BORTAC, Border Patrol's mobile tactical unit, working our desert

  GABRIELA RICO

  IN THE ARIZONA DESERT - They work in the shadows.

  They hide in the hills, crouch under shrubs and lie waiting in holes in the ground.

  They are federal agents from the mobile tactical operations unit of the U.S. Border Patrol, called
  BORTAC, and their latest mission has brought them into Tucson's back yard.

  BORTAC has been deployed to work with border police in Albania, Guatemala, Bolivia and
  Honduras.

  In the United States, the unit participates in tracking terrorism, riot control, guarding
  foreign diplomats and catching human smugglers and drug traffickers, Unit Commander
  Kevin Oaks said in an interview from BORTAC headquarter in Texas last week.

  The agents represent almost every state in the country and have been operating as a
  well-kept secret for almost 20 years.

  Their most notable assignment - and the one that shattered their shield of anonymity -
  came in April 2000, when BORTAC agents executed a raid to ensure the safe return of
  Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba.

  A battle to keep the boy in the United States failed. He had been rescued off the coast
  of Florida when a boatload of Cuban refugees perished at sea.

  "We keep a low profile and we like it that way," Oaks says.

  And so an invitation to the Tucson Citizen to observe the work of BORTAC agents came
  with restrictions, namely that their location and identities not be revealed.

  The agents were deployed from Biggs Army Air Field in Texas into the Arizona desert this
  summer by the Department of Homeland Security.

  Their mission: Detect and deter the flow of illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

  "Our forte is once we leave the pavement," Oaks says.

  The self-contained operation was set up in tents in the desert within 12 hours of
  BORTAC's arrival in July. In the first week, agents had apprehended 1,500 illegal
  immigrants and drug smugglers, according to the unit's supervisor, Agent Jim, 45.

  They complement routine patrols with tactics designed to create the impression that
  they are always lying in wait.

  As of last week, BORTAC agents had apprehended more than 7,800 people in the
  desert since the operation began, he said.

  David Aguilar, chief patrol agent of the Tucson sector, called BORTAC an effective
  resource for border security.

  "They can be anywhere in the nation within hours," Aguilar says. "They're a
  self-contained unit that does not tax the sector in any way."

  Aguilar stressed that BORTAC is but one component of the different missions operating
  in the desert.

  They are, he says, the "enforcers" on the border and are supported by, among others,
  Search and Rescue units and plainclothes agents who follow migrant trails and try to
  identify and disrupt smuggling operations.

  When U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner launched
  Operation Desert Safeguard this summer, he stressed that the addition of agents,
  including BORTAC, into the Arizona desert was a matter of national security.

  "I must stress, as much as we deplore the loss of life, and we do, as much as we
  condemn the ruthless human smugglers who put lives at risk in order to make a profit,
  and we do - the migrants crossing our borders are entering the United States illegally
  and in violation of our laws," he said in June. "And so, the United States intends to
  enforce its laws."

  When the call came about the Arizona mission, agents had less than a week to pack and
  report to BORTAC headquarters in Texas.

  "I was on a boat in Cape Cod on July 3 when I got the call," 39-year-old Agent Bobby,
  from Michigan, recalls. "I was told that I had to be in El Paso on July 5 for training before
  moving out to Tucson."

  Their home in the desert consists of cots lined up in militarylike barracks, a couple of
  trailers and a tent "lounge" with a television set, complete with "rabbit ears," that gets
  reception from only one Tucson channel.

  Meals are mostly ready-to-eat packets that can be consumed on the go, unless agents
  want to make the long journey into the nearest town to buy a meal.

  Their packs are heavy, weighing up to 100 pounds, and are equipped with everything an
  agent might need should a shift unexpectedly extend into days.

  The medically trained agents are also prepared to switch from law enforcement mode
  into humanitarian mode should they encounter a migrant in distress.

  Oftentimes, their "lay-in" operations, where they find an observation spot, stay put and
  monitor desert movement, can last days.

  "That's probably the biggest difference between BORTAC and other agents - we're
  willing to work four days straight," says Agent Bobby, an 11-year veteran of the Border
  Patrol.

  BORTAC'S work is precise and calculated.

  These agents use their extensive training to detect groups of people crossing the
  border, keep them from getting too spread out, and manage their movement in order
  to get them to walk right into agents who are lying in wait in the cover of darkness.

  "We like to call it the 'Surprise' operation," says Agent Bob, 41, a 20-year Border Patrol
  veteran. "Often we succeed in getting them to walk right into our agents or step on
  (agents) who are laying on the ground."

  On a recent operation, agents find suspicious-looking footprints across a sandy trail.

  Clearly, the smuggler leading this group knows that agents will be looking for footprints
  and he has the group walk heel-to-toe across the trail and carefully step in each others
  footprints.

  The race is on and agents don't know if they will encounter work-seeking migrants or a
  more sinister group trying to smuggle drugs into the United States.

  Three agents take off into the pitch-black desert on foot. By making their presence
  known, they strategically "push" the group to travel down a path that will lead them to
  other agents hidden in the desert, where they will be apprehended.

  On the next road north, agents sit quietly, watching through night-vision binoculars for
  signs of the group.

  Atop a nearby hill, an agent equipped with infrared lenses watches for movement and
  reports to the others on the ground whenever a group changes direction or stops.

  This particular night, BORTAC agents are tracking three different groups.

  One of the groups apprehended consists of 12 men and two women from Oaxaca.

  "We're here out of necessity," says Francisca Beltran Lopez, 45.

  She says her group was dropped off and told to walk through the desert and someone
  else would pick them up once they got out of the Border Patrol's "hot spots."

  No such luck on this night, as Beltran was one of 43 migrants picked up by BORTAC
  agents before their shift ended.

  That strategy, Aguilar says, is what makes BORTAC unique.

  "Once they get to a certain point, (illegal immigrants) may think they're home free, but
  really their movement is completely controlled," he says.

  "We are a blocking force," says Agent Bob, also from Michigan. "We want them to get
  used to not crossing in this area. We want them to return and tell others, 'Don't cross.
  (Agents) are everywhere.'"

  BORTAC agents use marked and unmarked vehicles, off-road bikes, but mainly "good
  old-fashioned foot power," Agent Bob says.

  Their shifts are long and the accommodations sparse, but the men of this unit say the
  job is its own reward.

  "When you sign up for something like this, it's because you want to be here," says
  Agent Duke, 32, who has been a Border Patrol agent for six years in Texas. "The lay-ins,
  being out in the brush and racing in the darkness gets your heart pumping,"

  And even though they are more of a law-and-order operation, agents say they
  understand what drives migrants across the border.

  "They've got nothing on the their side and everything on the other side," Agent Bob
  says. "They've got nothing to lose."

  The most frustrating part of the mission since their arrival has been the routine discovery
  of dead bodies, agents say.

  "Whatever your politics are, you don't want people dying out there," says Agent Bob.
  "It just ain't right."

  Downtime at base camp revolves around working out with weights in order to stay in
  top shape, eating meals and teasingly comparing notes of each team's success that day.

  After each shift, agents meet with an intelligence officer who tracks the movement of
  trails and volume of activity coming across the border and dictates where agents will go
  the following day.

  But no amount of the so-called "intel" can solve the mystery that has agents scratching
  their heads back at base camp.

  Alongside the good-quality "guy movies" sits a copy of the movie "My Big Fat Greek
  Wedding."

  "Someone snuck it into camp, but nobody will admit it," Agent Duke says, then quickly
  adds, "And I haven't watched it."