U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001

28–338 PDF 2006

S. HRG. 109–556

FEDERAL STRATEGIES TO END BORDER VIOLENCE

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, TECHNOLOGY 

AND HOMELAND SECURITY

AND THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, BORDER 

SECURITY AND CITIZENSHIP

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

MARCH 1, 2006

Serial No. J–109–60

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

(

(II)

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

JON KYL, Arizona 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware 

HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

MICHAEL O’NEILL, Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

BRUCE A. COHEN, Democratic Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, TECHNOLOGY AND HOMELAND SECURITY

JON KYL, Arizona, Chairman 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware 

HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

STEPHEN HIGGINS, Majority Chief Counsel 

STEVEN CASH, Democratic Chief Counsel 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY AND CITIZENSHIP

JOHN CORNYN, Texas, Chairman 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

JON KYL, Arizona 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

REED O’CONNER, Majority Chief Counsel 

JIM FLUG, Democratic Chief Counsel 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS 

Page

Cornyn, Hon. John, a U.S. Senator from the State of Texas ............................... 5

Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, a U.S. Senator from the State of California ................. 4

Kyl, Hon. Jon, a U.S. Senator from the State of Arizona .................................... 1

Sessions, Hon. Jeff, a U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama .......................... 21

WITNESSES 

Aguilar, David, Chief, Office of Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border 

Protection, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C. .................. 7

Bonner, T.J., National President, National Border Patrol Council, American 

Federation of Government Employees, AFL–CIO, Campo, California ............ 36

Charlton, Paul, U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona ................ 11

Dever, Larry A., Sheriff, Cochise County, Arizona ............................................... 30

Durham, Lavoyger, Manager, El Tule Ranch, Falfurrias, Texas ........................ 34

Forman, Marcy M., Director, Office of Investigations, U.S. Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, 

D.C. ........................................................................................................................ 13

Jernigan, A. D’Wayne, Sheriff, Val Verde County, Texas .................................... 32

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

Aguilar, David, Chief, Office of Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border 

Protection, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C., prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 49

Bonner, T.J., National President, National Border Patrol Council, American 

Federation of Government Employees, AFL–CIO, Campo, California, prepared statement ................................................................................................... 61

Charlton, Paul, U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 70

Dever, Larry A., Sheriff, Cochise County, Arizona, prepared statement ............ 79

Durham, Lavoyger, Manager, El Tule Ranch, Falfurrias, Texas, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 81

Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, a U.S. Senator from the State of California, letter 

and attachment .................................................................................................... 84

Forman, Marcy M., Director, Office of Investigations, U.S. Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, 

D.C., prepared statement .................................................................................... 87

Jernigan, A. D’Wayne, Sheriff, Val Verde County, Texas, prepared statement 

and attachments ................................................................................................... 104

Kyl, Hon. Jon, a U.S. Senator from the State of Arizona, letter ......................... 124

Laredo’s Missing, William C. Slemaker, Spokesperson, Laredo, Texas, letter ... 125

South Texas Coastal Sheriffs’ Alliance, T. Michael O’Connor, Sheriff, Victoria 

County, Texas, and Earl Petroupolis, Sheriff, Refugio County, joint statement ...................................................................................................................... 127

Tohono O’odham Nation, Vivian Juan-Saunders, Chairwoman, Sells, Arizona, 

statement and letter ............................................................................................ 130

(1)

FEDERAL STRATEGIES TO END BORDER 

VIOLENCE 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2006 

U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, TECHNOLOGY AND HOMELAND

SECURITY, AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, BORDER

SECURITY AND CITIZENSHIP, OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE

JUDICIARY, Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 9:02 a.m., in 

room SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jon Kyl, 

Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and 

Homeland Security, presiding. 

Present: Senators Kyl, Cornyn, Sessions, and Feinstein. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JON KYL, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA 

Chairman KYL. Welcome to this joint hearing between the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, and 

the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

I am Senator Kyl. Senator Feinstein and I are the Chairman and 

ranking member, respectively, of the first Subcommittee, and Senator Cornyn and Senator Kennedy are Chairman and ranking 

member of the other Subcommittee, and I am told will be here 

shortly. 

A couple of housekeeping matters. We have got a couple of different panels here and we are supposed to be done by eleven 

o’clock, when we have a joint session of Congress with Silvio 

Berlusconi. But we have also been advised that at ten o’clock there 

is a final passage vote on the PATRIOT Act, which is a good thing, 

but it does disrupt our hearing. That vote will be held open for us, 

but in some way we will have to play musical chairs here. If I leave 

to vote, I will turn the gavel over to Senator Feinstein or we will 

figure out a way to deal with that. 

So since the others will be arriving, let me begin with my statement. I want to begin by thanking our distinguished witnesses for 

joining us today to examine the problem of violence on the southern border of the United States. 

Paul K. Charlton has served as the United States Attorney for 

the District of Arizona since 2001, when he was appointed by the 

President and confirmed by the Senate for that position. In his 16 

years as a career prosecutor representing the United States and 

the citizens of Arizona, Mr. Charlton has become very familiar with 

2

the smugglers and criminal networks that are responsible for the 

increasing levels of violent crime along the border. 

David V. Aguilar assumed the position of Chief of the Office of 

the Border Patrol in 2004. He has served with the Border Patrol 

for over 26 years and spent a good portion of that time on the border in Arizona and Texas. He will testify on incursions into United 

States territory by what appear to be Mexican military units supporting drug traffickers and on the dangers encountered by Border 

Patrol agents everyday. 

Marcy M. Forman is Director of the Office of Investigations for 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sometimes referred to 

as ICE. Ms. Forman began her 26-year law enforcement career 

with U.S. Customs. She presently oversees 5,600 special agents, 

whose mission is to protect Americans from threats arising from 

the movement of people and goods into the United States. She will 

testify about the Federal and State partnerships that are employed 

to combat criminal organizations on the border. 

Our second panel of witnesses includes Larry Dever. He is Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, and a good friend. The people of 

Cochise County first elected him as their sheriff in 1996, following 

a 20-year career working with Cochise County law enforcement. 

Sheriff Dever will share his observations on the dangers that 

smugglers pose to Americans and to aliens illegally entering the 

United States. 

Allen D’Wayne Jernigan is the Sheriff of Val Verde County, 

Texas. He was first elected to that position in 1996 and is a 40-

year law enforcement veteran, a member of the Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition. Sheriff Jernigan will testify about the drug cartel violence he has witnessed in Texas. 

Lavoyger J. Durham is the manager of El Tule Ranch in South 

Texas, located about 75 miles north of the Mexican border. Mr. 

Durham has managed El Tule Ranch for 16 years and in that time 

has directly experienced the miseries arising from human smuggling across the ranch. 

Finally, T.J. Bonner is President of the National Border Patrol 

Council, which represents more than 10,000 front-line Border Patrol employees. Mr. Bonner is a 27-year veteran of the Border Patrol. He is familiar with Mexican military incursions into the 

United States and with the causes of increasing violence on the 

border. 

In calling this joint hearing, Senator Cornyn and I wanted to reacquaint the public and our Senate colleagues with the dire consequences that have resulted from the Federal Government’s failure to control the southern border of the United States. While the 

Senate is engaged in discussing comprehensive immigration reform, we want to remind our colleagues that no reform of the immigration system will be successful unless Congress makes a definitive commitment to ensure that the agencies responsible for interdicting illegal aliens and contraband have the resources they need 

to get the job done. 

Our open border with Mexico has permitted a historically unprecedented number of foreign nationals from over 120 countries to 

enter the United States illegally. While recognizing that the majority of illegal migrants to our country only come here to seek better 

3

wages and a better standard of living, we cannot ignore the fact 

that at least 10 percent of the aliens apprehended along the border 

are criminals. 

In the last five months, the Border Patrol has arrested no less 

than 42,722 aliens with criminal records on the border, and that 

is just in 5 months—over 42,000. Among them were 6,770 felons, 

148 persons wanted in connection with a homicide, 42 associated 

with kidnapping, 164 associated with a sexual assault, 298 associated with robbery, 1,957 wanted for assault, and 4,161 connected 

with drug crimes. 

DHS recently advised us that about 139,000 of the 1.1 million 

people apprehended on the border in 2005 were criminal aliens 

seeking to illegally reenter the United States. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported last year that criminal aliens 

made up nearly one-third of the Federal prison population, and 

that the number of aliens incarcerated jumped from 42,000 in 2001 

to 49,000 in 2004. In 2003, State prisons held about 74,000 criminal aliens. Our Federal and State governments have expended 

hundreds of millions of dollar incarcerating them. 

I share the belief that a temporary worker program will reduce 

some of the pressure along the southern border because those coming here for work will have a legal avenue to do so and will not 

resort to hiring violent smugglers to get them across. But you can 

be sure that the hundreds of thousands of criminal aliens who will 

be barred from participating in any temporary worker plan will 

continue trying to reenter the United States, as will the millions 

of hyper-violent drug cartels located just across the border. We 

must have the resources in place to defeat them. 

I have frequently heard the argument that the United States 

cannot stop the flow of illegal immigrants and contraband across 

the border. That is wrong. First, while we have increased the presence of Border Patrol agents on the border, we have never had 

nearly enough of them. In 2005, the Border Patrol had 11,268 

agents patrolling over 9,000 miles of U.S. border. That does not 

even compare favorably with the city of New York, which employs 

39,110 police officers to patrol just its five boroughs. 

Until we have an adequate force of Border Patrol agents to protect our borders and have equipped them with the technology and 

infrastructure they need to accomplish the mission, I will not buy 

into the notion that control of our borders is beyond our capability. 

Second, the United States has been slow to make a concerted effort to place strategic fencing and vehicle barriers along the border 

to prevent narcotraffickers, human smugglers and illegal aliens 

from simply crossing the border at will. Much of our border with 

Mexico is simply delineated by a rusty strand of barbed wire that 

has beaten into the dirt by thousands of illegal crossers. 

We know that fences work. The fence in the San Diego sector has 

dramatically reduced illegal immigration and drug trafficking 

across the sector. We must expand our strategic use of pedestrian 

fences and vehicle barriers around urban areas and more remote 

locations that we know are being used by smugglers. This will also 

help prevent confusion about the location of the border and prevent 

Mexican military units and law enforcement officers from inadvertently entering the United States. 

4

Finally, I believe that the United States, like other nations, has 

both the obligation and the right to control its borders. Indeed, it 

is difficult to imagine a more fundamental primary role of government. The Federal Government alone is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the immigration system and for ensuring that 

foreign nationals who would harm our citizens and residents are 

denied entry. That is a great responsibility and we Members of 

Congress must live up to it. 

Senator Feinstein.

STATEMENT OF HON. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I 

would like to thank you and Senator Cornyn for holding this Subcommittee meeting, and I would also like to thank our witnesses 

and I look forward to their testimony. 

I would agree that there are a number of alarming trends we 

have got to address. In response to the increased policing of our 

borders, smugglers are becoming evermore sophisticated and dangerous. Last week, in San Diego, I visited the site of an unbelievable tunnel. That tunnel was eight football fields long, ran half a 

mile from a new, bright, but kept-vacant warehouse in the United 

States under the border to a warehouse in Mexico. 

It went down 60 to 80 feet. It was ventilated, had electricity, and 

contained a rail system to ferry contraband back and forth between 

our countries. I think at the time the Border Patrol found it, it had 

2,000 pounds of marijuana at one end and 300 pounds at the other. 

So that is pretty well-defined evidence as to what it was used for. 

Now, this is just one of 40 border tunnels discovered in the last 

5 years, all but one of them on the southern border. Senator Kyl 

and I have prepared and will introduce legislation later this afternoon to help curb this practice, and I hope that we will act on this 

legislation as soon as possible. 

Above ground, smugglers are also becoming more and more organized, to the extent that we have seen reports of outlaws with military-style uniforms and equipment and even moving in militarystyle formations. Violence against law enforcement agents and local 

residents is on the rise, and so too is illegal immigration of aliens 

other than Mexicans, many from countries of special national security interest. The OTM issue, which I know Senator Cornyn has 

been involved in, and I have as well, has more than tripled in the 

last 2 years. 

Two weeks ago, I met with three of our counterparts in the Mexican Senate—Senators Hernandez and Osuna, of the Mexican Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Cardenas, the vice 

president of the Mexican Senate. I was really very pleased by their 

attitude. They shared my concern about illegal activity on the border. They looked forward to working with the Border Patrol. They 

would like to see a new joint effort formed, and they indicated that 

the uniforms worn on our side of the border were not official Mexican uniforms, but were most likely cartel-designed and inspired 

uniforms. I very much welcome their assurances and I am pleased 

with the concrete advances we have seen in cooperation with the 

Mexican government. 

5

Senator Kyl, I intend to send the President of Mexico and these 

Senators our legislation in hopes that Mexico will then introduce 

legislation making it a Federal Mexican crime to build a tunnel, 

just as our legislation would make it a Federal American crime. I 

didn’t know that we don’t have a Federal criminal penalty for 

building one of these tunnels, and so shortly I hope that we will. 

In November of last year, the Mexican Supreme Court revisited 

a previous decision limiting the extradition of criminals wanted by 

the United States. This led last month to the capture and extradition of Jorge Aroyo Garcia in Michoacan. Now, this gentleman—

he is not really a gentleman, he is a killer—has been wanted since 

2002 for the murder of Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff David 

March. This is indeed good news, because it had become almost 

standard operating procedure that if a Mexican national killed a 

law enforcement officer in this country, they headed across the border and by and large they were not then subject to extradition. 

This is now beginning to change and I would like to commend the 

Mexican government and the supreme court for taking this action. 

Again, I thank the panelists and I look forward to your testimony. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you, Senator Feinstein. 

Senator Cornyn.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN CORNYN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Chairman CORNYN. Thank you, Senator Kyl. As you know, our 

two Subcommittees have done a great deal of work examining all 

aspects of our Nation’s border security and immigration system. In 

past hearings, and in this one as well, the information that we 

have gathered will play an important role in our upcoming debates 

in the U.S. Senate on border security and immigration reform. 

I would like to express my gratitude to the numerous ranchers 

and law enforcement officials who traveled quite a long way to join 

us today. It is good to see you here, and I know that what we will 

be discussing here will have a significant impact on your lives and 

I appreciate your presence. 

Today’s hearing comes on the heels of a well-publicized encounter—actually, a couple of them—in Texas between law enforcement 

officers and organized drug dealers. Capturing this incident on 

video allowed everyone to see the dangers associated with the Federal Government’s continued failure to control our borders. 

While this highly publicized encounter brought attention to the 

problem, border violence has long plagued our Federal and State 

law enforcement officers. In addition to this recent incident, law 

enforcement officers along the border routinely seize guns, ammunition, drugs and illegal aliens. Additionally, Border Patrol agents 

face hundreds of assaults each year. These range from shootings to 

rock-throwings to attempts to run them over. We will hear from 

tenured State and Federal law enforcement officers about strategies they believe will address these problems. 

Unfortunately, however, this danger is no longer limited to our 

law enforcement personnel. Today, we will also hear from Lavoyger 

Durham, a longtime Texas rancher. Mr. Durham has lived and 

worked along the border for decades. He will describe to us how, 

as illegal immigration has increased, so too has the danger, the 

6

threats and the violence to ordinary citizens who happen to live 

and work in the border region. As a matter of fact, movement 

across our border has existed as long as we have had a border, but 

what I am told by my constituents in South Texas and the Rio 

Grande Valley is that the nature of illegal immigration has 

changed completely, given Mexico’s status as a transit point for 

international human smuggling. The situation is unacceptable and 

Congress must act to do everything within its power to end it now. 

