Agency's new chief says effort will continue in the Tucson sector until border is controlled.

GABRIELA RICO

The Border Patrol catches 4 out of 5 illegal immigrants who come into the United States through the west desert, says the new interim chief of the agency's Tucson sector.
And Michael Nicley plans to keep resources in place until his agents "control" the Arizona-Sonora border, he said.

"We're going to get control of that border, I have no doubt," he said yesterday during his first news conference since his appointment Thursday.

Since the rollout of the Arizona Border Control effort, the west desert - from the Yuma County line to near Sasabe - has enjoyed an 80 percent apprehension rate, Nicley said.

That figure is based on information gathered by "trackers," agents who count people who enter the United States, he said.

The Homeland Security Department is committed to cutting illegal border traffic, Nicley said.

"(The department) has made it very clear that we're going to win in Arizona," he said.

The Arizona crackdown is pushing illegal immigrants to Yuma and San Diego. That result was expected and welcome, Nicley said.

"These areas are easier to control, and we're at a tactical advantage," he said.

Not all illegal immigrants are heading farther west. The Cochise County Sheriff's Department reported yesterday that Border Patrol agents found a dead woman in the desert five miles west of Douglas.

A Brazilian woman approached a home in the area and said that a member of her group of immigrants died in the desert while crossing, the Sheriff's Department said in a news release.

The dead woman was identified as Wilma Ribeiro Machado, 42, of Brazil.

The eastern part of the sector, including Naco and Douglas, will get more resources to handle the shift from the west desert, Nicley said.

Nicley didn't have apprehension figures for those areas.

The 24-year Border Patrol veteran had served as chief of the Yuma sector since July 2001. He began his career in San Diego in 1980 and has served as assistant director for the western region and deputy chief in Washington, D.C.

Asked if the Tucson sector has an advantage because former chief David Aguilar now heads the agency nationwide, Nicley smiled.

"Absolutely, and I intend to milk that advantage," he said.