Deeper look at GAO report on Border Patrol checkpoints

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is heading back to Washington with an earful of advice on the Border Patrol checkpoint north of Tubac, but for now she supports moving forward with $1.5 million in improvements to create an interim checkpoint.

READ THE REPORT: http://www.gao.gov/

About 200 people showed up Wednesday in Green Valley to hear a Government Accounting Office panel discuss a new study on the effectiveness of interior checkpoints in the Southwest and to hear a Border Patrol response to the report, which was critical of their accounting methods.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, was asked in 2007 by Giffords, Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain and five other lawmakers to launch the study.

The 147-page report, released Monday, says the 15 interior checkpoints in four Southwestern border states it studied are a key part of efforts to seize drugs and illegal immigrants. But it also said the Border Patrol uses flawed methods to give an accurate measurement of effectiveness, and that it has not done a good job determining the impact of its efforts on surrounding communities where smugglers go to evade checkpoints.

“We have failed in several areas,” Tucson Sector Border Patrol Chief Robert Gilbert told the crowd. He said the agency is working with several universities, including the University of Arizona and the University of Texas-El Paso, to develop new monitoring systems to increase effectiveness.

Gilbert called the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants through Arizona “staggering,” and said the Border Patrol will continue to push for a permanent checkpoint at kilometer post 41, a kilometer south of the tactical checkpoint at Agua Linda Road north of Tubac.

Giffords supports the interim checkpoint but would not say yet whether she supports a permanent facility. Congress has told the Department of Homeland Security it wants to measure the effectiveness of an interim checkpoint before it moves ahead with a permanent one, projected to cost $25 million.

There are 32 permanent checkpoints along the Southwestern border. The Tucson Sector, which includes most of Arizona, is the only one of nine Border Patrol sectors without a permanent checkpoint.

FEW IN FAVOR

Only one of about 30 people who signed up to address the crowd Wednesday favored a permanent checkpoint, and that person was among a handful who didn’t get to speak because of time, according to Giffords’ staff.

Several speakers thanked the Border Patrol for its efforts, recognizing it’s an overwhelming job. But they also said they want border security closer to the Mexico border.

“We know the border is a sieve,” Rich Bowman of Tubac said. “This is how so many drugs are getting through.”

Bowman said the GAO report, which focused on interior checkpoints, didn’t get a grasp of the overall problem because it didn’t consider efforts directly on the border to keep drugs and illegal immigrants out of the country.

Others who opposed a permanent checkpoint, including developer Gary Brasher and FICO co-owner Nan Walden, have strong business interests in the area.

“We expect our government to protect us at the border,” Walden said at the meeting, adding that the GAO often didn’t have access to adequate information to draw clear conclusions.

Gilbert countered that “in a perfect environment we’d secure the border at the border,” but said checkpoints take options away from smugglers.

“The cartels aren’t going away,” he said. “The demand (for drugs) in this country remains great.”

Richard Stana, who led the GAO study team, said checkpoints “contribute to border security” and are responsible for seizing large amounts of drugs and illegal immigrants. He added that those who are apprehended help identify routes and offer other intelligence to other agencies.

Stana said 4 percent of Border Patrol agents in the Southwest are at permanent and tactical checkpoints and are responsible for one-third of drug seizures. Gilbert said he has 10 percent of Tucson Sector agents at its nine tactical checkpoints.

There are 39 tactical checkpoints in the Southwest, according to the GAO study. That number could change daily.

FLAWED REPORTING

But while checkpoints are racking up numbers, the report said performance measures set up by the Border Patrol “do not indicate if checkpoints are operating efficiently and effectively.” It also said lack of oversight resulted in the Border Patrol overstating its success in 2007 and 2008.

Stana said reporting errors include inconsistent gathering from sector to sector and location to location, and said oversight and guidance as to what is expected in a report is lacking.

The GAO panel encountered several examples of poor reporting practices and oversight. Often data were incomplete, inconsistent or missing altogether.

One of the biggest deficiencies is that Border Patrol reporting doesn’t address what could be getting through undetected, according to the report.

“In the absence of this information, the Border Patrol does not know whether seizure and apprehension rates at checkpoints are low or high, and if lower rates are due to ineffective performance, effective deterrence, or a low volume of illegal drugs or aliens passing through the checkpoint,” according to the report.

The report says U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses Compliance Examination (COMPEX), which randomly selects those entering the country for more detailed inspections, thus helping measure how many people might be getting through screening sites undetected.

Stana stressed that the lapses in performance measurement do not mean the checkpoints are ineffective.

COMMUNITY ISSUES

Stana said permanent checkpoints in four states have “general support” because of the law enforcement presence they provide. This includes checkpoints in rural and urban areas, though he pointed out that checkpoints in cities aren’t always open 24 hours.