Combatting border violence will take a concerted and thoughtful 

effort by all parties involved. That is why I am disappointed that 

the Department of Homeland Security refused my request to send 

a witness to discuss how the Department of Homeland Security receives law enforcement support from Joint Task Force North. I believe it is important that the Federal Government use all of its resources, no matter what the Federal agency is, to gain control of 

the border. 

Joint Task Force North in El Paso is required to support law enforcement efforts designed to deter drug trafficking and alien 

smuggling. The working relationship between the Department of 

Homeland Security and Joint Task Force North is a critical component to the Federal strategies designed to combat border violence. 

There are no simple solutions. The United States shares almost 

2,000 miles of border with Mexico and roughly 4,000 miles with 

Canada. My State alone accounts for the majority of the southern 

border, sharing about 1,285 miles, or 65 percent, of the southern 

border. In 2004, the Border Patrol apprehended 1,139,000 aliens 

along the southern border. In 2005, that number grew to 1,171,000, 

and this year the number has already reached 408,000 and it is 

only March 1. 

I might add, Senator Kyl and Senator Feinstein, I am told by my 

visits to the border—and you may have experienced the same 

thing—that our Border Patrol and law enforcement personnel, notwithstanding the numbers that they have detained, maybe get one 

out of every three or one out of every four people that attempt a 

crossing. 

A problem of this magnitude will not be solved by bumper sticker 

slogans. The Federal Government has ignored our porous border 

for decades—I should say ignored the necessary resources to deal 

with our border for decades, and to restore law and order will require comprehensive enforcement efforts that focus not just at the 

border, but also on interior enforcement in holding employers accountable for illegal hirings. 

The legislation that Senator Kyl and I have introduced tackles 

this problem on every front. It begins by increasing the number of 

the most valuable asset we have, and that is our Border Patrol 

agents. We also call for the use of physical barriers in high-trafficked areas and the use of up-to-date technology, like unmanned 

aerial vehicles and ground sensors that today detect movement 

across the Syrian border into Iraq. We ought to be deploying all of 

the technology that is available to the Federal Government that 

the taxpayers have already paid for to assist our border protection 

officials. This combined approach controls the border by creating a 

virtual fence. Our legislation also streamlines deportation proceedings, requires foreign countries to do their part in combatting 

7

illegal entry, and punishes employers who knowingly hire illegal 

aliens. 

It is not possible to separate the increase in border violence and 

incursions from our broken immigration system. When half a million illegal aliens can come across our border each year, undetected 

and not stopped, it is no wonder that criminals and drug traffickers 

believe that they are somehow immune from the law. Unless and 

until Congress addresses the immigration problem across the 

board, we will continue to experience an unacceptable level of violence along the border. 

Tomorrow, the full Judiciary Committee will begin the debate on 

border security and immigration reform. It won’t be an easy process, but there are few issues of greater significance and greater importance than securing our borders. While there is not yet a consensus on how to address the millions of illegal aliens who already 

live in the United States, there is uniform agreement in the Congress that the Federal Government must do what it takes to 

achieve border security and to end border violence. 

I look forward to today’s testimony and thank each of the witnesses for your contribution. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you, Senator Cornyn. 

Senator Feinstein has some documents to be inserted in the 

record. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I may, I would 

like to enter into the record my letter of February 14 to President 

Vicente Fox asking for his personal attention to the matter of the 

individuals dressed in military uniforms who have penetrated the 

border, and also a copy of the fact sheet produced by the Mexican 

Government on their investigation of this incident and incidents in 

which they conclude that the uniforms, insignia, armament and vehicles that appear on the initial video do not correspond to those 

utilized by the Armed Forces of Mexico. It goes on to say that the 

Under Secretary of North American Affairs, Mr. Gutierez, and Ambassador Icasa, the Mexican Ambassador, have recently met at the 

Embassy in Washington with officials of our Government to discuss 

this matter. 

If I might enter those both in the record? 

Chairman KYL. Without objection. And a letter that I have written to the Secretary of State will be admitted as well, without objection. 

Let’s begin with the first panel, and this is somewhat arbitrary, 

but I think I would like to start with Chief Aguilar and then U.S. 

Attorney Paul Charlton and conclude with Marcy Forman, unless 

the three of you think that is not a good idea. 

All right. Go ahead, Chief Aguilar. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF DAVID AGUILAR, CHIEF, OFFICE OF BORDER 

PATROL, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Good morning, Chairman Kyl, Chairman Cornyn, 

Ranking Member Feinstein. It is a pleasure to be here this morning, and especially with our partner from ICE, Marcy Forman, and 

a true ally, friend and absolutely a great partner in Arizona, Paul 

Charlton, U.S. Attorney. 

8

It is an honor and privilege to be here today to testify on behalf 

of the men and women of Customs and Border Protection in DHS. 

I am especially pleased to be here today to testify on our shared 

interest of security of our Nation, safety of our communities, and 

the safety of our officers as they patrol the borders of our country. 

I welcome the opportunity to testify on the subject of border violence and threats that our officers face in carrying out their duties 

and efforts in securing our country’s borders on a daily basis. One 

of the things that I think we are very familiar with is the dynamics 

of illegal immigration and illegal narcotics trafficking, such that 

criminal organizations typically seek out border areas that will 

support their illegal cross-border smuggling efforts. The organizations will look to base their staging, stashing and jump-off points 

into the United States at locations that have infrastructure to support their smuggling activities. Smugglers have historically exploited urban and populated areas along our border with Mexico. 

While we have made great strides in increasing the levels of control along our border urban areas, we are continuing to resource 

and incrementally gain rate of control of the rural areas of our border with Mexico. Tactical infrastructure, personnel and technology 

become a much greater need and force multiplier. 

The rural areas of our borders pose unique challenges. Vastness, 

remoteness, accessibility and mobility are but a few of the major 

challenges that we face in patrolling and protecting our Nation’s 

rural border areas. A trend that has developed as we continue to 

expand our control of the border is a dramatic increase in border 

violence against our agents. Violence has always been a part of the 

environment in which the men and women of the United States 

Border Patrol operate and is recognized as an inherent part of securing our Nation’s borders. 

In fiscal year ‘05, we experienced 778 assaults against our officers, a 108-percent increase from the previous year. Through January 31 of this fiscal year, we experienced already 200 assaults 

against our officers. I personally attribute this increase in violence 

to the fact that the Border Patrol’s achievements in gaining greater 

and expanded control of our borders has resulted in a greater reluctance of entrenched criminal organizations to give up areas in 

which they have either historically operated in the past or they are 

reluctant to give up areas where they have reestablished themselves as a reaction to our increased urban enforcement area efforts 

that have impacted upon them. 

Our border with Mexico is long, it is vast, and in many cases a 

very remote, sometimes unmarked or poorly delineated border. We 

continue to increase our deployments in remote areas to counter 

and, resources allowing, anticipate criminal organizations’ movements. In the last several weeks, as several of you have spoken 

about, we have seen reporting on past incursions attributed to government of Mexico entities. The reality along our border with Mexico is that there have been incursions into Mexico, incursions by 

both the Border Patrol into Mexico and incursions into the United 

States by government of Mexico entities. 

Border incursions attributed to government of Mexico entities 

into the United States have occurred in both our urban and rural 

areas of operation. This is not a new phenomenon, and while it 

9

does occur, it is a situation that is not taken lightly and it is of 

absolutely high concern to DHS and CBP. We recognize these incidents as having a high potential for serious consequences. In 2001, 

we recorded the highest number of these types of incursions, a total 

of 42. Last fiscal year, we recorded 19. This fiscal year, we have 

already recorded seven incursions through January 31. 

We have worked with and urged the government of Mexico in the 

strongest terms and at the highest levels to investigate and do everything possible to mitigate and keep these incidents from occurring. We have received assurances from the government of Mexico 

that they too take these incidents very seriously, recognize the potential for serious international consequences, and that they are 

taking definitive actions to address them. 

As examples, in the area of Fort Hancock, Texas, where we saw 

the crossing incident of January 23rd, we have now seen Mexican 

soldiers, Mexican military and PGR representatives working to 

deter that kind of activity from happening again. Our chief patrol 

agents are reaching out and meeting with their Mexican military 

counterparts at the general rank levels to better coordinate enforcement efforts and responsibilities along our Nation’s borders. 

The Federal Mexican Police Force has deployed approximately 

300 officers in an effort to curtail border violence and illegal activities from Tijuana to Mexicali, and the PGR is now working in coordination with the Border Patrol sector chiefs in San Diego, Laredo and Rio Grande Valley sectors to target prosecution and deterrence efforts along our Nation’s borders. 

We have seen definitive actions taken on the part of the Mexican 

government to address these international concerns. Now, the one 

thing that I will state is that I do not want to in any way minimize 

the seriousness of each and every one of these incursion incidents, 

but I also do not want to leave the impression that our borders are 

under siege by government of Mexico entities or individuals attempting to pass themselves off as government of Mexico representatives. 

In those instances where these individuals have been observed 

engaged in illegal activity, regardless of their apparel, regardless of 

their equipment or their motor transportation, they are plain and 

simply criminals. They are criminals that both countries must do 

everything we can to stop them from exploiting our borders, making our communities unsafe, and detracting from our ability to protect America’s borders from those that would bring harm to our 

homeland. 

I want to thank the Subcommittees specifically for not allowing 

the high media profile of recent incursion incidents to overshadow 

the seriousness and the nature and threats our front-line officers 

and agents face on the border in the form of rockings, assaults and 

shootings on an ongoing basis. 

I understand that at this time you have graciously asked us to 

show a couple of slides relative to the types of assaults that our officers get. I would like to refer to a couple of the screens. I believe 

there is one for the audience and one up here. 

This first one speaks to the increase of assaults on our Border 

Patrol officers and our officers at the ports of entry: in fiscal year 

10

‘04, 374; in fiscal year ‘05, 778. At our ports of entry, it went from 

129 to 165. This is at the ports of entry. 

Go to the next one, please. 

This graph basically shows the elevated nature of the assaults 

against our officers; already in fiscal year 2006, at the end of January, 200. 

Go to the next one, please. 

This one depicts the type of assaults that our officers suffer: 

rocking assaults, 98; physical assaults, 48. Vehicle assaults where 

they are being overrun, firearms and weapons and other types of 

assaults that happen on a daily basis out there amount to 18. 

Go to the next one. 

This is not a pretty picture. The upper left-hand corner is the 

backside of an officer, lower back—you will see the bruising there—

that was hit by a rock. This is in San Diego. The middle section 

depicts the inside of a vehicle of an officer in Douglas, Arizona, that 

took a rock through the driver’s side window. You can see the 

blood, you can see the broken window and the damage done. 

The lower left-hand side corner is going to be what we now refer 

to as a Molotov rock. It is a rock wrapped in cloth, soaked in some 

kind of fuel, lit and chunked at our officers. This is happening in 

San Diego, in El Centro sectors, and in El Paso. 

The middle section is one of our officers that took a rock to the 

side of his head, a very serious situation. And the last one in the 

lower right-hand corner is an incident that happened the latter 

part of January in El Paso sector, Deming Station, 25 stitches to 

take that cut and suture it up. 

Now, the reason we put this forth—go to the next one, I believe—

the reason we put those slides up is because there needs to be an 

understanding that when our officers take actions that result in 

very serious consequences, the American public, I think, needs to 

understand the environment in which we operate. 

This one here is the inside of a vehicle, one of our Border Patrol 

vehicles. Those are trajectory rods. You will see that they go into 

the passenger side of our Border Patrol vehicle. Had we had a Border Patrol agent as a passenger, that officer would not be with us 

today. 

The middle section is the actual x-ray of the leg of one of our officers that was shot in June, in Nogales, Arizona, Senator Kyl—two 

officers shot, very serious, still going through rehabilitation, both 

are, and we are hoping to get them back on duty within a year or 

so. 

The others depicts rounds, trajectory rods, shots at our vehicles; 

in one incident in El Centro, California, 23 rounds taken from an 

AR–15 into our vehicles. Luckily, our officer was able to be pulled 

out of that area. So, again, it just shows the sense of the situation 

as to what our officers are facing out there on a daily basis. 

Technology, tactical infrastructure and personnel are the answers to securing our Nation’s borders. The Secretary recently announced DHS’s Security Border Initiative, now known as SBI Net. 

I am confident that this innovative and, as Senator Cornyn pointed 

out, comprehensive approach is going to be what brings us a solution that we are looking for. 

11

I thank the Subcommittees and would look forward to any questions that you might have of me. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Aguilar appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman KYL. Chief Aguilar, thank you very much for that very 

definitive testimony. We appreciate it. 

U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton. 

STATEMENT OF PAUL CHARLTON, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, 

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA, PHOENIX, ARIZONA 

Mr. CHARLTON. Chairman Kyl, Chairman Cornyn, Ranking Member Feinstein, good morning. My name is Paul Charlton. I am the 

United States Attorney for the District of Arizona and I am the 

Chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee for the 

Border and Immigration Subcommittee, composed of a group of 

United States Attorneys from around the country that advise the 

Attorney General on border-related issues. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning, and thank 

you as well for bringing attention to this very serious subject of 

border violence. As you know, it is an issue that affects residents 

from Brownsville to San Diego. 

As the President said in his speech in November of last year, in 

Tucson, Arizona, securing our border is essential to securing the 

homeland. Arizona has a 370-mile border with the Republic of Mexico, and in fiscal year 2005 approximately 577,000 illegal aliens 

were apprehended by the Border Patrol. That means that almost 

50 percent of all illegal aliens who were apprehended by the Border 

Patrol in the United States were apprehended in Arizona alone. 

Chief Aguilar has already testified to the growing increases in 

assaults that are taking place nationwide on Border Patrol agents. 

I would like to, if I may, focus on the District of Arizona, an area 

that I am most familiar with, and begin with the most serious of 

offenses, homicides, and the most serious and the most vivid of 

those that I remember is the August 2002 killing of Kris Eggle, a 

National Park Service ranger who was a scholar, an athlete, an 

Eagle Scout, the son of a school teacher, the son of a Vietnam War 

veteran, and who was serving his country defending the border in 

August of 2002 when narcotraffickers crossed the border and executed him. We recently obtained the third in a series of convictions 

against the killers of Alexander Kirpnick, a Border Patrol agent 

who died defending the border in Arizona. He himself was an immigrant to this country. 

But recently we have seen a more disturbing trend, and that is 

a greater degree of sophistication and development on behalf of 

those individuals who would harm or kill our Federal law enforcement officers defending the border. Chief Aguilar just referred to 

and showed you a picture of an injury that took place in June of 

2005 with a Border Patrol agent. That even took place near the 

area of Nogales, Arizona, Senator Kyl, I know an area that you are 

very familiar with. 

Two Border Patrol agents were patrolling there when they believed that they saw a stash of narcotics. Two shooters using highpowered rifles shot at and wounded both of those Border Patrol 

agents. What was sophisticated and more developed about this 

12

event was that the shooters used extraordinary accuracy and 

showed some degree of trade craft as they retreated from the area, 

covered each other and went to their escape across the other line 

and back into Mexico. That event repeated itself almost exactly last 

month, although fortunately this time the Border Patrol agents escaped without injury. 

