Giffords backs checkpoint, awaits GAO report

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said Tuesday she supports an interim Border Patrol checkpoint north of Tubac but will withhold judgment on a permanent post until a long-awaited GAO report on the effectiveness of internal checkpoints is released this month.

“I don’t know exactly what the report will say but, working with that report and working with the citizens, working with the Border Patrol, we will move forward to craft something that is right and appropriate for Southern Arizona,” she said.

The Government Accountability Office report, commissioned by Congress more than two years ago, was set to be released in July but was pushed to the end of August. It’s now finished and just waiting for comment from the Department of Homeland Security, said Rich Stana, director of homeland security issues at the GAO.

Regardless of the findings, Giffords said she hopes to see the planned, but much-delayed, interim checkpoint completed soon. It would include a canopy for agents and canines, a modular building and wider lanes.

“That is something that has to be done right now because for the 115-, 120-degree heat, it is intolerable to have our agents working the loads that they have without protection from the elements,” she said.

Giffords’ comments came at a media conference at the Border Patrol Tucson Sector headquarters to announce the arrival of 209 new agents to the area, some of whom will staff the checkpoints.

Operation Guardian began Tuesday and will continue through September, said Robert Gilbert, Chief Border Patrol agent for the Tucson Sector.

He said the bulk of the agents will be deployed to the region he called the “West desert area,” which starts near the Yuma County line.

“That’s the area where we have the least amount of infrastructure, the least amount of technology, it’s also an area that has a high volume of deaths that are occurring in the desert,” he said. “We’re grateful for those units coming in and we’re going to put them to good use.”

Though billed in a Border Patrol press release as an effort to “address deaths in the desert,” Gilbert said the agents’ primary purpose will be law enforcement.

“Our humanitarian effort kicks in when we have to. The agents will be out there working to secure the border primarily, and our humanitarian mission afterward,” he said. “We have a large workforce, but we still don’t have enough to do everything, so we prioritize our border security mission first.”

The operation complements Operation Desert Shield, which began June 1, and sent 20 additional Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) agents to the Tucson Sector, which includes most of the Arizona border.

As of July 31, Operation Desert Shield had yielded 1,333 apprehensions, 199 rescues and 92 medical calls. The operation is also responsible for seizing 9,765 pounds of marijuana, 1 pound of cocaine and recovering 17 bodies, according to the release. Operation Desert Shield is also

scheduled to continue through the end of September.

But humanitarian groups are unimpressed, said Walt Staton, a volunteer with No More Deaths.

“The more border enforcement is ratcheted up, the more people are pushed into more remote areas and deaths go up,” he said Tuesday. “Our fear is that, while we want to see Border Patrol helping save lives, and we both share that mission, the reality is that their presence pushed people further out.”

He said only comprehensive immigration reform will solve the problem.

Giffords, D-Ariz., said reform is next on President Obama’s list after energy and health care. She also presented Gilbert with a Congressional Record to honor the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Border Patrol.

“Agents in the Tucson sector have performed magnificently despite the sub-standard infrastructure that they’ve always been given,” she said.

“The busiest corridor in the Southwest has never provided for adequate cover, protection or the technological infrastructure like other sectors across the U.S.-Mexico border.”

dnewhauser@gvnews.com