collected include household cleaners, computer equipment, light bulbs and medications.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726