Now, assaults and violence don’t necessarily have to involve Federal officers as victims, nor do they have to involve the use of firearms. Last February, we obtained the convictions of two individuals, Jose Luis Zepeda-Cruz, a smuggling guide, and Jimir Valle 

Martinez, who was taking a load of 15 illegal aliens through the 

small town of Sierra Vista in a truck at extraordinary rates of 

speed, sometimes surpassing 100 miles per hour. 

And as they were going through this town of Sierra Vista, they 

ran a red light and crashed directly into a vehicle containing newlyweds and they killed the newlyweds. They killed three of the illegal aliens who were in the vehicle. They killed the unborn child of 

another illegal alien. These smugglers think nothing of the individuals that they are moving into the United States. They care nothing for the lives of the Federal officers. They care nothing for innocent bystanders. 

Now, we have also seen another disturbing trend that has been 

developing, and that is what is called in Spanish bajalores; that is, 

individuals who will take part in a rip-off or a hijacking of a rival 

smuggling organization. The most dramatic event that I can remember took place in November of 2003, when rival smuggling 

groups along Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix attempted 

to steal a load of illegal aliens one from the other in a running gun 

battle that covered three miles. During that event, four individuals 

were killed and a number of innocent bystanders were injured. 

Again, it doesn’t have to be Federal agents, it doesn’t have to be 

innocent bystanders. These smugglers care nothing for anybody, including the aliens they move into the United States. We have a 

number of cases right now that we are processing in which smugglers assaulted and threatened to kill the illegal aliens that they 

brought into the United States and were holding hostage. We have 

cases in which these individuals were assaulted with weapons, cut, 

had their teeth kicked in, or were raped. Smugglers are on a daily 

basis violently and ruthlessly exploiting human beings. 

What are we doing in response? We are working very closely 

with our Federal, State, local and tribal law enforcement partners. 

We are integrally involved in the Arizona Border Control Initiative, 

an initiative led by the Border Patrol, but involving all levels of 

law enforcement, to attack the problem of illegal immigration, 

smuggling of narcotics and human beings, and the violence that is 

associated with those crimes. 

We hope to soon stand up a border enforcement security task 

force which seeks to duplicate the success of Operation Blackjack 

that took place in Laredo, Texas, where a diverse group of law enforcement officials sought to diminish cross-border crime. 

We have a zero-tolerance policy as it relates to assaults on Federal officers. Simply put, if you assault a Federal officer, you will 

be prosecuted. And we are seeking to focus our resources on those 

most violent offenders, hostage-takers. In 2002, we prosecuted one 

13

case. In 2003, we prosecuted six cases. In 2004 and 2005, we now 

have 32 hostage-taking cases against these most violent offenders 

with multiple defendants. 

Senators, thank you again for this opportunity to bring this matter to your attention and for your interest in this important issue. 

I stand ready to answer any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Charlton appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman KYL. Thank you very, very much, Paul Charlton. 

And now Marcy Forman. 

STATEMENT OF MARCY M. FORMAN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Ms. FORMAN. Thank you and good morning, Chairman Cornyn, 

Chairman Kyl, Ranking Member Feinstein. Thank you very much 

for having me. I am the Director of ICE in Washington, D.C. It is 

an honor for me to testify before you to discuss how ICE combines 

its immigration and customs authorities to attack the violence on 

the border. 

Before coming to Washington, I spent nearly 19 years in Texas, 

even though with my New York accent you may not believe that, 

but 19 years in Texas supervising international drug smuggling 

and money laundering investigations. During this time, I supervised the major drug money laundering investigation involving the 

former deputy attorney general from Mexico which revealed that he 

had taken $9 million in drug bribes. 

In addition, I oversaw some of the largest drug investigations on 

the border while I was in Houston, Texas, one called Operation 

Produce that resulted in the conviction of 16 drug smugglers, the 

seizure of over 1,700 kilos of cocaine and over 5,500 kilos of marijuana. 

During my time in Texas, I thought I saw a lot, but what we are 

seeing today along the border is much worse and much more violent. In response, the Department of Homeland Security established the Border Enforcement and Security Task Force, simply 

known as BEST. We have made Laredo, Texas, ground zero for our 

fight against the smugglers, both human and drug smuggling. 

Through BEST, we partner with Federal, State and local law enforcement officials to bring their authorities and expertise to the 

table. 

We focus our efforts by utilizing intelligence to drive and 

prioritize our targets. Just last week, I was in Laredo, Texas, and 

saw firsthand how ICE agents, along with ATF and FBI agents, 

work side by side with the Laredo Police Department in the BEST 

task force to combat this violence. 

Our work is already paying off. On January 26, BEST task force 

agents conducted a series of raids after one of the targets sold a 

fully automatic AK–47 assault rifle and a small amount of cocaine 

to an undercover ICE agent. During the next 11 days, the BEST 

task force raided three locations and arrested two subjects. What 

you see in front of you are actual pictures of what we took off the 

street—fully automatic assault weapons, 10 live hand grenades, 9 

14

pipe bombs and parts to create over 50 hand grenades, along with 

illegal drugs. That is a lot of fire power that was taken off the 

streets of Laredo, Texas. 

Senator Cornyn, I would like to thank you for your support of the 

Laredo Police Department. They have been instrumental in the 

success of our BEST task force. 

We have seen violence with human smuggling and trafficking organizations in Arizona. They commit murder, extortion, kidnapping, rape and home invasion. ICE’s response to the violence in Arizona was Operation Ice Storm. During this operation, ICE worked 

side by side with local law enforcement officers in Phoenix and 

Tucson to stem the violence associated with human smuggling and 

trafficking. 

Since 2003, ICE investigations into human smuggling and trafficking have resulted in more than 5,400 arrests, 2,800 criminal indictments and 2,300 criminal convictions related to the human 

smuggling and trafficking of individuals. Many of these impact the 

southwest border. 

The threat of violence continues all along the border. A recent example is the incident that has been dubbed by the press as a military incursion in Hudspeth County, Texas. Based upon our investigation of the incident, ICE cannot conclude that this constituted 

an incursion into the U.S. by members of the Mexican military. 

However, we can conclude that these criminals were willing to 

cross the border to engage in illegal activity on American soil. 

In some cases, our increased enforcement efforts have driven the 

smugglers underground, literally. January 24th, we uncovered a 

tunnel equipped with lighting, ventilation and cement flooring after 

ICE agents in San Diego, working with CBP and DEA agents, provided information to Mexican law enforcement officials, who then 

discovered a tunnel entrance in Tijuana, Mexico. 

I have brought with me pictures of this tunnel, which extended 

nearly half a mile to a warehouse in the United States. Both ICE 

agents and Mexican law enforcement seized a combined total of 

4,300 pounds of marijuana on both sides of the border. 

Everything I have described today leads me to the lifeblood of 

these criminal organizations—the money. ICE agents have over 30 

years of expertise in investigation of financial crimes. In August 

2005, ICE partnered with CBP and the State Department to train 

our Mexican counterparts on the methods used to smuggle currency from profits derived primarily from human smuggling and 

drug trafficking. Working together, our Mexican counterparts have 

seized over $23 million in cash and negotiable instruments for violations of Mexican law. 

We have been successful in the U.S. During fiscal year 2005, ICE 

investigations have resulted in the seizure of nearly $1 billion in 

currency and assets tied to illegal activity. Our agents and officers 

know the risks, they know the threats, and we know how to combat 

them. Our work is contributing to a more secure border. 

The men and women of ICE are grateful to serve the American 

people, and on their behalf I thank you all. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you very much. The tunnel that you are 

referring to is the upper left-hand chart and photograph, is that 

not correct? 

15

Ms. FORMAN. That is correct. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Forman appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman KYL. Well, let me begin. This is an astonishing picture 

of violence and crime at our border that has been escalating, and 

the first misunderstanding that I have perceived from some in the 

media is the concept that we have increased our Border Patrol and 

infrastructure on the border, but crime and violence have increased. Therefore, more law enforcement at the border is not the 

answer. 

Now, I can understand the fallacy behind that. But, Chief 

Aguilar and others on the panel, would you like to address that 

specifically? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Yes, sir. One of the dynamics that we are facing 

is what I refer to as the entrenchment of these criminal organizations in areas where they have historically operated in the past, 

and in some areas with impunity where they have controlled areas. 

With the adding resourcing and with the added equipment that we 

have had, we have been able to expand our operations along our 

Nation’s borders, in Arizona, for example, and in Texas, where we 

are now working much more efficiently and much more effectively 

in areas that in the past we just couldn’t get to, or if we got to 

them, we were merely a nuisance to some of these criminal organizations. 

At the point that we are a nuisance is when the violence continues to escalate, until we become an overwhelming force to them 

and force them to no longer operate with the levels of impunity 

that they did in the past. What will happen is that they will move 

over to another area of operation because, as we stated, this is a 

vast border area. 

We are just now at the point where we are getting resourced to 

the degree that as our maturation process continues, we are able 

to anticipate where these criminal organizations are moving to. 

And, fortunately, I think we are now able to anticipate where to 

place some of these resources. 

Chairman KYL. So would it be fair to say that in the past there 

has been a lot of criminal activity that you, simply because you 

didn’t have the resources, were not able to interdict; that as you 

have gained the resources, you have moved in on their territory, 

caused them more problems, as a result of which they have reacted 

violently, and that with more resources you will be able to continue 

to shut this activity down? Is that a quick summary? 

Mr. AGUILAR. That is absolutely a very accurate statement, yes, 

sir. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you. Do either of the other two of you 

want to add to that? Mr. Charlton. 

Mr. CHARLTON. Senator, I would just add that during Operation 

Ice Storm which Ms. Forman referenced, the homicide rate in 

Phoenix decreased dramatically. Phoenix police officers indicate 

that that statistic was in large part due to the fact that Ice Storm 

was in place and that special agents were on the ground reducing 

the number of hostage-taking events that took place. So you are 

correct when you say that there is going to be an initial increase 

16

in violence, but once you put sufficient resources on the ground, violence will decrease. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you. 

Ms. Forman. 

Ms. FORMAN. Senator, if I may add, I mean certainly you do 

more with more, and ICE’s approach working with our partners at 

CBP and State and local law enforcement is to go after those organizations. Normally, there is a displacement effect once you succeed 

and they move somewhere else. But with more coverage, we are 

able to dismantle and disrupt many of these organizations. 

Chairman KYL. Great. Thank you. 

Just my last question here: With regard to the incursions by 

Mexican governmental officials, Chief Aguilar, you indicated that 

there were some, not very many, but I forgot the exact number. 

And you have investigated those and had some cooperation from 

the Mexican government with respect to those. 

What is the usual situation that occurs where you actually have 

Mexican governmental officials involved in an incursion? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Of the ones that we have detained and apprehended that we have been able to clearly identify as Mexican government officials, the vast majority of those have been accidental, 

even though I must qualify that even in some of those accidental 

incursions there have been serious things occur, as in the example 

that we used in El Paso. It was an accidental incursion into the 

United States by Mexican military. Unfortunately, there were 

founds fired at our officers because the Mexican military believed 

that they were still on the Mexican side and were firing at criminal 

organizations. 

Chairman KYL. So there is a significant danger associated when 

military units face each other because they have both got weapons. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Yes, sir, absolutely. 

Chairman KYL. One final thing. Are you aware of the incursion 

by a Mexican governmental helicopter over in the area of Yuma, 

Arizona, or San Luis not too long ago? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Yes, sir. That was about a week-and-a-half ago. 

Chairman KYL. Can you tell us about that? 

Mr. AGUILAR. It made an incursion of about half a mile. It lasted 

for about 15 to 20 minutes. A couple of things happened simultaneously. Our Border Patrol agents actually saw it, called it in. Our 

AMOC over in California, in Riverside, picked it up and were able 

to immediately contact the Mexican embassy and identify it as 

such. Radio contact was made and it made back into Mexico very 

quickly, again the Mexican government assuring us that it was an 

accidental incursion. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you very much. 

Senator Feinstein. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you very much. 

Chief, which are the most active cartels on the border? Obviously, Ariano Felix, but other than that? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Right. The ones that are most problematic to us 

right now from a violence perspective are the Sinaloa and the Gulf 

cartels that are basically operating within the Novo Ladelo area of 

operation. I will leave it to my counterpart here from ICE to go into 

more detail on that, but those are the ones that are actually warVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:37 Sep 08, 2006 Jkt 028338 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\28338.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
17

ring factions that are causing some of the violent escalations that 

are occurring. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Ms. Forman, do you want to comment on 

that? 

Ms. FORMAN. Yes. It’s the Gulf cartel and the Alliance Federation 

cartel competing with each other, and both are extremely violent. 

I mean, compare it to the organized crime days in New York where 

they were competing for turf and for territory, and the brutality is 

unimaginable, what they are involved in. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. If the penetration by these pseudo-military 

people is cartel-inspired, which I think the facts would lead us to 

believe, what is being done between our two governments to develop a regional approach to this and to really move in make the 

necessary arrests in Mexico? 

Ms. FORMAN. If I could address that, we work closely with the 

Mexican government at all levels, at the Federal and State levels. 

We work with specialized groups side by side to address these 

issues and to work against these drug cartels, as well as the 

human smuggling cartels. We have ICE representatives in our attache offices working with the local government on a daily basis to 

address a number of these issues, and we have a number of task 

force operations where we are working with the Mexican government. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Yes, but this has been now increasing for 3 

years. What cartel arrests have been made in Mexico to deal with 

this? 

Ms. FORMAN. I will have to get back with you on the specifics of 

those arrests. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Chief, do you know of any? 

Mr. AGUILAR. There have been some. Unfortunately, I don’t have 

the numbers or the individuals in front of me, but we will get those 

back to you. Now, the one thing I would like to address is real-time 

things that are occurring right now as we speak. 

The Federal Preventive Police in Mexico, the PGR, is working 

with us in very focused areas of the border, where they are operating in Mexico and we are operating, of course, in the U.S. to 

deter some of these situations that are occurring. San Diego—you 

just met with Chief Griffin about a week-and-a-half ago—is working very closely with the PGR and the PFP to include a lot of his 

area south in Mexico. In Laredo, Texas, we have got the same kind 

of relationship built up now as of about 2 weeks ago, and the same 

thing in the Rio Grande Valley sector in South Texas, deep South 

Texas. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Is there currently any joint Mexican-American border patrol effort with the sharing of intelligence on the tunnels, which I suspect are also moving weapons back and forth as 

well, particularly from the United States? Is there any indication 

that high-powered sniper rifles like the 50-caliber are turning up 

on the border? 

Mr. AGUILAR. We have had information that I am aware of. I do 

not believe we have detained any 50-caliber weapons. We have 

some intelligence to that degree. As far as joint operations, there 

is a lot of intelligence-sharing that is occurring especially at the 

ICE level and at the Border Patrol level in the field. 

18

Senator FEINSTEIN. But is there any precise working unit, binational unit? 

Ms. FORMAN. I mean, we have task forces where there is—— 

Senator FEINSTEIN. That wasn’t my question. Of Border Patrol? 

Mr. AGUILAR. No. The closest thing that Mexico has to a border 

patrol is going to be the Policia Federal Preventiva, the PFP. They 

used to have a component of that that was actually Border Patrolcomparable. It went away about four or 5 years ago while I was 

the chief in Tucson. They were very effective. 