Those interviewed in the study said they are concerned about property damage that occurs when illegal immigrants trespass to avoid checkpoints.

But he said concern in the Tubac-Green Valley area is heightened because of a dramatically higher number of illegal immigrants coming through. However, the GAO team found both supporters and detractors near the potential location of a permanent checkpoint.

Stana said the Border Patrol has a “tactical advantage in remote areas” over smugglers, and getting them off-highway into rural areas is the goal. There were 507 apprehensions at the I-19 checkpoint in fiscal year 2008, yet there were 7,486 apprehensions in the area surrounding the checkpoint, according to the GAO.

But while the opportunity to apprehend is there, Stana said the Border Patrol often addresses reports of immigrants circumventing checkpoints “on a reactive basis” when resources such as manpower and helicopters might not be readily available.

A permanent station would put about four times the number of agents at the I-19 checkpoint, according to the report.

Tourism, real estate, crime

Business owners in Tubac have long insisted that the checkpoint has pushed more illegal immigrants into town, having a detrimental affect on tourism and real estate values.

But they, like the GAO, have been unable to provide reliable numbers to back that up.

According to the report:

Communities in the Southwest “generally stated that checkpoints had no adverse effects ... in terms of violent crimes rates, business and real estate values.”

“... officials from 12 law enforcement agencies across the four Southwest border states told us that checkpoint operations did not cause an increase in local violent crime rates.”

“Sufficient data were not available for us to determine any causal relationship between checkpoint operations and local crime rates, tourism trends or real estate values in nearby communities.”

NEXT STEPS

Giffords said her next step is to meet with Kyl, McCain and Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano and “move forward to craft solutions.”

She told reporters that checkpoints “are very effective,” and favors improvements that would turn the existing tactical checkpoint on I-19 into an interim, with a canopy, third inspection lane and an expanded secondary inspection area. Those improvements should be completed by May.

“We have ignored this area far too long,” she said.

Gilbert was more direct: “Our ultimate goal is to have a permanent checkpoint.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Border Patrol agents nationwide: 19,354.

Border Patrol agents on the Southwest border: 17,011.

Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector: about 3,000.

The number of agents is up 57 percent from September 2006.

Nearly half of all Border Patrol agents have less than two years of experience.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE

The Border Patrol operates two types of checkpoints:

Tactical checkpoint (Tubac)

Intermittent use (not a 24-hour operation)

Temporary structures

Less protection from the elements for agents

Less safety for agents, who stand on the roadway

Permanent checkpoint

Permanent buildings

Dog kennels

On-site technology (computers, backscatter X-ray)

24-hour operation

Electricity, better lighting and signage

Covered lanes, protection from elements

FROM THE REPORT

The Tucson Sector has, by far, the highest number of illegal immigrant apprehensions of all nine sectors. The number has dropped from 2006 to 2008, but still was above 300,000. Chief Robert Gilbert expects about 250,000 apprehensions this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Of those 300,000 in the Tucson Sector, about 1,800 were apprehended at a checkpoint, up 28 percent from 2007. Officials attributed the increase to nearly full-time operation in 2008, and to increasing the number of checkpoints from 10 to 13. The Tucson Sector has nine tactical checkpoints as of this month.

The average cost to an illegal immigrant to be smuggled across the border into the Tucson Sector was $2,750 in 2008, up $500 from a year earlier, according to officials.

Drug seizures at Southwest border checkpoints were up 2 percent from fiscal year 2007 to 2008 while overall Border Patrol seizures were down about 4 percent.

The Yuma Sector has the highest number of drug seizures at checkpoints in the Southwest, with about 1,600 in 2008. Tucson had about 250.

The Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents may stop a vehicle at fixed checkpoints for brief questioning even if there is no reason to believe the vehicle contains illegal immigrants. Agents on a roving patrol may stop a vehicle only if they have reasonable suspicion that it contains illegal immigrants.

In 2008, three people were encountered at Southwest checkpoints who had ties to terrorism.

The Department of Homeland Security has a goal of detecting 30 percent of major illegal activity at ports of entry in 2009.

The Border Patrol reported that 5 percent of overall apprehensions in 2007 occurred at checkpoints. A GAO analysis put that number at 3 percent. The Border Patrol excluded Tucson Sector data because it would “unfairly reflect on overall checkpoint performance” because of the high volume of illegal immigrants compared to other sectors.

The $25 million permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19 would be the largest on the Southwest border, at 18 acres. Just 7 acres of that would be used for checkpoint operations, with the remainder used as retention and sloped areas and for on and off ramps. As planned now, it would have eight primary lanes and nine secondary inspection lanes. It would take five years to build.

About $200 million in improvements planned for the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales could change the plans in I-19.