Yuma is a recipient of National Guard troops sent to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas as part of Operation Jump Start, a presidential initiative to support the Border Patrol while it hires, trains and deploys 6,000 new agents. The Guardsmen have volunteered to relieve the Border Patrol of non-law enforcement support duties until more agents can be hired. Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar in late July said that indications on the ground are that Operation Jump Start is providing a deterrent effect, meaning his agents are seeing less attempts at illegal immigration.

Border Patrol agents brief members of the National Guard on the operation of a Skybox Surveillance platform in Yuma, Ariz.

Guardsmen play no direct law enforcement role in apprehending or securing anyone detained for making illegal border crossing attempts. Instead, some Guardsmen in Yuma are serving as additional “eyes and ears” for Border Patrol agents. Guard personnel are working in the communication center monitoring the numerous remote cameras placed along the border with Mexico. Guard personnel also provide border-related intelligence analysis. Normally, Border Patrol agents rotate into these assignments, but now are free to do field border enforcement work.

Another area where the Guard is assisting is in entry identification teams that work surveillance duty. Deployed in groups of three and four, Guardsman use state-of-the-art detection technology to monitor the border from strategic observation points. If they detect illegal migrations, they radio agents to make the interception.

“One thing that I think is critical,” said Chief Aguilar “is that the approach to border security, at all borders, is a comprehensive approach — one of technology, one of personnel, and one of infrastructure. In all three facets of those components, the Guard is now playing a part.”

These Guardsmen will serve until the Border Patrol can deploy the full contingent of agents, targeted for the end of calendar year 2008. As agents join the ranks of the Border Patrol, Guard numbers will be reduced.

From car mechanics to horse trainers

Another area where the Guard is present is in the vehicle maintenance shop. Maintenance and repair work on the Border Patrol fleet in Yuma is normally done by mechanics contracted to the CBP Border Patrol, but Border Patrol agents do the scheduling, oversight and some routine maintenance. Working in the shop were several Guardsmen from various Arizona National Guard units.

One soldier, Sgt. Guzman from the 3666 Unit of the Arizona Guard, was hard at work on a vehicle high on a hoist. “My unit is a maintenance company so I have experience as an automotive mechanic. But I have received on-the-job-training here too,” said Guzman. Another Guardsman, working in Yuma for about a month, said that automobile repair was a hobby but that he had volunteered to work with the Border Patrol “indefinitely.”

At the Del Rio sector, a Guardsman is working as a “wrangler,” ensuring that the horses for the horse patrol are properly maintained and trained. In other sectors, Guardsmen trained in journalism and press relations are assisting Border Patrol agents on public affairs duties.

Yuma Sector, located in the southwestern Arizona, is a typical of how the Guard will operate in Border Patrol sectors. Yuma has several substations including border stations at Yuma, Wellton and Blythe, Calif. The sector has seen increasing illegal immigrant activity over the last three years as enforcement operations in other sectors have forced the movement of the illegal immigrant trade. Last fiscal year the sector made more than 138,000 arrests with more than 14,000 of those detained having a criminal history or active warrants for arrest for crimes like murder, narcotics trafficking and aggravated assault.

A history of helping

National Guard troops have worked for more than 20 years with the CBP legacy agencies and now with CBP, providing support for law enforcement counter-narcotics missions.

“The relationship between the National Guard, the Department of Defense, and the CBP Border Patrol is one that’s been going on for many, many years,” said Chief Aguilar. The Guard has also built infrastructure like fences, vehicle barriers and all-weather access roads on the southwest border during missions that predate the President’s plan. During Operation Jump Start, Guardsmen will continue to play an important role in designing and constructing infrastructure.

The Yuma sector is 126 miles of some of the most desolate border in the country. The sector covers 172,000 square miles of territory in Arizona, California and the entire state of Nevada. And Yuma is hot in the summertime, with temperatures that routinely reach 110 degrees and above. While this should not be a surprise, migrants entering the country illegally often are unprepared for the heat and the distances in this area, or the possibility of being abandoned by their human smuggler guide.

Interstate 8, the closest major highway that would serve as a conduit to the interior of the United States, is between 50 and 60 miles from the U.S. /Mexico border, and in the heat that often proves to be an impossibly long walk.

And did we mention snakes?

Another complicating factor in Yuma sector is the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge, the third largest national wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states that contains rugged territory with mountain ranges that loom over barren desert. Cabeza Prieta shares 56 miles of border with Sonora, Mexico and has been described by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which maintains it, as the “loneliest international boundary on the continent.”

So lonely, forbidding, and dangerous that visitors to the refuge are required to sign a Hold Harmless Agreement that warns that they could die from falling into “old mine shafts and other openings or weaknesses in the earth, as well as other natural and/or manmade conditions too numerous to recite therein.” Another tourist Website advises, “unprepared humans simply cannot survive the heat and dryness of the refuge interior.” And then there are the snakes—24 species live here including six kinds of rattlesnakes.

And there’s more peril. The Barry Goldwater Firing Range is within the Cabeza Prieta Refuge and is a “hot” range where the military conducts live firing drills. The range has been used as a gunnery and bombing range since World War II and there is additional danger from unexploded ordnance that remains on the surface and is buried on the refuge. Though one might think that illegal immigrants would think twice before attempting to cross here, the range serves more as a complicating factor than as a deterrent. Warning signs are posted, but Border Patrol agents often have to radio the military to stop firing so they can quickly swoop in and rescue immigrants caught unprepared.

Turning the tide

Despite the dangers, news of the presence of more Border Patrol agents bolstered by the support of the National Guard is filtering its way across the border into Mexico and it is having an impact. Since the President's announcement, CBP Border Patrol has seen a 45 percent decrease in apprehensions compared to the same period prior to the announcement. Even factoring in a seasonal decrease, apprehensions are down 25 percent compared to each of the last two years.

Member of the National Guard scans detection sensor monitors at Yuma Border Patrol Communications Center

The Guard will continue to serve as a bridge to accomplishing CBP’s border security goals as the Border Patrol works to meet the ambitious hiring goal that will provide long-term solutions. In just the last six months, nearly 700 Border Patrol agents have graduated from the Border Patrol Academy with nearly 500 more currently attending training.

In Yuma, and all across the southwest border, CBP Border Patrol presence in the field is increasing. As new waves of National Guardsmen reach the border, they will continue to bolster our resources by assisting the Border Patrol and freeing agents to conduct enforcement operations ensuring the safety and security of our borders.

Infrastructure: building blocks of border security What is it? Infrastructure is often used to describe constructed physical security measures that assist CBP in controlling our borders. It is the fencing, vehicle barriers, lighting, all-weather access roads, land clearings, and bridge-crossings that serve as either obstacles to crossing the border illegally or that allow CBP agents better access to border areas. Where is it? Infrastructure is placed where it is strategically relevant. The border with Mexico is close to 2,000 miles long and is made up of highly developed urban areas, undeveloped areas that have relatively easy access to major thoroughfares and desolate terrain that is truly “miles from anywhere.” What works best? Primary fencing and lighting have been installed in border areas that are adjacent to urban populated areas. Vehicle barriers are used in remote areas with easy access to major thoroughfares and that are known to be high traffic areas for smugglers. Land clearing and all weather patrol roads provide access to border areas that serve as smuggling conduits. Installation of roads develops areas resulting in an increased quality of life for residents, and facilitates CBP agents patrol efforts.