We are actually working toward that with Mexico right now. It 

is still at the informal stages. It has not been formed to the degree 

that I think both countries want to see, but we are trying to move 

in that direction. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. This is just my view, but I was so heartened 

by the meeting I had with the Mexican senators. It was the first 

time I have really seen a willingness to want to work together, and 

I think it would be just excellent if that effort could be put together 

and there could be a binational effort so that the Mexicans would 

really buy into this. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Senator, if I may, I think it is important to make 

this statement. In my almost 28 years of service, this is the best 

we have ever seen Mexico step up to the plate and do something 

along their border. A lot more needs to be done; absolutely, a not 

more needs to be done. 

Right now, we are at the point that Mexico is being responsive 

and reactive to our call-outs. We need to get to the point where we 

are proactive and we are preemptive, and I think that is what you 

would like to see happening and I believe that that is what we are 

moving toward. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. That is excellent. Thank you very much. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you, Senator Feinstein. 

We are joined by Senator Sessions, and Senator Cornyn is next 

and if you could take the Chair briefly while I step out, I would 

appreciate it. 

Senator CORNYN [presiding]. I would be happy to. 

Ms. Forman, what is the role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Hudspeth County investigation? Can you please 

provide us with an update? 

Ms. FORMAN. ICE is the lead Federal investigator for this incident and we are in the process of pursuing leads. It is an ongoing 

investigation and right now we are looking at it as primarily a narcotics investigation so we can identify those that are involved in 

this incident to see if, in fact, they were truly Mexican military officials. 

Chairman CORNYN. We have a number of sheriffs from Texas, 

and also we have a sheriff from Arizona that is going to testify, and 

obviously their jurisdictions are located along the border. 

Is there anything that you believe that we can do—and I am 

talking about Congress and I am talking about the Federal Government—to provide additional support for local law enforcement officials and to further integrate them into the overall law enforcement efforts along the border? 

19

Ms. FORMAN. Historically, ICE, with their legacy components, 

have worked very closely with State and local law enforcement, and 

it is very important that those partnerships continue and strengthen. 

I know many of these sheriff’s offices have very few personnel. 

So working with them and supplementing them with the Federal 

personnel at the ICE level and at CBP certainly will make them 

stronger, in addition to additional technology so we all have the capability of speaking to each other with the same quality of technology. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, I know there are—I think they are 

called 287(g) partnerships that exist between Federal law enforcement officials and local law enforcement officials. Do you see room 

to grow in terms of perhaps Congress providing additional funds 

and additional training and additional support for local law enforcement to help them further supplement the efforts of Federal 

law enforcement along the border? 

Ms. FORMAN. Absolutely. 287(g) is a powerful tool. Currently, 

ICE has memorandums of agreement with 5 police departments 

throughout the United States. We have two pending and eleven 

more requests. I think it is important that we make that an opportunity and make that available to State and locals, with the appropriate technology that goes along with it as well as the ICE resources to work together side by side with them. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, I am glad to hear your answer. Obviously, this is a Federal responsibility, and local and State law enforcement are having to step up because unfortunately the Federal 

Government has not provided the human and technological resources necessary for the Federal authorities to do the job. So it 

just makes sense that we would support local and State law enforcement the desire to be involved in any way that we can through 

training and additional funding, and obviously in a coordinated effort. 

Chief Aguilar, I mentioned in my opening statement Joint Task 

Force North that is located at El Paso, as you know. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Yes, sir. 

Chairman CORNYN. This is a Department of Defense task force, 

and I understand that it has supported the Department of Homeland Security on a number of joint border security operations. For 

example, Operation Winter Freeze, Operation San Juan, Operation 

Western Vigilance are all examples of the Joint Task Force North 

supporting the Border Patrol, which is the lead Federal agency. 

Historically, of course, we haven’t had the Department of Defense taking the lead because of a variety of reasons, some legal 

and some policy judgments. And I certainly don’t believe that the 

Department of Defense should take the lead. I believe they should 

be supportive of the law enforcement agencies like the Border Patrol and ICE. 

But I worry that we are not seeing the same sort of commitment 

by the Federal Government when it comes to supporting Federal 

law enforcement along the border that we provide to our war-fighters through funding and through access to technology through 

funding for the Department of Defense. 

20

The Department of Defense has a homeland defense responsibility. Obviously, the civilian agency, the Department of Homeland 

Security, has a law enforcement function. But they are all paid for 

by the Federal taxpayer and I would like to see development of a 

joint interagency task force in El Paso—in other words, like we 

have in Florida—where we see all assets of the Federal Government, all agencies of the Federal Government who are concerned 

with law enforcement and border security—that we make sure they 

are operating in a coordinated effort and that all assets that are 

available even to the war-fighter in the Middle East or Afghanistan—more UAVs, more ground sensors and the like—that those 

are supplied to our border protection efforts. 

Could you comment on where we are now and where you would 

like to see us go in that connection? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Absolutely. Senator, I can only speak, because that 

is what we are getting from DOD, in very glaringly positive terms 

about JTF North and DOD. Now, could we use more help? Absolutely, yes. 

JTF North, besides the operations that you just mentioned, has 

been very, very supportive of us. In fiscal year ‘05, they supported 

us with 49 specific missions, everything from sensor technology to 

flying some UAVs for us, building infrastructure, building roadways, fences and things of this nature that are a tremendous force 

multiplier. 

For fiscal year ‘06, we have approximately 240 mission requests 

outstanding for fiscal year ‘06, of which several are ongoing as we 

speak. I don’t know how many they are going to be able to actually 

source for us because of the two-theater war that we are fighting 

as a Nation. In 2007, we again have over 250 mission requests for 

them. They work very hard to get us what we need, and when we 

do get their support it serves as a tremendous force multiplier for 

us. 

As we speak, the border infrastructure system in San Diego, for 

example—they do a tremendous amount of work for us in building 

the triple fencing, setting up the camera sites and things of that 

nature. The relationship is very, very positive. 

Two weeks ago, one of my senior associate chiefs sat down with 

the National Guard bureau commanders here in Washington, D.C., 

to brief them up on our National strategy, our rationale for the way 

we do business and our path forward, if you will. The reason for 

that was to do just as you explained, to create some synergy between what they have available to them—this, of course, in an informal manner—and then apply that in support of our National 

strategy. We are working toward that end. I myself will be meeting 

with the National Guard commander here very soon to cement that 

effort. 

But anything that the DOD can do for us is a tremendous asset, 

a tremendous asset, especially in the way of building infrastructure, giving us the ability to even get to some of our border areas 

that in the past we just didn’t have any means of getting to, building roadways and things of this nature. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, I appreciate your response. Yesterday, 

I met with Secretary Paul McHale, who is the—I believe his title 

is Under Secretary for Homeland Defense at the Department of DeVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:37 Sep 08, 2006 Jkt 028338 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\28338.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
21

fense, and he was very forthcoming in terms of the support that he 

said the Department of Defense was willing to offer to the Department of Homeland Security, although they made clear their primary mission was war-fighting. 

But there are many more assets available to the Federal Government and I think should be made available along the border other 

than those that are currently dedicated to the Department of 

Homeland Security and the Border Patrol. And I am glad to say 

that Senator Sessions and I serve on the Armed Services Committee, and speaking for myself I intend to make sure that we push 

very hard to make sure that there is the kind of cooperation which 

you have already indicated has been indicated but which is not yet 

there. For example, I understand there is only a single UAV available to the Department of Homeland Security now. We need to fix 

that problem. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you, Senator Cornyn. 

Senator Sessions. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JEFF SESSIONS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

THE STATE OF ALABAMA 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this hearing. I 

have been watching with some concern the reports in the papers 

about violence at the border and I couldn’t be more pleased that 

the Chairmen have called this hearing to air that problem. 

I feel very much that we have a responsibility to our agents that 

are out there. We have a couple of responsibilities, I believe. First 

and foremost is to make sure that they are supported and that they 

are not subjected to violence, and that we can protect them from 

that and we can do better job and we have to do a better job. We 

can’t ask people to go out and put their lives at risk and not be 

able to protect them. 

Second, I believe we owe them a commitment that we are going 

to enforce the law, that they are not out there by themselves in a 

hopeless effort, that nobody cares, that we really don’t want the 

law enforced and that we are just going through some sorts of motions, oftentimes placing them at personal risk that suggests that 

we are not serious about it. So I think there is a growing consensus 

in our Congress that we need to have a lawful immigration system. 

Mr. Charlton, as U.S. Attorney for 12 years in Arizona, you have 

come to have an affinity for the law, a pride in the law, and a belief 

that in your district you enforce the law. Is it troubling to you that 

on a wholesale scale, you are having, what, 575,000 people arrested 

in your State, and obviously many more not being arrested, and 

that it appears from the surface that we really don’t have a very 

lawful area there? 

Would you share with us your thoughts as the chief law enforcement officer, I guess, in the State of Arizona, how you feel about 

a circumstance like that? 

Mr. CHARLTON. Thank you, Senator. I know as a former U.S. Attorney yourself, you understand the responsibilities that are involved in these issues. As you indicated, there are approximately 

577,000 individuals who were apprehended by the Border Patrol 

along the Arizona border. And as I indicated earlier, that repVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:37 Sep 08, 2006 Jkt 028338 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\28338.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
22

resents approximately 50 percent of all the illegal aliens who were 

detained in the whole of the United States detained in Arizona 

alone. That is an extraordinary responsibility for the men and 

women in law enforcement there. 

It is an extraordinary responsibility for the prosecutors in our office who work very hard to move those cases through the system. 

And they do an extraordinary job, Senator. I think you would be 

very proud if you saw the caseloads that these people were carrying. It is of grave concern to us and we are working very hard 

to address the issue. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, I would like to proceed in a moment and 

follow through how cases are typically handled and what those 

challenges are. But I agree; 577,000 apprehensions indicates that 

somebody is working hard. And they are not out there doing that 

at nine o’clock in the morning. A lot of times it is at 2 a.m. and 

that kind of thing that people are doing the work to protect the 

laws of the United States and our borders. So I salute them. 

I just believe we need to be sure that they know and we are committed to backing them up, and that this has meaning; it is not a 

meaningless exercise. I don’t know how you maintain the morale 

that you do. You apparently have pretty good morale, but it seems 

too much like the old days of the revolving doors. People would arrest people and they were released the next day, and years would 

go by before they had a trial and then they got probation and you 

wondered why you went through the process. We have changed 

that as a country and crime has dropped by half, nearly. We have 

made tremendous progress and I think we can do that here. 

With regard to the local police, you have mentioned, Ms. Forman, 

the 287(g) agreements. I believe that is the agreement you signed 

with the State of Alabama that you have been referring to. 

Ms. FORMAN. Yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. How many more of those are in existence in 

the country today? 

Ms. FORMAN. We have 11 requests pending and we have 2 requiring signature that will be forthcoming. So that will be a total 

of approximately 18 in place. 

Senator SESSIONS. So that will total 18 in place? 

Ms. FORMAN. Yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, wouldn’t you agree that is a pretty small 

effort? 

Ms. FORMAN. I can tell you that we have an aggressive recruitment effort out there. We have 26 special agent-in-charge offices. 

We have instructed our special agent-in-charge offices to go meet 

with their State and local representatives, let them know what 

287(g) is and see what their interests are. 

Senator SESSIONS. And basically this allows local law enforcement officers to be trained and to be able to participate voluntarily. 

There is not any mandate on them, but if they choose to be able 

to partner with the Border Patrol or ICE to process people they 

may apprehend in the normal course of their business. Is that correct? 

Ms. FORMAN. That is correct. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, I remember about two or 3 years ago 

when we started pushing for this agreement for Alabama, it took 

23

quite a long time. I have got to tell you ICE was dragging their 

feet. Florida and I think Alabama at the time were the only two 

States that signed such an agreement, and now you have got 18, 

which is pretty small. 

I want to know right now, and you tell us directly, do you believe 

this is a good process and are you actively promoting it and seeking 

more law enforcement agencies to participate in this program? 

Ms. FORMAN. Yes, I do believe it is a good program. I believe it 

is also important to make sure that the governing boards of the 

State and local law enforcement officers are also engaged in the 

program and that they support the program, because oftentimes we 

have had a number of other requests where the State and locals 

may make the request, but the governing body may be opposed to 

it for one reason or another. 

Senator SESSIONS. Who is that? Do you mean the mayor? 

Ms. FORMAN. Mayor, Governor. Some have governing councils. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, I think it would be good to know what 

mayors and what Governors wouldn’t support that. But there are, 

I think, 750,000 State and local law enforcement officers. How 

many ICE investigators do you have? 

Ms. FORMAN. There are approximately 5,500 ICE special agent 

investigators. 

Senator SESSIONS. And what about Border Patrol enforcement officers? 

Mr. AGUILAR. 11,300, currently. 

Senator SESSIONS. So you have got about 16,000 Federal officers 

and we have about 750,000 State and local, and I believe it is appropriate for them to participate in this process. 

Would you agree, Mr. Aguilar? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Senator, 287(g) is absolutely a very, very good tool. 

Senator SESSIONS. Now, who promotes that? Is it ICE or is it 

Border Patrol? 

Mr. AGUILAR. 287(g) is managed by ICE, yes, sir. We are the 

beneficiaries of 287(g) when it does occur in a border State area. 

The one thing I would like to add here is that there are certain 

things that are already tried and true that the State, local and 

tribal entities which are absolutely essential from a partnership 

perspective to bring control of the border can do; Operation 

Stonegarden, for example, where the State homeland security directors are able now to utilize some of the grant money to border 

enforcement efforts to support the State, local and tribal entities to 

work in coordination with the Border Patrol in a very focused manner along our Nation’s border with Mexico. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, what happens today in Alabama if a police officer apprehends someone who has had a wreck and they approach them and discover they are in the country illegally? Do you 

know what as a practical matter happens? 

Mr. AGUILAR. In Alabama, we do not have a big presence of Border Patrol, sir, but we would, of course, welcome the call if we happened to receive it. But I believe ICE would be the one that would 

be responsive to that, to those calls. 

Senator SESSIONS. What would ICE do, Ms. Forman? 

Ms. FORMAN. If it is a 287(g) cross-designated, or even if it is not, 

the State and local law enforcement—— 

24

Senator SESSIONS. Let’s say it is not. 

Ms. FORMAN. OK. 

Senator SESSIONS. Just a police officer in a town in Alabama. 

Ms. FORMAN. Seven by twenty-four, ICE oversees the Law Enforcement Support Center that is available 24 hours a day to State 

and local law enforcement officers to call, and it is manned. What 

they get is they will run the individual’s name, the LESC, and they 

will let the individual know—we have eight immigration data 

bases located at the LESC. They will be able to tell whether this 

individual is legal, whether this individual may be a gang member, 

and whatever other history that is contained in that data base. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, if it is somebody that is there illegally, 

what the officers tell me—and I ask them as I travel the State—

is that basically the rule in Alabama was it was 15 or more, we 

might come and pick them up; otherwise, basically don’t bother to 

call. 

Isn’t that the real fact, that you do not even attempt to respond 

to the calls of local law enforcement who, in the course of their normal duties, have apprehended someone who might be here illegally 

for less than a serious felony offense? 

Ms. FORMAN. Senator, I will not agree with that across the 

board. I will tell you that, with 5,500 special agents, we have to 

prioritize, and our prioritization entails national security and public safety, those individuals who are involved in violent crimes, and 

then those individuals who are in this country illegally. 

Senator SESSIONS. I don’t want to argue with you, but I am just 

telling you that is the way it is. Now, we can talk about this any 

way we want to, but the fact is that in most States of this country, 

if people are apprehended by a local law enforcement officer for any 

number of matters and they are determined to be illegally here, 

you don’t respond. I had one officer tell me, well, I would take them 

to Birmingham if they would at least pay me my mileage. 

