250 more agents headed to Yuma to beef up border

BY PAIGE LAUREN DEINER, SUN STAFF WRITER
Dec 7, 2005

The U.S. Border Patrol's Yuma sector will be getting some extra help — 250 more agents.

Michael Gramley, spokesman for the sector, said that these agents will allow the Border Patrol "greater flexibility in redeployment of agents in response to terrorist threats or national emergencies."

It will also provide more agents to stop illegal immigrants and drugs, Gramley said.

Gramley said that these additional agents will also bring the Yuma sector close to the number of agents needed in the area.

These additional agents will arrive by the end of September 2006. "We have already sent numerous trainees to the academy that were hired under the 2006 budget."

By Sept. 30, 2006, the Yuma sector will have 800 border agents to cover the sector, which extends from the Pima County line to the east and the Imperial Sand Dunes to the west.

"Currently, Yuma sector is attempting to determine the needed number of personnel for us to gain operational control of our area along the border. These additional agents will significantly increase our overall personnel and will take us that much closer to that operational control," Gramley said.

The Yuma sector has seen an increasing number of illegal immigrants coming through the Yuma sector. In 2004, the Border Patrol caught 98,060 illegal aliens. In fiscal year 2005 Border Patrol apprehended 138,486 illegal aliens.

Yuma is not the only area that is getting additional agents. The Border Patrol will add 1,700 new agents along the Mexican border this fiscal year, with Arizona getting more than 640 of them, the agency said. California will receive 352 new agents, Texas 452 and New Mexico 253.

"A key element of our new Secure Border Initiative is more Border Patrol boots on the ground in the most heavily trafficked areas of the southwest border," said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

"By increasing the number of agents on the front lines of our border, and giving them better infrastructure and technology to do their jobs, we will be able to greatly increase interdictions and create a strong deterrent to illegal crossings."

Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said the 1,700 new agents will boost the agency’s total from 11,268 as of two months ago to almost 13,000, some of whom will still be in training.

‘‘The personnel are absolutely key to our continued progress in gaining control of the border,’’ Aguilar said. ‘‘In addition to this, of course, we will continue to build the infrastructure and continue to add technology.’’

The money for the new hiring comes from allocations in the fiscal 2006 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security and from the fiscal 2005 Iraq war supplemental appropriations bill, Aguilar said in a teleconference and Sen. Jon Kyl’s office announced in a news release.

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Paige Lauren Deiner can be reached at pdeiner@yumasun.com or 539-6872.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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