Oscar
Charleston, SC
Male, 31
Spent a bit over four years (2006-2010) serving as a Border Patrol Agent in Tucson Sector, AZ: the busiest sector in the country. Worked numerous positions, and spent the last year and a half operating/instructing ground radar installations. Duties included: field patrols, transport, processing, control room duties, transportation check, checkpoint operations, static watch duties, etc.
While this question is purely political/agenda driven in nature, I'll provide a short response. There are numerous pieces of legislation which provide USBP and Customs officers various forms of authority within a certain radius of an international border (and by extension international airports which are technically also P.O.E's.). As the distance increases from the border we have different levels of authority. You can google and wikipedia the relevant laws and pieces of legislation which provide for this authority. A similar number of restrictions apply to USBP checkpoints.
USBP Agents are also often assigned additional Customs authority depending on their job location.
PS: If you happen to live near a USBP station they actually have all of this information available in handout pamphlets etc. We always had boxes of them at our vehicle checkpoint.
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We have a lot of the border under surveillance, but it's never enough. Also the desert is an extremely diverse environment. Dense brush, cliffs, outcroppings, washes (dry creekbeds), etc. make it very difficult to observe all of it.
Places with open expanses do rely on large networks of cameras. All along the border we also have sensors or various types (magnetic, seismic etc.) to detect groups and vehicles. However these don't always work, and are often set off by cattle or locals, or even BP Agents etc.
I worked for a bit over a year and a half in radar trucks which are fantastic. However these are expensive, and we never had enough of them. They were placed in high traffic areas. They were extremely effective - moreso than any other tactic we used.
Also, it's very common for BP Agents to detect, sight, or even chase a group and not catch it. So our detection numbers may be high, but actual apprehension numbers much lower. It would not be uncommon to have more groups on my radar screen than I had assets to pursue. You'd simply prioritize and catch as many as you could.
So, the theory is sound - but in practice is extremely difficult to monitor the entire border as it stands now. Also, groups/cartel guys learn where the cameras are, and simply avoid them. You do see more tunnels in areas which feature heavy camera presence.
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It's about 95% politics. No party nor politician wants to be responsible for losing the Latin-American vote or ruffling the feathers of Mexico's government. It would actually save us a lot of money in the long-run, given how much we spend on border security.
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The U.S./Mexico international border is extremely porous. While on paper the entire border is monitored, the reality is that our capacity to deter/intercept all of the illegal traffic is mediocre at best. Judging by the traffic patterns I saw, I would estimate my station/sector's capability at perhaps 30% of the overall traffic is intercepted effectively.
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I was pretty impressed with the caliber of people in the Border Patrol. The academy, while not extremely tough was tough enough to weed out the idiots. There was a huge range of people in the Patrol. A large portion of ex-military folks (ranging from simple 4-year in/outs up to PJ's, some older SF types, USMC Corpsmen etc.).
A smaller number of prior law enforcement types, and then the rest were normal people like myself with no particularly advantageous background (college grads and non-college grads).
The overwhelming amount of political correctness and red tape means that in most cases the Border Patrol is a bit "too fair". Sometimes you need to cut the nonsense and get the job done, something that the agency itself hinders very often. It's a very politcal job as you can imagine. You'd be amazed how often we were subtly told to do our job...less well.
Like any job, and profession you do have a small number of idiots. There seems to be a flawed public perception that all law enforcement agents/officers should be angellic beings of good who dole out divine justice etc. Nope. Agents were normal people too. With overy 16,000 agents you definitely would have some bad apples.
There was a website active when I was serving called "Trust Betrayed" or something to that effect. It was a website run by the agency highlighting agents and customs folks who had become criminals or had been caught breaking the law etc. It happens. Not often, but it's simple reality. So, on the off chance that you run into that one dirtbag, your experience may be different than most.
As a whole, yes, the agency is competent and fair.
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There was a lot of tension between the local indian tribal police and ourselves. The Tohono O'Odham indian police were often very shady (and caught doing rather suspicious things). The entire reservation was corrupt/dirty so these police often had family members who were into illegal stuff as well.
You'd occasionally catch the police driving at night in the desert, lights out - well beyond their patrol areas. They'd invent some story about what they were doing etc. Likewise they would attempt to pull over BP vehicles when we were tailing suspicious vehicles etc. It was always an interesting time with them.
The only issues we had with local deputies or police was simply due to manpower. They'd get mad at us when we didn't have enough agents to respond to their immigration issues, and we'd get mad when they wouldn't come pick up warrants because we were too far away from them etc. It was never harsh, just frustrating from both ends.
Sheriff Joe (Maricopa County Sheriff) was always a cool cat. I actually liked that he openly berated DHS etc. for not doing our job better. He would bring news cameras etc. with him when he turned over tons of illegal immigrants to the local I.C.E. office who didn't want to process them etc. He really gets stuff done, and doesn't take nonsense from anyone.
There is so much criminal traffic out in AZ that all LEO's pretty much gel together when the proverbial feces hit the wind oscillator. You'd always stop to back up local PD, DPS guys, or Sheriff's Deputies etc. They would likewise stop and check on you.
I was involved in a 120-mile pursuit one time which involved: BP Agents from two stations, indian police, sheriff's deputies, sheriff's drug task force, DPS, and two local police departments. It got downright confusing, but we got the vehicle. In short, we never had the silly TV show drama.
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BP Agents have authority to apprehend illegal immigrants anywhere in the country. However, special statutes and laws which allow us to set up traffic check-points, inspect items/people coming into the country, and stop vehicles for immigration purposes diminishes as you move further into the country.
If, for instance I was in Ohio and someone admitted to being an illegal immigrant, I could apprehend them. This of course assumes I'm on duty and in uniform etc. In this instance I would end up taking them to the nearest I.C.E. processing center.
Illegal is illegal.
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