Will you pay them the mileage to bring them to the ICE headquarters in the State? Is there any plan to do that for the State? 

Ms. FORMAN. I will tell you funding is an issue. 

Senator SESSIONS. What is that? 

Ms. FORMAN. Funding is an issue. 

Senator SESSIONS. So you don’t have the money to do that? 

Ms. FORMAN. Funding is a consideration in terms of what we are 

able to do. 

Senator SESSIONS. And we are not doing that. That is the true 

fact. 

Mr. Chairman, my time has run. I am sorry. 

Chairman KYL. Yes. We are going to do a quick second round. 

The vote is on, and what I would suggest right after I ask this first 

question—Senator Sessions, you might want to hear it, and then 

why don’t you go ahead and vote? And we are going to play tag 

team, as I indicated earlier. 

This problem that Senator Sessions is talking about is not just 

a problem in a State like Alabama, which you might expect 

wouldn’t have a lot of ICE agents. It is a problem in Arizona. It 

happens all the time that police officers are called to a drop house 

or they stop a van and it turns out there are a bunch of illegal immigrants there. And, yes, they are able to do the quick criminal 

25

check, but frequently when they call somebody to take custody of 

the illegal immigrants, there is nobody available. And I think it is 

a matter of resources; it is also a matter of will. 

Now, let me ask you two questions. First of all, in a State that 

is highly impacted like Arizona, for example, wouldn’t it be relatively easy to have a small fleet of old school buses available and 

some officers who could be deputized under the statute to take custody of illegal immigrants and return them, if they are Mexicans, 

to the border, with a response time of maybe 20 or 30 minutes 

maximum so that our police officers don’t have to spend all of their 

time sitting with the illegal immigrants? 

Wouldn’t it be possible in a city like Tucson or Phoenix to have 

this kind of capability available at a relatively low cost? 

Ms. FORMAN. I think the issues again go, Senator, into resources 

in terms of prioritizing our resource usage. Right now, our agents 

are focused on the root of these problems, and that is the criminal 

organizations that bring this—— 

Chairman KYL. I understand that, OK. What I would like from 

you in writing as soon as you can get it to me is what it would take 

in terms of resources to respond to the challenge that Senator Sessions and I have laid out. I have been talking about this for 2 years 

and it seems to me it wouldn’t take very much in the way of resources to have some old school buses and some retired officers who 

could easily be deputized under current statutes to take custody of 

people. 

It diverts resources that are devoted to high-priority in Phoenix, 

Arizona. Phoenix Police Department officials come to me and complain that they show up at a drop house; there are 200 illegal immigrants there or 100 illegal immigrants. And by the way, the person that tipped them off is usually the smuggler because he has got 

another load coming in that night and needs to make room for 

them, and they have already been robbed and sometimes raped. It 

is a bad, bad deal. And yet they have to turn them loose because 

they call ICE and there is just nobody that is immediately available. 

It seems to me to be fairly easy in a place like Arizona. Now, I 

can understand that in a place like Alabama you don’t have as 

much call for them and cost/benefit-wise it is more difficult. So provide for us what it would take in resources, because if you ask, 

Congress is likely to respond by providing the resources because 

this is a serious problem. And it is even more serious with the detention—or the failure to detain the other than Mexicans who, of 

course, are simply released into our society and very rarely show 

up to be removed when their home country finally gets around to 

saying that they will take them back. That is another whole problem. 

But what I have not been able to get from the Department of 

Homeland Security is a commitment to quickly deal with this problem. We are told that in another year we should be able to have 

sufficient detention space available with regard to the other than 

Mexicans. That is not acceptable as far as I am concerned. 

If you want to respond orally, fine. Otherwise, I would appreciate 

it in writing. 

Ms. FORMAN. OK. 

26

Chairman KYL. OK. Now, Chief Aguilar, as you know, the 

Tohono O’odham Indian Tribe is located on the border with Mexico, 

in southern Arizona, and they have been part of our law enforcement community working with the Border Patrol. I know you are 

familiar with them and try to work as closely as possible with the 

Tohono O’odham so they can do their part in securing their part 

of the border. 

How is the Border Patrol responding to the kind of violence that 

is occurring also on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation land? What 

can you tell us about what we can expect there to improve the situation there? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Yes, sir. First of all, the number of Border Patrol 

agents that are not patrolling the Tohono O’odham Nation has 

grown tremendously, about 30 percent in the last couple of years. 

So that augmentation of enforcement resources has helped tremendously. There has been a drop of about 19 percent in the number 

of arrests that are occurring on the Tohono O’odham Nation. 

You will remember, Senator, that the arrests were tremendous 

out there. So a 19-percent drop is, in fact, dramatic. In addition to 

that, we get what we call third-party indicators from the Tohono 

O’odham Nation itself—pursuits that are occurring on the Nation, 

call-outs to the police departments due to illegal alien activity and 

things of this nature. 

We have seen a dramatic drop in those instances. For example, 

when I was there as the chief patrol agent, we were still in the 

process of resourcing. It would not be unusual for the Tohono 

O’odham Police Department to be involved in high-speed pursuits 

on an average of five to eight times a day. We are now seeing it 

averaging about once to twice a week, and sometimes it is even less 

than that. The medical facility on the Tohono O’odham has dropped 

dramatically in the number of medical responses that they have to 

do. 

One of the things that we are looking forward to this coming 

year is because of Congress allocating $35 million specifically to 

Tucson sector, the Tohono O’odham Nation is going to be the beneficiary of what we refer to as a drive-through barrier, a drivethrough barrier almost along the entire length of the Tohono 

O’odham Nation’s border with Mexico, which will be a tremendous 

enforcement resource for us because the biggest problem that we 

have on that Nation is drive-throughs, people driving across that 

border and nothing to stop them. So it is going to mirror kind of 

like what was done on the Oregon Pipe National Forest. That 

dropped almost overnight when that was constructed. 

Chairman KYL. When you say drive-through barrier, you had 

better describe what you are talking about because it is not really 

a drive-through barrier. 

Mr. AGUILAR. No. It is a barrier that is constructed in such a way 

that it does not allow motorized vehicles to basically drive with impunity from Mexico into the United States. Right now, as you 

know, and I think both of you have seen, we literally have a line 

in the sand, nothing that keeps these smugglers out of the Tohono 

O’odham Nation. 

27

So once we put up that drive-through barrier, it will not allow 

that level of illegal traffic to go and come into the Tohono O’odham 

Nation. We expect tremendous results out of that. 

Chairman KYL. These are basically bollards embedded in concrete. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Yes, sir, bollards, rail upon rail and things of this 

nature, yes, sir. 

Chairman KYL. OK, thank you. 

Senator Cornyn. 

Chairman CORNYN. Chief Aguilar—— 

Chairman KYL. Would you excuse me? I had one question for 

Paul Charlton that I don’t want to forget. 

We talk about resources, more Border Patrol agents, more ICE 

agents, and so on. What kinds of problems are created by more law 

enforcement personnel with regard to your job and the rest of the 

tale of the criminal justice system? 

Excuse me. I am sorry. 

Chairman CORNYN. No problem. 

Mr. CHARLTON. We have seen an extraordinary increase in the 

demands upon our office and all of the United States Attorneys’ offices along the Southwest border, Senator, and we have asked the 

Department of Justice to take a look at our resources and the allocations so that they can make a determination as to what kind of 

adjustment needs to be made as a result of the dramatic increase 

in law enforcement so that we can service the agencies that are 

working so hard to impact this problem. 

Chairman KYL. We need to ensure that the court system, the 

public defenders, the jail facilities, the U.S. Attorney complement 

and all of the rest of the parts of the criminal justice system can 

keep up with the increase in the law enforcement agents that we 

have. 

Mr. CHARLTON. Thank you, Senator. 

Chairman KYL. Senator Cornyn, what I am going to do is go vote 

right now. I will make sure they hold it open for you and then 

when I come back, you can take off. 

Senator CORNYN [presiding]. It sounds good. 

Chief Aguilar, the House of Representatives, as I understand it, 

has proposed a 700-mile fence between Mexico and the United 

States. Do you support that 700-mile fence? 

Mr. AGUILAR. What we support, Senator, is going to be a fence 

that we can manage. We should not build a fence that is built just 

for the purposes of building a fence. What we prefer and need as 

a country is a fence that is inclusive of technology and supporting 

infrastructure that can allow the enforcement assets to support 

that fence, because if we build a fence and we cannot access it, we 

cannot get to it, we cannot patrol it appropriately, it will actually 

prove to be beneficial to the smugglers if we are not careful. 

So when we talk about a fence, we need to talk about a comprehensive model, if you will, that sometimes does require a fence. 

At other times, it may require a drive-through barrier. At other 

times, it may require just a combination of technology that will 

give us what the Secretary and we are now calling a 21st century 

fence that will give those eyes and ears on the border. 

28

So I guess a short answer to the 700-mile fence is probably not. 

We need to have those eyes and ears on those 700 miles of border 

that will give us the capability to create the deterrence that we are 

looking for. 

Chairman CORNYN. What I hear you saying is that there is a 

place for strategic physical barriers, including fencing in some appropriate locations to help the Border Patrol manage the flow of 

people across the border in your law enforcement efforts. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Absolutely, yes, sir, and if I may use this as an example, I was talking to Sheriff Larry Dever right before I stepped 

up here. We started the fencing project in Cochise County about 3 

years before I got there in 1999, but it took a maturation process 

and a comprehensive approach of the fences, the technology, the 

cameras, the roadway-building, the bollard-building, and even 

building culverts by the military that got us to where we are today. 

Today, as we speak, our Douglas border patrol station has 

dropped by 43 percent as compared to the year before in the number of apprehensions. Our Wilcox station, also, in Cochise County 

has dropped by over 48 percent. Our Naco station has dropped by 

over 44 percent—the lowest numbers in 10 years. So it is that comprehensive approach. 

And by the way, I don’t want to pass up an opportunity. One of 

the very critical pieces of this is that U.S. Attorney Charlton’s office, speaking to the cost of his office, prosecuted last year 2,300 

felony cases for the Border Patrol, only the Border Patrol, in the 

District of Arizona, and over 1,200 misdemeanor cases. So it is that 

comprehensive approach that really gets us to where we need to go. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, I welcome your response to the question about the 700 miles in fencing. I hate to see us use a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Exactly, yes, sir. 

Chairman CORNYN. And I agree with your description that a 21st 

century virtual fence, a combination of technology and strategically 

placed physical barriers, makes a lot more sense. The problem is 

we built a wall, or even assuming we could accomplish that, we 

would still have problems with the kinds of tunnels that you see 

here, or as someone suggested to me yesterday, if we built a 50-

foot fence or wall around our southern border, then there would be 

an explosion in the demand for 51-foot ladders. 

Mr. AGUILAR. Yes, sir. 

Chairman CORNYN. Ms. Forman, over the detentions of nonMexican nationals come from El Salvador. In 2005, just in the Rio 

Grande Valley alone, there were approximately 20,000 Salvadorans 

detained. Yet, the Department of Homeland Security is not able to 

apply expedited removal proceedings to these illegal aliens because 

of a 17-year-old injunction that prohibits them from applying that 

streamlined process that I can tell you Congress is eager for the 

Department of Homeland Security to use because of that injunction. 

Without going into the specifics of the litigation, can you tell me 

whether the Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to 

revisit that injunction? 

29

Ms. FORMAN. I am aware that the Homeland Security Secretary 

is taking steps to address the injunction. I am not prepared to give 

you the specifics of those at the Department level. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, my understanding in talking to the Attorney General of the United States is that there is litigation being 

planned. I am surprised that an injunction is still in place after 20 

years. It seems to me that injunctions that affect our border security and frustrate the Government’s ability to stop illegal immigration should be more narrowly tailored. So I certainly would support 

an effort to go back to the court and to seek either an elimination 

or a vacation of that injunction, or at the very minimum something 

more narrowly tailored. 

Would you agree with that general proposition? 

Ms. FORMAN. Yes, I would. 

Chairman CORNYN. What we have heard from each of you, I 

think, with regard to what we are doing on, for example, drug 

smuggling—we have seen this tunnel in California that was used 

clearly for illegal drug traffic. 

My understanding is that at the Department of Defense, the 

money that Congress has appropriated, Chief—and maybe you 

would be the best person to respond to this—is primarily related 

to illegal drug traffic. And you may not know the budget of the Department of Defense. I wouldn’t expect you to. 

Mr. AGUILAR. I do not, sir. 

Chairman CORNYN. But I am told by Secretary McHale that Congress needs to provide additional funding to deal with human 

smuggling and not just drug smuggling, the premise of that being 

that what we are seeing is organized crime smuggling or bringing 

across anything and everything that they can make a buck in. 

And they don’t really care—and I think U.S. Attorney Charlton 

mentioned this earlier—they don’t care about the people, they don’t 

care about who gets hurt. They just care about making the money, 

and they will smuggle guns, they will smuggle people, they will 

traffic in human beings, they will bring across weapons of mass destruction, they will smuggle terrorists if they can make money 

doing it. 

Would you agree with that, Chief Aguilar? 

Mr. AGUILAR. Absolutely, sir, and I would absolutely agree with 

Under Secretary McHale’s statement. One of the critical things I 

think here is that we need to take an approach of not anti-alien 

smuggling, not anti-narcotics smuggling, but all threats coming 

across that border. That is what we need to get to and that is that 

virtual fence that we are talking about. 

Chairman CORNYN. Attorney Charlton, would you agree with 

that approach that we need to not just necessarily fund and focus 

on anti-drug traffic, but all of the above? 

Mr. CHARLTON. That is correct, Senator. The issues have now 

merged and become one. The threat of one of violence by all organized crime as they attempt to infiltrate our border, and that is 

where we need to focus our resources. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, I think as Senator Kyl votes and comes 

back and as I go vote, I do believe that—well, let me double-check. 

I was just checking to make sure that we had satisfied the members’ desire to have an opportunity to question this panel. So let 

30

me thank you for your being here and thank you for your service. 

You are performing very important jobs and serving our Nation. 

And I hope you understand that when we criticize—that is, 

Members of Congress criticize the lack of a Federal response, a proportional response to this threat, that we are not directing that 

criticism at you. In fact, you are the solution to the problem. We 

just need to give you more manpower, more men and women, to 

help, and we need to give you the resources and tools that you need 

in order to be successful in the very important job that you have 

undertaken on our behalf. So thank you very much for being here 

today. Thank you for your testimony and your continued service. 

We are going to now move to the second panel and we will take 

a short break while they assemble. 

[The Subcommittees stood in recess from 10:33 a.m. to 10:39 

a.m.] 

Chairman KYL. The Subcommittee hearing will resume. There 

were questions that some of the members of the panel had for the 

first panel that will be submitted for the record so that we can 

move on to our second panel, and I appreciate your indulgence in 

the disruption that we had here. 

On the second panel we will hear, as I said before, from the 

Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, Larry Dever; the Sheriff of Val 

Verde County, Texas, Wayne Jernigan; Lavoyger Durham, the 

manager of the El Tule Ranch in Falfurrias, Texas; and T.J. 

Bonner, who is President of the National Border Patrol Council. 

We are very appreciative that all of you are here. 

Since I don’t have a particular order, maybe I can just start at 

this end of the table and we will move this way, if that would be 

all right with you, Mr. Bonner. You will be the clean-up hitter. 

