Local 1613 Questions Congressman Darrell Issa’s Comments Concerning Border Patrol Checkpoints
Closing the I-5 and I-15 Border Patrol checkpoints in Southern California and moving 200 agents from these checkpoints to the border is not the solution for reducing the number of illegal entrants.
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) August 1, 2005 -- Imagine the manager of the San Diego
Padres requiring outfielders to remain in one location in the outfield while
playing. The other teams would immediately figure out the weakness in the
Padres’ strategy. Although outfielders might catch a few balls in the first
innings, eventually, they would only catch balls hit right to them. Now, instead
of telling the Padres’ manager to stop restricting the outfielders’ movement in
the field, imagine the owner of the Padres concluding the outfielders were
ineffective and no longer needed in the outfield. In an effort to improve the
team, the owner tells the manager to move all outfielders to the infield to
strengthen their efforts and improve their chances of catching the
ball.
Isn’t this idea ridiculous? It is and this concept is what happened
with the United States Border Patrol. In 1996, Immigration and Naturalization
Service and Border Patrol policies restricted other checkpoint enforcement
operations. Agents were no longer permitted to patrol day-labor sites,
transportation hubs, and other areas where illegal aliens regularly gathered.
Patrolling the side roads while the checkpoints were operational was also
terminated. These enforcement activities are within the authority of the Border
Patrol and increased the effectiveness of the checkpoints. At the same time,
Congressman Packard concluded Border Patrol checkpoints on I-5 and I-15 would be
more effective if they were operated seven (7) days a week, twenty-four (24)
hours a day and incorporated language into the appropriations bill which
required the I-5 and I-15 checkpoints to operate 24/7. Consequently, all of
these negative events caused apprehensions to plummet.
Congressman
Darrell Issa recently said, “Closing the Temecula and San Clemente checkpoints
would improve the Border Patrol’s chances of catching undocumented immigrants
and seizing illegal drugs.” Officials of National Border Patrol Council, Local
1613 strongly disagree with this statement. Local 1613 officials previously
informed Congressman Issa of a misuse of resources within the Border Patrol and
the checkpoints on I-5 and I-15.
Closing the checkpoints and moving 200
agents from these checkpoints to the border is not the solution for reducing the
number of illegal entrants. As long as people around the world know that once
they circumvent the infield, there is an unmanned outfield and they will score a
hit and make it to home base in the United States without any fear of being
caught. There is no doubt the terrorists are exploiting this vulnerability. The
Border Patrol must maintain an outfield that is free to play their legal
positions; otherwise, Border Patrol Agents assigned to checkpoints will continue
to catch only the few people who hit the ball directly to them and the
checkpoints will never be successful.
For further information, contact
Chris Bauder at (800) 620-1613 ext. 80.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb267489.htm