U.S. inspectors in Nogales embrace 'one face, one fight' motto

GABRIELA RICO

NOGALES - Connie Rutherford's office is littered with the remnants of spoiled attempts to bring banned goods into the United States.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service inspector has whale bones and ornately beaded coyote and alligator skulls. A stuffed owl, wings spread wide, perches atop a chunk of the skeleton of an illegal cactus. A stool made from an elephant's foot sits in the corner and water buffalo horns adorn her desk.

Chances are if you get caught at the Mariposa or DeConcini ports of entry with a prohibited animal - on the hoof or not - Rutherford deals with it.

"Dead, alive or in parts, it's all prohibited," she said.

March 1 will mark the first anniversary of the establishment of the Homeland Security Department, and for officers at the nation's ports of entry, the "one face, one fight at the border" motto has become reality.

Officers from the Agriculture Department and the Justice Department's former Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service carry out border inspections as Bureau of Customs and Border Protection officers under the Homeland Security Department.

The inspectors are cross-trained, said Joe Agosttini, chief customs inspector in Nogales.

Instead of the old "that's not my department" attitude, officers are looking for all violations, whether they're narcotics-, agricultural- or immigration-related, he said.

The approach appears to be working in Nogales, where officers expressed pleasant surprise that a federal plan has resulted in positive change.

The volume and oddity of items that officers must watch for keeps them busy and often amused, Agosttini said.

Animals

Rutherford said there were multiple issues with the stuffed barn owl. Possessing the bird and the piece of cactus skeleton it perches on is illegal. Moving birds across an international boundary is prohibited by international treaty and the cactus is considered endangered.

Travelers who try to bring banned items into the United States shouldn't expect refunds. Illegal goods will be confiscated.

"It's the traveler's responsibility to find out what the law is," Rutherford said.

Under several regulations, including international treaties, no animal listed as endangered is allowed across the border. In Mexico, spotted cats such as jaguars are protected by endangered species law and clothing made from their fur will be confiscated, she said.

Parrots and turtles are the most popular animals people try to smuggle, she said.

The export of turtles is not allowed by the Mexican government and parrots are restricted by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

In an average 30-day period, up to 34 parrots and other birds will be confiscated at the Nogales ports, said Manny Trujillo, chief of agricultural operations.

Evidence of a bird, such as feathers or an empty cage, will prompt a secondary inspection and often lead to stashed animals, he said.

"People always tell us, 'Oh, we had a bird, but he died,' " Trujillo said with a chuckle.

All live animals are turned over to an Agriculture Department veterinarian, who tests the animals and quarantines them for 45 days at a veterinarian's office in Nogales, Trujillo said.

Animals that are healthy will end up in a sanctuary, museum or zoo, Trujillo said.

Edibles

Fear of Mexican and Mediterranean fruit flies keeps officers vigilant for fruit and vegetables that travelers may be snacking on while entering the United States, Trujillo said.

"Most fruits are prohibited, but we always find people with mangos and guavas," he said. "In 95 percent of the cases, people are bringing them in because they think they can't get them in the U.S."

People bringing prohibited items through the ports face fines of up to $250.

In January, officers issued 198 citations for agricultural violations - 133 for failure to declare something prohibited and 65 for concealment or smuggling, Trujillo said.

Not everyone is fined, but officers seize more than 250 prohibited agriculture items each day from northbound travelers at the Nogales ports, he said.

Pork and chicken are not allowed across the border.

Unless they are frozen, the meats are cooked for eight hours in a large outdoor incinerator to kill bacteria before they are disposed of, Trujillo said.

A person is allowed to bring up to 50 pounds of beef or seafood into this country.

All confiscated fruit is inspected for pests and placed in a grinder for disposal.

Ham is popular among food smugglers, Trujillo said, and if it's frozen, it will be returned to Mexico and given to a minister to feed to the poor.

Drugs

Eloy Cortez, a Customs and Border Protection agriculture supervisor, recently found that the walls of a produce truck being inspected were packed with something.

Customs officers, assisted by drug-sniffing dogs, confirmed the presence of drugs and agriculture and customs inspectors processed the produce and drugs, Cortez said.

In the past, agricultural inspectors would have focused just on agriculture matters, he said, adding that officers are pleased with the outcome of the new system.

"Maybe we're just progressive here in Nogales," Cortez said with a smile.

When a woman driver pulled up to the DeConcini port, officers tapped the sides of her sedan and heard a thud on the passenger door.

A secondary inspection revealed more than 40 pounds of marijuana in bundles stuffed into the door's frame.

Although the woman covered the bundles in grease, apparently hoping to conceal the marijuana's scent from the dogs, the pooch went right to the packages.

Marijuana and methamphetamine are seized daily from door panels, tires and gas tanks, Agosttini said.

Smugglers try to be clever in concealing drugs, sometimes stuffing them in hollow heels of shoes and false bottoms of purses. Even hollowed-out wheels of cheese have been confiscated, he said.

Prescription drugs can be a problem because people don't check to see how much is allowed into the United States, Agosttini said.

U.S. law allows importation of 50 doses of medicine every 30 days.

People

Inspectors also look for phony laser visas At a going rate of $200, fake laser visas and passports are something inspectors are always checking for, said Gary Rehbein, chief inspector for immigration processing.

He said people will purchase documents with pictures that resemble them.

"Then people will cut their hair, change their makeup or pluck their eyebrows to look like the picture," Rehbein said.

False claims of U.S. citizenship are easy to detect, because most people answer differently than a real U.S. citizen, he said.

"When asked what country they're from, they usually answer 'American city' " Rehbein said. "Most American citizens say 'Arizona, California, Iowa, etc.' "

Officers sometimes will ask a person to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or name their elementary school, he added.

"Just a few questions will lead to an apprehension," he said.

Contraband

Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry enforce more than 400 laws for 40 federal agencies. Among the most frequently confiscated items:
 

Plants, especially protected cactuses

Parrots and turtles

Cultural artifacts

Fur or animal body parts

Fruits and vegetables

For more information on what you may bring into the United States, visit www.cbp.gov and click on Travel.