Let me start with my friend, Larry Dever. Welcome. 

STATEMENT OF LARRY A. DEVER, SHERIFF, COCHISE COUNTY, 

ARIZONA 

Sheriff DEVER. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to 

testify here today. I was here in 1997 testifying before the Foreign 

Relations Committee on border violence, as well, and it seems like 

we are still pretty much mired in the same muck that we were at 

that time, or if anything it is a little bit worse. 

You have heard some interesting testimony about some suggested needs and methods of trying to mitigate the violence that 

is going on down there. I would just like to take a moment and 

read to you from Arizona Sheriffs magazine a quote from the Border Patrol chief of the Tucson sector, at that time Chief Jerald 

Jondall. 

He said, ‘‘Within the last year, we have been mandated by Congress to gain control of that border, and we are going to do that 

along the southern border, whether it is narcotics, illegal aliens, 

terrorists, criminals, or whatever.’’ That, sir, is dated autumn of 

1987. I don’t need to tell you at what juncture we are at today. 

1987 was the year that we first organized the joint narcotics task 

force in Cochise County in response to the cocaine trade that had 

entered that part of the country. Cocaine Alley was the common 

name for that particular corridor. 

31

At that time, there were no DEA agents in Cochise County. 

There was no FBI. The Customs Office of Enforcement had maybe 

4 agents, and Border Patrol possibly a total of 100. Today, the FBI 

is there, DEA is there. Customs has increased many-fold, and there 

are well over 1,200 Border Patrol agents stationed in Cochise 

County. Yet, the violence continues to increase, as you have heard 

here today, and whether that is because of the law enforcement 

presence or in spite of it, nobody can dispute that it has markedly 

increased. 

Twenty to twenty–5 years ago, working along the border in drug 

interdiction, we actually jumped smugglers right on the fence and 

they would just simply give up. Some of them would run back into 

Mexico, but they always dropped their contraband and there was 

no fight to be had. Today, it is just the opposite. We anticipate that 

we will be in a fight, a very violent confrontation in every interdiction effort, with running gun battles down congested public roadways, populated residential areas, high-speed chases. 

Paul Charlton talked earlier about the prosecution of two smugglers who caused a very serious accident, a fatal accident in Sierra 

Vista just recently, driving recklessly in an overloaded truck. Most 

of the vehicles that are used to transport illegals are, in fact, stolen 

from the Tucson and Phoenix areas. They are overloaded and their 

drivers are inexperienced. 

The people-smuggling culture is marked by little, if any, value 

for life or respect for persons or property. One study estimates that 

80 percent of all illegal aliens that enter this country become victims of crime before they ever get here, and that those atrocities 

continue after they cross the border. 

We have come across an interesting phenomenon—or not a phenomenon, a situation where smugglers mark their trails or locations where rape has occurred of one of the illegal aliens being 

smuggled as a sign to others that they must cooperate with the 

smuggler. They hang women’s undergarments in the tree to mark 

that location as a signal of their prowess and their dominance in 

the smuggling environment. 

I mentioned running gun battles, fleeing felons, placing law enforcement officers at great risk, as well as the general public. I 

could tell you of many car-jackings. I was counseled by staff of a 

Congressman yesterday that I shouldn’t talk too much about specific examples of car-jackings because it is so commonplace in the 

Washington area that it wouldn’t carry much weight. 

Well, sir, you will forgive me, but that is just not acceptable in 

my environment and the people that I work for. If it becomes commonplace there, it certainly will be a sad day and a sad situation. 

We desperately need your attention and your assistance. You 

have heard today about several Federal initiatives and joint initiatives. I would just like to emphasize that every Federal initiative, 

every strategy that is implemented at the Federal level has a local 

consequence, and those consequences aren’t always considered in 

the planning process. I would encourage whatever influence or requirement that can be included in funding that would require, in 

fact, that local participation be considered so that those consequences will be totally understood before they are implemented. 

32

I thank you again for the opportunity and would invite any questions, sir. 

[The prepared statement of Sheriff Dever appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman KYL. Thank you very much, Sheriff Dever. 

Sheriff Jernigan. 

STATEMENT OF A. D’WAYNE JERNIGAN, SHERIFF, VAL VERDE 

COUNTY, TEXAS 

Sheriff JERNIGAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my 

written testimony and its attachments provide you with somewhat 

of a thumbnail view of the organizations and their weaponry that 

are currently engaged in the violent trade of illegal drugs and 

human smuggling on the Texas-Mexico border. Just in the last few 

days, we apprehended illegal aliens during a burglary near the port 

of entry. One of the aliens fled on foot and was apprehended by the 

deputies and agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. The alien that was 

apprehended inside the residence was later identified as a career 

criminal with a 24-page rap sheet. His criminal career included offenses in Florida and Texas, and his clothing was still wet from his 

illegal entry. 

For over a year, groups of male subjects illegally crossed the 

river into the United States and burglarized remote ranch homes. 

These subjects took items from the homes that they burglarized 

and would actually abandon the items they took from one home at 

the next burglary as they moved north into the U.S. The only items 

that they routinely kept were the firearms. Yes, the firearms. 

During one of the burglaries, the subjects brought with them, of 

all things, electric hair clippers, with which they actually took the 

time at the scene of the burglary to cut their hair in a rather distinctive manner which we recognize as one of the distinctive details 

that are used by some of the gang members in the areas south of 

us. 

When these subjects would encounter law enforcement, they 

would conduct sophisticated escape and evasion tactics to break 

contact with law enforcement. In one incident, the subjects traveled 

20 miles a day on foot across harsh landscape. The last subject that 

was apprehended in that group had traveled over 80 miles on foot 

before his arrest and apprehension. We noted that these particular 

subjects were always physically fit, and it is my humble opinion 

that these subjects had received prior training for escape and evasion. 

The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition is very concerned, Mr. 

Chairman, about the unique problems along our border that I have 

addressed in my written testimony. The United States Border Patrol and ICE are doing the best they can with the resources that 

they have been provided. Immediate help is needed for them for 

the protection of our country. 

We have implemented Operation Linebacker, a second line of defense in the protection of our country. This program allows us to 

work in partnership with our Federal partners in border security. 

The problems along the border are Federal problems. Our Governor, the Honorable Rick Perry, did not wait for an officer to be 

killed along the border to take action. He, just as we, is very much 

33

concerned. He has allocated some $6 million for us to initiate Operation Linebacker. Just last month, he announced an additional $3.8 

million that he will grant the coalition. 

This much-needed assistance provided by Governor Perry has already produced measurable results, but this assistance is only a 

stop-gap measure. More help is necessary if we are to see an acceptable level of security exist on the border. The problems along 

the border will continue unless our Federal Government does something soon. Must we wait until additional officers are killed or assaulted or injured, or until another terrorist act occurs? 

I have addressed many of the enforcement issues facing the border today in my written testimony, but another crisis faces us, Mr. 

Chairman. The judicial system on the border is strained to failure. 

In Val Verde County alone, the annual budget for jury trials will 

be exhausted this month, in March, only halfway through the fiscal 

year. An examination of the caseload of the United States District 

Court for the Western District of Texas demonstrates this crisis irrefutably. 

I have attached a report that demonstrates a 10-year record of 

civil filings within the Western District of Texas. It is marked as 

Attachment 6. The number of filings of civil cases across the district has remained fairly level, with only minor increases consistent 

with our population growth. 

However, if you examine the criminal filings for the same period, 

an alarming trend is quite evident, Mr. Chairman. The two district 

courts on the border have seen a dramatic caseload increase, with 

little or no population increase. As you will note in, I believe, Attachment 8, it shows that the caseload of the two United States 

magistrates just in Del Rio—you will see that each of their caseloads equals the caseload of the other magistrates in the Western 

District combined. The other district judges in the Western District 

have seen small increases in their caseloads. 

What is not reflected in these stats is the number of criminal 

subjects who are apprehended with commercial quantities of drugs, 

but who fall under the quantity threshold arbitrarily established by 

the United States Attorney’s office. These subjects who have been 

apprehended by authorities are released without prosecution. Remember that only a small percentage of all drug and alien traffickers are apprehended, and then a portion of those apprehended 

are released without prosecution due to budgetary constraints. The 

criminals grow more educated by a system that is broken and allows them to continue engaging in a criminal enterprise that is destroying rural Texas communities. 

Mr. Chairman and Committee members, we must restore justice 

to the border. I am convinced that by funding additional deputy 

sheriffs on the border, as well as the other issues I have brought 

to your attention, our Nation will accomplish a cost-effective and 

immediate solution to the burgeoning scourge of violence that is 

creeping north into our Nation. 

Along most of the border, it is a deputy sheriff who receives the 

first 911 call and responds accordingly. No matter how much more 

efficient we are made by the utilization of emerging technology, it 

is still necessary that a trained and experienced officer be available 

to respond to the identified threat. 

34

I want to express my sincere appreciation to you for having me 

here today, and I welcome any questions that you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Sheriff Jernigan appears as a submission for the record.] 

Chairman KYL. Thank you, Sheriff Jernigan. 

Mr. Durham. 

STATEMENT OF LAVOYGER DURHAM, MANAGER, EL TULE 

RANCH, FALFURRIAS, TEXAS 

Mr. DURHAM. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is 

Lavoyger Durham. I am the manager of the El Tule Ranch in south 

Texas, located about 75 miles north of the Mexican border. I would 

like to thank Senator Sessions, Senator Cornyn, Senator Kyl, Senator Feinstein and the members of your Subcommittees for allowing me to appear before you this morning. 

I would also like to recognize the people in the audience who 

have traveled here from Texas in support of my testimony. 

My purpose in being here today is simple, to try to convince you 

that Federal law enforcement agencies, with the assistance of their 

State and local counterparts, must control illegal immigration 

across the Mexican border. Everyday, I see the reality of what is 

being reported on a regular basis in the news media. While most 

of those reports are fairly accurate, none give a complete picture 

of what is really happening in south Texas, and consequently our 

entire country. 

South Texas has been my family’s home for three generations. 

Both my mother, who was of Mexican dissent, and my father, who 

was of Irish ancestry, were steeped in ranching tradition. I have 

been very fortunate to have been able to carry on this legacy for 

the past 45 years. But now things have changed. My neighbors and 

I are facing circumstances that can best be described as deplorable. 

We now must live with the constant possibility that we could be 

attacked or killed on our own properties. 

Literally thousands of illegal immigrants cross through south 

Texas on a daily basis, mostly by foot. The Border Patrol has told 

me that within just a five-mile radius of my ranch, 2 to 300 illegal 

immigrants move through every night. The trail and tracks are 

there. Most are coming to fill labor shortages in our Nation. Many, 

however, have less noble ambitions, and many of those are other 

than Mexicans, or OTMS, who are entering this country from all 

over the world. 

Some are drug-runners who cut our fences so they can carry 

their backpacks full of contraband north for nationwide distribution. Others are members of what the news media has described 

as the most violent crime organizations in the United States, the 

El Savadoran gang known as the Mara Salvatrucha, or the MS–13. 

Still others might well be terrorists who are infiltrating for no 

other purpose than to cause death and destruction. 

I do not know how to adequately describe the consequences of 

our unmanaged border in south Texas. The stories are endless and 

are only getting worse. I can provide accounts of ranchers being 

fired upon, ranch security guards being beaten and held at gunpoint, women being threatened near their own homes by belligerent 

aliens, and youths being confronted by gangs dressed in dark camVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:37 Sep 08, 2006 Jkt 028338 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\28338.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
35

ouflage clothing at night. These types of occurrences are all too 

common and are entirely unacceptable in a civilized society. 

It is also sad to report that we often find immigrants on our 

properties that are dead or dying. Whenever possible, we take them 

for medical care, but often it is too late. I hesitate to share photographs of deceased victims whom I have personally found on my 

property, but I think that it is important to communicate this reality to you. 

In my county alone, over 40 illegal immigrants are known to 

have died last year. These unfortunate and ill-prepared people die 

not only because of exposure to the harsh elements of blazing heat 

and bitter cold, but also because of encounters with diamondback 

rattle snakes and other dangers of the vast, rugged terrain. 

Sometimes, however, these people die at the hands of human 

smugglers, or as they are called along the border, coyotes. Coyotes 

are criminals who deal in human misery. They charge very large 

fees of thousands of dollars to smuggle unsuspecting immigrants 

across the U.S.-Mexican border, often deserting them far short of 

the destinations they had promised. In performing their so-called 

services, coyotes will leave behind the weak, sick or injured to die 

if they cannot keep up with the group. Sometimes, the coyotes will 

even kill their impaired clients outright so they will not be able to 

alert authorities. 

Coyotes now control a huge percentage of all illegal immigration 

along the Mexican border, especially among illegal immigrants who 

want to come to this country for the first time. They are part of 

the crime syndicates that have become big business. Some of the 

other witnesses today can testify to that fact. As inconceivable as 

it may be, coyotes are often equipped with technological devices 

that are equivalent or superior to those available to our own Border Patrol. 

What then can be done to manage the border with Mexico and 

provide for the safety and security of American citizens? First and 

foremost, the Border Patrol must be given the manpower to enforce 

the laws of the land. They must also be provided with the technological equipment that they need to stay ahead of their adversaries. 

Second, Congress must reevaluate existing immigration laws to 

determine realistically whether or not they are enforceable. In my 

opinion, the Border Patrol will never be able to control illegal immigration until some sort of strictly enforced guest worker program 

is implemented. Until immigrants who are entering this country 

for a productive purpose are distinguished from those who are entering for a destructive purpose, I cannot imagine how the Border 

Patrol could ever have enough resources to effectively enforce immigration laws. 

Last spring, I helped organized a meeting in south Texas, including law enforcement officials and policymakers from all levels of 

government who were concerned about illegal immigration and border security. At that meeting, our distinguished friend, Tobin Armstrong, who we lost to cancer this fall, provided us with the benefit 

of his wisdom on these subjects. 

I would like to conclude my testimony quoting some of Mr. Armstrong’s remarks, and I quote, ‘‘You are not going to build a wall 

around the United States to help to keep these people out. There 

36

is only one way to do this job and that is to pass legislation that 

provides for the people that you need to stay here and provides for 

the return of all the criminals, the terrorists, the deadbeats and 

people carrying communicable diseases. That is the only way it is 

going to work, and then give the ones that do stay here some kind 

of forge-proof identification card. And then anybody who employs 

somebody who does not have that card would be committing a felony and would be sanctioned heavily. Now, you say, well, how do 

you get that done? Well, it isn’t a question of how you get it done. 

You have got to get it done,’’ end of quote. 

I would like again to thank Senator Cornyn, Senator Kyl, Senator Sessions, Senator Feinstein and members of your Subcommittees for allowing me to address you this morning. I trust that you 

all agree that Federal inaction is no longer an option. We will help 

in any way we can, but ultimately we are counting on you for your 

leadership to get this job done. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Durham appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman KYL. Thanks very much, Mr. Durham. 

T.J. Bonner. 

STATEMENT OF T.J. BONNER, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL–CIO, CAMPO, CALIFORNIA 

Mr. BONNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Chairman Cornyn, 

Ranking Member Feinstein, Senator Sessions. I had the distinct 

privilege over the weekend of assembling with a group of about 50 

front-line U.S. Border Patrol agents and support personnel, and I 

wish every one of you and, in fact, every member of the Senate and 

the House of Representatives could have been there to hear the 

concerns of these people and to personally thank them for their 

dedicated service. 

