‘A humanitarian burden’
Yuma Sector Border Patrol sees major increase in apprehensions of South American
Since 2005, the Yuma Sector has gone from one of the most dangerous in the nation to one of the most secure. Now, however, the sector is facing what one agent called a humanitarian burden – an explosion in apprehensions of people from South America. The Yuma Sector Border Patrol recently invited members of the press to attend a Media Academy, to give reporters an opportunity to learn more about the agency’s day-to-day operations and to foster a better mutual understanding between them.
During the academy, Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Mikhael Gramley noted that the Yuma Sector ‘s border with Mexico has under-
gone a dramatic transformation in terms of security.
In fiscal year 2005, the Yuma Sector was at an all-time high in apprehensions, with agents arresting a staggering 138,438 illegal entrants, or almost 13 percent of all U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehensions that year. There were also 2,706 vehicle incursions that year.
By fiscal year 2017, those numbers had fallen drastically, with 12,847 apprehensions and only 10 vehicle incursions.
A number of factors contributed to the statistical change, Gramley said, most notably being the billions of dollars in federal funding the agency received in the early to mid-2000s. That funding, he explained, was used for the construction of a border fence, and installing better technology and infrastructure.
The biggest contributing factor, however, was a 160 percent increase in staffing, growing from 331 agents in 2004, to 859 agents in 2017.
Agent Justin Kallinger explained the Yuma Sector has seen an increase in the number of illegal entrants from countries other than Mexico since 2014, with most predominantly coming from countries in South America.
“This year, that number exploded. We really don’t see an end in sight, so we have to prepare for that,” Kallinger said. “It is a huge humanitarian burden at this point, due to the amount of people we are having to deal with.”
Of the 26,000 apprehensions made in fiscal year 2018, which is more than double from the previous year, 90 percent were from somewhere other than Mexico, Kallinger said, with most just walking up to agents in large groups and surrendering.
Kallinger said the use of drones, tunnels being built and backpackers carrying drugs walking through the Barry M. Goldwater Bombing Range - where they know it is more difficult for Border Patrol agents to apprehend them - are all among the biggest challenges the Yuma Sector is facing in combating drug trafficking and human smuggling.
Gramley said the Yuma Sector’s area of operation covers approximately 181,670 square miles, including parts of Arizona, California and the entire state of Nevada.
The Yuma Sector is responsible for 126 miles of border with Mexico, stretching east from the Yuma-Pima County line to the Imperial Sand Dunes in California in the west, with steel fencing along 63 miles of it. The remaining areas have either vehicle or natural barriers.
There are also three stations within the Yuma Sector, located in Yuma, Wellton and Blythe, Calif., and three immigration checkpoints, with the one on Interstate 8 being the busiest, with an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 vehicles passing through it on any given day.
Reporters at the academy also experienced the use-offorce decision-making session inside a VirTra V300 LE shooting simulator at Arizona Western College. The demonstration was given by Agent Terry Hartman, who explained that the goal was to provide an understanding of how a threat is perceived in the moment.
Hartman said every Border Patrol Sector and every Office of Field Operations field offices have one of the simulators, which has upward of 200 different scenarios, some of which are Border Patrol specific. The simulator has five giant projection screens to create a 300-degree training experience and fires a laser that translates to a shot on the screen.
“The training here allows us to run agents through multiple different scenarios, multiple times a day,” Hartman said. “The scenarios range from everything from regular field encounters for Border Patrol agents, to vehicle stops, to active shooter situations.”
The scenarios, which are extremely lifelike, can also be modified by the instructor to create additional, more complex threats. Hartman said while the Yuma Sector owns the simulator, every law enforcement agency in the immediate area uses it.
Also, since Yuma Border Patrol agents are sometimes the first law enforcement on a scene, it benefits them to train for as many different scenarios as possible.
“We are not always out catching people in the desert. We are not always at checkpoint,” Hartman said. “We may have an agent going from Point A to Point B somewhere in the middle of Yuma, and have an encounter where there is no other law enforcement around. As law enforcement, we have a duty to act.”
The final portion of the Media Academy was given by Special Operations Supervisor Mark Sims, who runs the K-9 Unit for the Yuma Sector. It also included a demonstration in which agent Omar Valenzuela and his 6-year-old female German shepherd named Lenny found five grams of marijuana hidden in a can.
Sims said the Yuma Sector has 60 K-9 teams, of which, 56 are trained to find the odors of controlled substances and concealed people. Of the remaining four K-9 teams, two are search and rescue/cadaver dogs and two are patrol dogs.
He said that a vast majority of the dogs are either Belgian Malinois or German shepherds, and cost about $7,000 to $8,000 before training, which takes about eight weeks.
“We don’t train dogs to sniff drugs,” Sims said. “They are trained to associate the scents with a favorite toy.”
Calling it is a tremendous commitment for canine agents, Sims said the dogs and handlers work together through the dog’s entire career. Upon its retirement, it goes to live with the handler permanently. Sims said that, to the best of his knowledge, there has only been one instance in his 15 years at the Yuma Sector where that didn’t happen.