Overall goal is to shut down smuggling

GABRIELA RICO

When the U.S. Border Patrol was created by Congress in 1924, Uncle Sam agreed to buy the feed as long as patrolmen provided their own horses.
Eighty years later, in a back-to-basics move, the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol is deploying 100 horse patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border to help track and catch people entering the country illegally.

The addition of horses to the region is part of the Arizona Border Control Initiative, a multipronged campaign announced yesterday by Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security, part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Along with the beasts, large numbers of patrol agents, additional aircraft, electronic ground sensors, remote video cameras and unmanned aerial vehicles are being poured into the area over the coming month.

The goal is to take control of what is known as the west desert corridor, from the Yuma County line to the Arizona border town of Sasabe. Those 121 miles of international border have been a hot spot for the Border Patrol for the past few years as crackdowns in Texas and California pushed illegal immigrants into Arizona's rough landscape.

In a recent five-day operation, seven horse patrols rounded up 600 illegal immigrants in the rugged terrain of Jalisco Canyon, near Arivaca.

Last week, four patrols caught more than 100 people traveling together in the same area.

John M. France, assistant chief patrol agent in charge of the equines, said the recent captures illustrate that high-tech can't solve everything.

"We need the gizmos, and we need the technology, but you never, ever give up on the basics," he said.

In Tucson yesterday to announce the campaign, Hutchinson reiterated that technology can help agents catch suspects but will never replace the agents on the ground.

He noted that 40 percent of illegal entrants into the United States cross the Arizona border.

"Notice should be given that it's dangerous to cross that border," Hutchinson said. "It's also not going to be easy."

Michael St. John, supervisor of the sector's horse patrol, said recently the animals' ability to navigate steep hills is critical to catching up with the human traffic.

"Even the Humvees and four-wheel drives can't get in there," said the seven-year agent, who has supervised the horse patrol since it began operating at the sector's Tucson station in October. "On foot, we have no advantage."

While horses have always been part of the Border Patrol force, France said he is pleased to see renewed respect for their effectiveness.

In the past, the animals' role in Border Patrol was mainly "PR and parades," he said.

"Sure, they're cute, and everybody likes to pet them, but they're a tool," said France, a 25-year veteran of the Border Patrol. "It's exciting that we're enhancing our basics along with our technology."

This tried-and-true method of patrolling the border is also helping the agency address concerns about noise and the environment.

France called horses "one of the most effective and ecologically sound means" of patrolling the border because they can take an agent into rugged terrain and make little noise when approaching people in the desert.

"Drug smugglers don't want to go up against the horse," France said. "They're quiet, large animals who suddenly come upon you with a person on top of them. It's very impressive."

The nation's Border Patrol chief, Gus De La Viña, also in Tucson yesterday for the rollout of the Border Control Initiative, expects good results from the addition of patrol horses this summer.

"I've always been partial to the horse patrol," he said. "It's part of the tradition of the Border Patrol."

Currently with 58 horses in the ranks, Tucson sector officials want to have 100 working by June, including several patrols in the Tohono O'odham Nation. That will give the sector more horses than all other sectors in the country combined.

So, what makes a good Border Patrol horse?

"There is specific criteria, but mainly, that they are sure-footed," France said. "They don't have to be pretty. We're not looking for show horses."

Anyone with information on quarter horses for sale may contact France at 670-6871.