I must say it is quite a contrast, the picture that they painted, 

from the one that I heard from the previous panel of everything is 

going along smoothly and we are going to get control of this border. 

When they launched the initiative about a dozen years ago to gain 

control of the border, they claimed they were going to do it inch by 

inch. To date, they claim that they have control of 150 miles of our 

southwest border. Let’s take that at face value. At that rate, it will 

take 400 years to gain control of our southern and northern borders. To put that in historical perspective, Jamestown 400 years 

ago was still a year off. We don’t have the luxury of waiting 400 

years to gain control of our borders. This is something we need to 

do now. 

Violence along our borders was one of the foremost concerns 

raised by these agents and the support personnel, because they are 

the victims of this violence, too. We have civilian employees who 

are not agents who go down to work on the fence, to work on that 

equipment, and they get rocked just as heavily as our agents do. 

They get shot at the same way our agents get shot at. The difference is they are not armed. 

Violence is an incredible problem. Incursions by the Mexican 

military—yes, the Mexican military—are a problem. If it has 

37

webbed feet, feathers, waddles and quacks, it is a duck. For the 

government of Mexico to claim that some of these incursions were 

not their soldiers is just incredulous. In fact, when Chief Aguilar 

was the chief of the Tucson Border Patrol sector, he had these 

cards printed up, ‘‘Military Incursion,’’ and it talks about how to respond when the Mexican military is making incursions, essentially 

telling the agents to get out of the area as quickly as possible. 

We have had documented instances where the Mexican military 

has crossed the border, has shot at our U.S. Border Patrol agents, 

and then the government of Mexico denies any involvement. That 

claim is simply incredible. And now they are claiming that these 

are the cartels masquerading as the Mexican military to somehow 

sour relations between the two nations. That would make absolutely no sense. Why would the cartels do anything to bring more 

attention, more law enforcement, perhaps even the U.S. military 

down along the border? That would only make their job of smuggling drugs and people across the border that much more difficult. 

And make no mistake about it, the cartels are actively involved 

in smuggling people now. That trade has become so lucrative. 

Where it used to be at the beginning of the crackdown $2 to $300 

to cross that border, it is now ten times that amount. So the cartels 

have squeezed out the small-time operations and have gained control over many of these smuggling operations and are charging exorbitant amounts of money which people are willing to pay. 

The only meaningful solution to dealing with this is to go after 

the root of the problem, recognize that the overwhelming majority 

of people come to the United States looking for work. We have to 

cutoff that access to people having jobs in the country who have no 

right to be here. The only way to do that is to have a single counterfeit-proof document, not two documents, one to establish employment eligibility and another to establish identity, because then you 

will just have an overnight explosion of counterfeit documents. And 

the GAO warned about that with the current basic pilot program. 

It has to be a single counterfeit-proof document incorporating identity and employment eligibility, and it has to be provided to everyone who wants a job in this country, not just to immigrants, but 

to U.S. citizens as well. Otherwise, illegal aliens will claim that 

they are U.S. citizens and therefore don’t need the card. 

With respect to the Mexican military incursions, other steps need 

to be taken as well. Obviously, we need to augment the size of the 

Border Patrol, but I implore you to stop the foreign aid going to 

Mexico for the purpose of counter-narcotics interdiction. It is not 

being used for that purpose. It is being used against our officers, 

against local sheriffs and law enforcement. 

And the other recommendation is to have the U.S. military on 

standby to respond to these incursions, not to enforce our immigration laws, but to deal with these incursions. Border Patrol and local 

law enforcement are not equipped and not trained to deal with 

military engagements. 

I thank you for the opportunity to present the views of the frontline agents and I welcome any questions you might have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bonner appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

38

Chairman KYL. We appreciate your testimony. We have got some 

real experts here, law enforcement experts on the border that have 

been working at it for decades—Mr. Bonner, with communication 

with agents all along the border, who gets reports of what is going 

on all the time on a real-time basis, and a rancher who is living 

this and has lived it all your life, I gather, Mr. Durham, at least 

so far. 

Mr. DURHAM. Yes, sir. 

Chairman KYL. I remember former Senator Simpson was up celebrating his 90th birthday in Cody, Wyoming, and a reporter said, 

well, have you lived here all your life? He said not yet. So I should 

have qualified that. 

Let me start, Mr. Bonner, with you. You said the value of this 

human cargo is ten times as much. That would make it about 

$2,000 per illegal immigrant. Is that about what they pay now? 

Mr. BONNER. About $2 to $3,000, and we are talking people from 

Mexico. The farther away you are from that southwest border, the 

higher the charge. For people from China, for example, it can $40 

to $50,000. And you may think, well, where do they get that 

money? They don’t have that money. They sell themselves into indentured servitude 7 to 10 years, generally, where they work for 

nothing before they become a free person. This is human slavery. 

Chairman KYL. So there is a value to the number of illegal immigrants, which is one of the reasons why the coyotes and smugglers 

are willing to commit violence to protect that cargo. 

Mr. BONNER. Absolutely. 

Chairman KYL. Now, you mentioned the need for an identification card, and you made a very important point that I would like 

to ask you to repeat because it is something that Senator Cornyn 

and I have tried to persuade our colleagues of, but sometimes I am 

afraid we have not succeeded in doing it. 

It is easy enough to give a document to a temporary worker, a 

person who is willing to volunteer to sign up to be a temporary 

worker, like a laser visa, for example. And they are going to carry 

that with them and when they seek employment, they are going to 

display that and become employed. But as you pointed out, there 

are millions of people in this country illegally who are trying to 

work illegally and will claim to be a United States citizen and have 

plenty of forged documents in their possession to back up that 

claim. 

So why would everybody who gets a job, therefore, need to have 

some kind of worker identification number and status? 

Mr. BONNER. Quite simply for the reason you point out, Senator, 

because otherwise people just claim that they were born here or 

that they have a legal right to be here. If we don’t close the back 

door to illegal immigration, no guest worker program will be utilized by any employer or employee in their right mind. 

As an employer, it means that you have to then pay at least minimum wage, that you have to pay all of the taxes, when your competitor is not doing that and they are driving you out of business. 

And as an employee, why would you volunteer for this program 

which identifies you as a person who should leave the country 

within a set period of time, when if you cross the border illegally, 

you can stay here as long as you want and still get a job? 

39

Chairman KYL. So would it be, in your opinion, to say that the 

two—and I will ask all of you this—the two critical components to 

ensure that we can eventually stop illegal immigration in the country are, No. 1, to control the border and, No. 2, to have a worker 

verification system that works and will be enforced? 

Mr. BONNER. Yes. 

Chairman KYL. If you any of you have a different opinion, let me 

know, but I want to ask Sheriff Dever one question before my time 

runs out. You talked about the need to consider local consequences 

to Federal action. Give me some examples of some things that we 

need to do a better job of at the Federal level when we take action 

here that can have an impact on you and your operations and the 

other folks in a place like Cochise County, Arizona, for example. 

Sheriff DEVER. Thank you, Senator. A couple of things. One is 

when there is increased Federal enforcement activity—it was mentioned earlier that 10 percent of the people who are apprehended 

have criminal records in this country. Many of them have active 

warrants. Those people are then transported to a county jail which 

the sheriffs maintain and we begin to incur costs at that point. 

There are extradition charges. Very often, they have medical issues 

to be dealt with that the county ends up paying. So just the increased enforcement activity alone creates that kind of a bottleneck 

in our already overwhelmed jails, where we have no bed space. 

But another example is roadside checkpoints. You know, when 

the Border Patrol sets those up on a temporary or permanent basis 

and they do not have adequate resources to patrol and work and 

protect the perimeters of those checkpoints and the areas in between, then the consequences of that fall to us. People start circumventing the checkpoint and they drive across pastures and 

through fences, and traverse people’s backyards. So the number of 

our calls for service just spike incredibly. 

Those are just a couple of examples, but each and every strategy 

again has some kind of a—probably the biggest ones were Operation Gatekeeper and Hold the Line in San Diego and El Paso that 

funneled all these illegals outside of those two transportation hubs 

into more rural areas. It was billed initially as an unintended consequence of that strategy. Clearly, it was a planned part of the 

strategy to force them into the area in order to discourage them 

from crossing. That didn’t happen. 

Dead bodies. Local mortuaries have refused to continue to go 

pick those up, and so it falls to the sheriff to go retrieve those. 

Each one of those cases has to be treated as a homicide investigation. So there are all those additional costs that we incur. We are 

already extremely overburdened with those costs. 

287(g) was mentioned earlier. That is all well and wonderful, but 

you can only work people so many hours of overtime before they 

just can’t work anymore. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to 

be spending a lot of overtime and expending fuel when you can put 

that money into full-time employees that would better and more 

permanently address the problem. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you. I am sure you could go on and list 

40 different things, but those are good examples and I appreciate 

that very much. 

Senator Feinstein. 

40

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you very much. Just in response to 

the sheriff, Operation Gatekeeper does work in California, and to 

me it has shown me that if you are prepared to put enough Border 

Patrol agents out there in the right way, it works. 

Now, I will agree that it was an inadvertent situation that 

pushed the illegal immigration further east, but I don’t want you 

to think that Operation Gatekeeper has not worked, because I was 

just on the border this past week. It is a very different place in 

California than it was in the early and mid-1990’s. So I was very 

pleased to see that. 

Mr. Bonner, let me ask you a question. Chief Aguilar commented 

that presently the Border Patrol is at 11,300. In your judgment, 

what would it take to bring it to a level that we could say, first, 

the southwest border is reasonably in control, and then second 

what it would take to say both borders, Canadian and southwest, 

are in reasonable control? 

Mr. BONNER. It really depends on whether you are going to turn 

off the employment magnet. If you don’t, I would say you could put 

several million Border Patrol agents along those borders and 

you—— 

Senator FEINSTEIN. I don’t understand what you mean by the 

employment magnet. 

Mr. BONNER. In other words, make it impossible to get a job in 

this country unless you have a right to work in this country, 

whether you were born in the United States or given a legal right 

to work here. As long as illegal aliens can come here and get employment, they will continue to come here. And right now what we 

have is a revolving door. Personally, I have caught the same group 

of people four times in one 8-hour shift. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Let me ask you this. Do you think that a 

guest worker program is a magnet to illegal immigration? 

Mr. BONNER. I think that the ability to get a job in the United 

States without proper documentation, or however you get a job in 

the United States, is a magnet. You have people who are making, 

on average, in Mexico four dollars a day. They can come north, 

earn 20 to 50 times that much doing unskilled work. Of course, 

they are going to come. We can’t blame them for coming across. 

You and I would do the same thing if we were in their shoes. But 

until that magnet is turned off, we can throw all the resources we 

want to at that problem and it will not prevent impoverished, hungry people from coming across the border looking for work. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Where I am going with the question on the 

Border Patrol is that we have been trying to increase the Border 

Patrol by about 1,000 agents a year, and I am trying to find what 

number and I suspect the number rests between 15 and 20,000. 

Would you concur with that or do you have another number? 

Mr. BONNER. I think we can do more. I think that reasonably a 

law enforcement agency can absorb no more than 25 percent of its 

total force in any given year, and that is pushing the limit. But I 

think we should do—— 

Senator FEINSTEIN. No, no. I am saying what should we aim for, 

the gross numbers of the Border Patrol. 

Mr. BONNER. I believe we should be aiming for that 25 percent 

for the near term until we can get to—— 

41

Senator FEINSTEIN. In terms of gross numbers of Border Patrol. 

Mr. BONNER. The overall number? 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Overall number. 

Mr. BONNER. Assuming that you are willing to crack down at the 

worksites, I think that overall you would probably need about 

25,000 Border Patrol agents, maybe 30,000, to deal with the criminal elements that would be left, that other 2 percent of what is 

crossing the border. 

Now, we are only catching a fraction of what is crossing the border now, perhaps 25, 33 percent. But rather than dealing with millions of people, we would be dealing with thousands of criminals 

and terrorists. And I think that along with local law enforcement 

assistance, we could do it with about 25,000. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Now, you mentioned that you believe that 

the so-called military intrusions were actually military intrusions 

rather than anybody masquerading in false uniforms with false 

equipment. Do you have any evidence of that that you could submit 

to us? 

Mr. BONNER. I have no evidence other than eyewitness accounts. 

I mean, obviously we have evidence of the incident in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, where we captured nine Mexican soldiers who 

were firing at their counterparts. There were actually two 

Humvees in that incident. We captured nine and about another 

seven were firing at our agents. We did not capture them. Within 

hours, they were sent back to Mexico with their weapons, with 

their Humvee. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. And they were validated as Mexican military? 

Mr. BONNER. They were bona fide—yes, they had the credentials, 

and Mexico acknowledged that they were their soldiers. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. And what reason did they give? 

Mr. BONNER. Well, they claimed that they thought that we were 

trespassing in their country. But I just find it unimaginable that 

the United States would act the same way if we believed that other 

law enforcement agencies had trespassed into our country. And 

they could not mistake us for smugglers, as they claimed, because 

we were in marked vehicles with the emergency lights activated. 

You can’t buy those at a swap meet, and you can’t buy a military 

Humvee such as was used in the January 23rd incident in 

Hudspeth County. You can’t buy those at swap meets either. It is 

not a Hummer. It is a military Humvee. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you, Mr. Bonner. Thank you, Mr. 

Chairman. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you, Senator Feinstein. 

Senator Cornyn. 

Chairman CORNYN. Thank you, Senator Kyl. 

I want to say thank you to each of you for being here today, but 

particularly Sheriff Jernigan and Mr. Durham for your participation. I think it is important for my colleagues from other parts of 

the country to hear your testimony. And I assure you they will be 

taking due note of what you have to say and what you have had 

to offer. 

I think it is another unfortunate sign of the Federal Government’s failure, Sheriff Jernigan, to secure our border that has 

42

caused our border sheriffs in Texas to have to band together, all 

16 of you, to try to do what the Federal Government has not done. 

And Governor Perry, I know, has dedicated some funding to that 

effort, but I would like to see more resources being made available 

to our local law enforcement agencies that are willing to help support the primary Federal role of border security. So I welcome all 

of you here and thank you for your dedication and your service. 

Let me ask you first, Sheriff, you have a long and distinguished 

career in law enforcement, having worked with the Treasury Department and the U.S. Customs Service before you came sheriff of 

Val Verde County. I was looking at one of the attachments to your 

statement and, you know, people, I think, have this image that the 

only people coming across the border are people who want to come 

here to work. And certainly that is true, but it is not only people 

who want to come here to work. 

Certainly, as you indicate in Attachment 3—and it is people coming across from countries other than Mexico by country from October 2003 to June 30, 2004—for example, it indicates that 10 came 

from Iran, not exactly a friend of this country and a country that 

is in the process of making, if they don’t already have them, nuclear weapons, a state sponsor of international terrorism. 

We have seven from Iraq, if I am reading this correctly, where 

the central war on terrorism is being fought today by our troops 

against foreign fighters and other jihadists. We have eight on this 

from North Korea, another self-avowed enemy of the United States 

and one that in all probability already has nuclear weapons. 

Can you perhaps expand on why you think the threat is different 

than it has been in the past to this Nation because of facts like 

that and other concerns? 

Sheriff JERNIGAN. Senator, I have been on this border for approximately 30 years. I have worked all up and down the border, 

from San Diego to Brownsville. Thirty years ago, even 15 years 

ago, just as my colleague Sheriff Dever mentioned earlier, we were 

dealing with a much different class of people. They were very docile, very submissive. At worst, they would turn and flee from you 

and flee back into Mexico. 

