A GAO study will look at permanent checkpoints to see if they may be effective in Arizona.

GABRIELA RICO

Two U.S. congressmen want to know if permanent Border Patrol checkpoints would be more effective in Arizona than the temporary ones that move from place to place.

Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe and Kentucky Republican Harold Rogers, chairman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, asked the General Accounting Office to conduct a study on permanent checkpoints in Texas, New Mexico and California.

"We request that GAO evaluate the effectiveness of these permanent checkpoints as a deterrent to smuggling and other illegal activity along the border, in preventing violence on the nation's roadways, and as a law enforcement tool," the duo wrote in a letter this week.

Arizona has no permanent checkpoints, but the Tucson sector operates between five and seven temporary checkpoints throughout the border region at any given time, said Andy Adame, Tucson sector spokesman.

Along Interstate 19 between Tucson and Nogales, the Border Patrol rotates its checkpoint between kilometer marker 42 and kilometer marker 25, he said.

Since October, that checkpoint has stopped 2,097 illegal immigrants, including 1,254 who were dropped off by smugglers before the checkpoint and told to walk to a pickup point, Adame said.

Agents also seized $2.8 million worth of marijuana and 181 smuggling vehicles.

A permanent checkpoint with multiple lanes might be welcomed by agents and motorists, who often sit in lines that stretch for almost a mile along I-19.

Kolbe and Rogers also asked the GAO to explore the potential downside of permanent checkpoints.

"We ask that you examine the impact of this system of checkpoints on local communities in the regions, with particular regard to traffic congestion, environmental impacts and intrusiveness," they wrote.

"This study should observe checkpoints within the greater context of border security and determine whether these operational facilities are functional."