But now my deputies and the Border Patrol are facing a different 

class of individual and groups coming across that are much more 

combative when confronted and stopped by my deputies. Generally, 

the deputies are operating alone out in the field. They come upon 

groups of 20, 30, 50 at a time. And they make it known to the deputies that they are going through; we are not stopping. You are not 

going to stop us; we are going. 

Ten years ago, 15 years ago, like I said, they would literally flee 

back to Mexico upon simply being asked, who are you, where are 

you going. No more. They are determined they are going north one 

way or the other. Come hell or high water, they are going north. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, it sounds like if nothing else, there is 

at least an attitude of entitlement on the part of people coming into 

the country. 

Sheriff JERNIGAN. Absolutely, absolutely, Senator. 

Chairman CORNYN. And obviously we have talked about the 

weapons, the assaults on Border Patrol and the like. 

43

Mr. Durham, I appreciate your being here and representing the 

ranching community in south Texas that is directly impacted by 

this, and I especially appreciate your invoking the name of Tobin 

Armstrong. His daughter and granddaughter are here, I know, and 

they appreciate your kind words. 

I recall him saying what you said, and that is that we need to 

separate the criminals and potential terrorists and those engaged 

in drug activity from people who want to come here to work. And 

you indicated that you believe that a guest worker program, what 

I would call a temporary worker program, is an essential component of getting security along our border. Now, that is a little 

counterintuitive, I think, to some people, but it makes perfect sense 

to me. 

If we know who is coming across to work, if we have screened 

them, if they have been provided with this counterfeit-proof or as 

close as we can create document that can be verified and let our 

law enforcement officials focus on the bad guys, it seems to me we 

have made their job easier, not harder. 

Would you agree with that? 

Mr. DURHAM. Yes, I would. Thank you, Senator. You know, like 

Mr. Wayne Jernigan was talking about here, the class of people—

it used to be that people that would come across were mostly from 

the interior of Mexico, San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, and so on down 

the line. And they were just honest people. You would invite them 

to your house, you would feed them, you would do whatever to help 

them out and stuff. 

And then a little different class of people started coming across. 

They are mainly just across the river and they would come up here 

for a couple of weeks and figure out the game, and so on down the 

line, and then they would go back and get their buddies, and so on. 

Now, you don’t know what is coming across. You know, 50 percent of the people that you catch now around Falfurrias are OTMs, 

other than Mexicans, and stuff, and the count has just quadruples 

and it just keeps on increasing. Like I said in my statement, there 

are 2 or 300 coming through there every night, and the tracks and 

the trails indicate it and the Border Patrol is just being overpowered. I can go up there and show them the trails and the trash, 

and fences being cut and cattle gates being opened and all kinds 

of things. 

At that meeting where Mr. Armstrong was there, he kind of 

chaired the meeting anyhow, and I had 75 to 100 people there, law 

enforcement officers from all over the place. And there were anywhere between 4 and 5 million acres represented there between 

owners and managers, and I made it a point there that the meeting 

was not going to be, one, criticizing the Border Patrol in any way; 

two, that we weren’t going to tell any horror stories because everybody as far as the ranching community down there has lots of horror stories and that would take up the whole meeting, period. So, 

yes, I agree with Tobin as far as the guest worker program and trying to have identification, a forge-proof card that makes you work, 

and work legally. 

Chairman CORNYN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman KYL. I really appreciate your testimony, Mr. Durham. 

Senator Sessions. 

44

Senator SESSIONS. Sheriff Jernigan and Sheriff Dever, have you 

seen this change in terms of the criminal element that is involved 

in people coming across? I have been told that we have had a real 

surge in custody of individuals in Alabama that have criminal histories or have been involved in crime. 

Is something changing out there from your observation about 

who may be coming over? 

Sheriff JERNIGAN. Absolutely. More and more of them that are 

coming across do have criminal histories, considerable, lengthy 

criminal histories, not only in our own country, but in whatever 

country they are coming from. 

If I may, I would like to expand on something that Mr. Durham 

mentioned a while ago, if I may. 

Senator SESSIONS. We have just got a minute, but go ahead, 

please. 

Sheriff JERNIGAN. Crime-stoppers. Do you know what crime-stoppers is in rural America along the border? You know, the ranchers 

at least in my area go to Wal-Mart or HEB and buy water, food, 

and plant it around their house outdoors in the hopes that as the 

aliens come through their ranch, they won’t break into their home 

when they are away from home. They actually leave the food and 

water planted around their home. That has become a way of life 

along the border. 

It didn’t used to be that way. It used to be you could leave your 

keys in your truck. You know, you didn’t worry about it, or leave 

your rifle hanging in the back of the truck overnight. No more. 

That is what crime-stoppers has become in rural America. It is a 

sad commentary. 

Senator SESSIONS. Sheriff Dever. 

Sheriff DEVER. The short answer to your question, Senator, is absolutely. Even the general nature or character of the illegals themselves is extremely controversial. You know, agents, deputies and 

law enforcement officers in general have to be on their guard every 

moment that they are in contact with groups, where they used to 

feel relatively comfortable that they have just encountered some 

poor, hapless souls wandering through the countryside. The number of assaults on Border Patrol agents, deputy sheriffs, and the 

number of hostile confrontations has increased dramatically. 

Senator SESSIONS. With regard to 287(g), I believe, Sheriff Dever, 

you made some comment that that is not the full answer to the 

question. Was that you that made reference to that? 

Sheriff DEVER. Yes, sir. 

Senator SESSIONS. It is a training program that can be helpful. 

What happens if your deputies arrest people? Down there on the 

border, do you have a relationship with the Border Patrol so that 

they would come and apprehend somebody? What if they had been 

presumably in the country for a while and not right on the border? 

Would they come and get them, and are you compensated in any 

way for the expense that you may have gone to to make this transfer? 

Sheriff DEVER. We currently do not arrest people for immigration 

violations. That is still a big, controversial issue being worked out 

in the courts, and there have been several bills introduced to provide authority for local law enforcement to do that. But those that 

45

we do house and incarcerate are aliens who have committed crimes 

against the State—burglary, assault, theft or something like that. 

The SCAAP fund, the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, original allocation was $585 million, five, 6 years ago, Senator, 

something like that. That has been reduced over the years. It was 

eliminated from the President’s budget the last 2 years. Congress 

restored $200 million the first year and then I think $300 million 

the next. That reimburses sheriffs, counties, for incarcerating 

criminal aliens under certain criteria, not all of them. Only certain 

ones meet the criteria and the criteria has become so limited that 

it is a very small percentage of them that are reimbursed, but 

about ten cents on the dollar. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, you know, this is a Federal problem, 

Federal, national issue. When local law enforcement are prepared 

to help and participate voluntarily, they ought to be compensated, 

don’t you think, for the expenses? 

Sheriff DEVER. I couldn’t agree with you more, sir. 

Senator SESSIONS. I am singing your song on that. 

Sheriff DEVER. Absolutely. That is what we are here for. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, they really should. I wrote a law review 

article. I never thought I would be in the U.S. Senate, and I really 

never thought I would write a law review article for the Stanford 

University School of Law, but it was on the power of local law enforcement. For those who come across the border illegally, even the 

Ninth Circuit concludes that local law enforcement does have the 

authority to detain. 

There is some question based on a Ninth Circuit ruling that local 

law enforcement can detain for overstays. So the lawyers for the 

sheriff departments and the mayors and the county commissions 

say, you know, this is scary; I am not sure and we might get sued, 

and they are not going to come and get them anyway, so just forget 

it. 

Isn’t that basically what is happening, Mr. Bonner? 

Mr. BONNER. Sadly, yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. And so what we need to do, if we are serious 

about this thing, is give, as we have the power to do, authority to 

law enforcement officers to detain for a short period of time until 

people can be handed over those who are here illegally. 

Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Bonner, that that would help? 

Mr. BONNER. Absolutely, it would help. We welcome all the help 

we can get. Obviously, we are overwhelmed down at the border, 

and it shouldn’t be a 50-yard dash and you are home free. People 

who have broken the laws should have every expectation that 

someday somehow is going to tap them on the shoulder and hold 

them accountable, and that is not having. 

Senator SESSIONS. And that is sort of a question of—would you 

say it is almost a test of our will as a Congress and a Nation that 

if we are not willing to do that, then we are really not serious 

about having a lawful system? 

Mr. BONNER. When you look around the country and see a minimum of 12 million people in this country illegally, it is obvious 

that we are not serious about this problem. 

Senator SESSIONS. Just briefly, you mentioned that we need to 

control the border and we need to have workplace enforcement. As 

46

I have looked at this more and more, I have become somewhat optimistic. If we increase the Border Patrol officers and we control the 

border and we build fences where we needed and we do other 

things that get us to that point of enforcement, and then a workplace, do you think we could reach a tipping point and we could 

be more successful than a lot of people even think today? 

Mr. BONNER. This problem is absolutely solvable. We could put 

the human smugglers out of business almost overnight if we take 

away the reason that people are coming here, which is jobs. Why 

would anyone in their right mind pay $3,000 and risk their life 

crossing through the desert if at the end of that journey no one will 

give them a job? They would stay home, and people who are here 

illegally now would go home because four dollars a day may not 

sound like much, but it is more than nothing. And if you can’t get 

a job, you are not earning a penny. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you. Some from around the world are 

dangerous elements, as we have noted, and that is important for 

national security. But, fundamentally, I would agree with that. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman KYL. Thank you, Senator Sessions. 

There are a couple of things that are kind of subtle that I feel 

a need to express here. Mr. Durham didn’t come here to beat on 

a big drum and blow a bugle and complain, but he was invited to 

come here and share experiences. And I gather there is almost a 

reluctance in the way you have described it; it is certainly more in 

disappointment than in anger. 

You have got two very fine sheriffs here. These guys put their 

lives on the line everyday. They are confronted with danger. It has 

gotten very, very hard for them. I don’t know Sheriff Jernigan, but 

I know Sheriff Dever. He works very, very well with all of the different Federal and State law enforcement folks. They have a very 

good relationship. They are trying to confront these problems together from a very professional law enforcement point of view. 

They have all of these problems, and yet they are not trying to exaggerate anything. T.J. Bonner’s folks see this stuff everyday and 

they could easily get out there and exaggerate, but they have to 

live with it, and they don’t. 

What is occurring on the ranches—Mr. Durham, I hear this from 

folks in Arizona all the time. I know that Sheriff Dever has, too. 

It didn’t used to be that way. Of course, it didn’t used to be illegal 

to hire an illegal immigrant. It was illegal to harbor somebody that 

came into the country illegally. And people did help folks and there 

was no problem with it. 

My sister and brother-in-law used to live in Cochise County, and 

he worked out in one of the game refuges and when he first went 

down there, it was the same way. And by the time they left, they 

couldn’t wait to leave because it was dangerous. There were bad actors coming through there all the time. 

The purpose of this hearing today was to remind folks that it 

isn’t just people coming across for a better life, but bad, dangerous, 

nasty people, with an increase in violence, with a 108-percent increase in assaults on the officers, with a huge increase in the number of criminals coming across. And whatever we do about the illeVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:37 Sep 08, 2006 Jkt 028338 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\28338.TXT SJUD4 PsN: CMORC
47

gal immigrants, we are going to want to control the border to stop 

that criminal behavior and those criminals from coming across. 

But as Mr. Bonner points out, one way to do that is, in addition 

to getting control of the border, having a very firm but fair way to 

check employee eligibility so that only legal people, whether 

through a temporary work program or as citizens or some other 

kind of visa, would be able to work here. Remove that and the 

value of that human smuggling goes way, way down. Instead of $2 

or $3,000, it loses most of its value. So I wanted to express my appreciation to all of you. 

We do need to increase SCAAP funding. The States, by the way, 

need to support the counties more, because counties are political 

subdivisions of the States. But the Federal Government needs to 

provide support there, as well. 

Just primarily to the two sheriffs here, and to all of you, when 

illegal immigrants are actually apprehended or held or detained, 

does ICE respond to the need to take custody and return them to 

the border as much as it needs to, Sheriff Dever? 

Sheriff DEVER. Mr. Chairman, they do. That wasn’t always the 

case, but we are in a unique situation at least where I am because 

we are right on the border. We have the largest Border Patrol station on the entire southwest border in Douglas, Arizona, and so we 

have pretty immediate access. But I can speak to my colleagues 

just to the north and the answer to that question is no. 

Chairman KYL. So where they have the resources, they can get 

it done. They just need to tell us what kind of resources they need 

so we can try to provide it. 

Sheriff Jernigan, same thing? 

Sheriff JERNIGAN. That is very correct, sir. 

Chairman KYL. Mr. Durham, you have seen this. 

Mr. DURHAM. Yes, but we don’t communicate too much with ICE. 

As you well know, we have got two main highways, 77 that goes 

down to Brownsville, Texas, and 281 that goes to McAllen, and 

each one of those stations has their Border Patrol stations on them. 

We just happen to be in the walk-around as far as all these illegals 

coming and walking around. The coyote brings them from the border, dumps them before they get to the Border Patrol station, and 

they walk around. So all we deal with is the Border Patrol. 

Chairman KYL. Well, again I want to personally express my appreciation to all of you for your testimony. I think it is enlightening. It is our job now to amplify this to our colleagues and explain some of the problems to them so that they will join us in trying to respond urgently to these needs by providing the resources 

necessary, the legal authority, and the other changes that are necessary to our laws to be able to solve the problem in both of the 

ways that T.J. Bonner identified. We are both committed to that. 

You are probably aware that we have cosponsored legislation together that tries to solve the problem in the way that you have recommended. 

Senator Cornyn. 

Chairman CORNYN. Well, Mr. Chairman, thank you for working 

with my Subcommittee. Senator Kyl and I have worked together 

and had a series of hearings which I think have helped shined 

some light on and better inform all of our colleagues about the 

48

challenge we have and the responsibility we have to step up and 

make up for years of inaction. 

It is going to require an extensive commitment, financial and 

otherwise, but this is a Federal responsibility. We ought to be 

grateful we have local law enforcement and Federal law enforcement agencies that are seriously undermanned because of lack of 

proper funding, but we have a lot of wonderful people who are willing to help and step up, and we appreciate that very much. But we 

are going to have to make a significant investment in human resources and technology in order to address this problem and provide support to local law enforcement, and training as well. 

But I think in the end, we have to have credible deterrence, and 

I think what Senator Kyl talked about in terms of what we do at 

the border, what we do in the interior, what we do at the workplace, is going to establish a credible deterrence so people don’t 

start out on that long journey unless they have some reason to believe that they are going to qualify to work within the law. That 

is what we don’t have now and what we need sorely is that deterrence. 

So thank you for each of you being here and your contribution. 

I thank the rest of the Border Sheriff’s Coalition from Texas for all 

of your good work, and hopefully we can say with some credibility 

that help is on the way. 

Sheriff JERNIGAN. Thank you. We thank you for your time and 

interest. 

Chairman KYL. You bet. 

I also want to mention there are no people more committed to 

resolving this problem than Senator Cornyn, than Senator Sessions, whom you heard. I love the way he puts things; he gets right 

to the heart of the matter. Senator Feinstein has been my Ranking 

Member ever since I came to the Senate and is very, very committed to working on these issues. The fact is that we have got a 

joint session of Congress over in the House of Representatives right 

now, or others of our colleagues would be here. So don’t take the 

absence of other Senators as a lack of interest. 

We will attack this problem, and one reason I have some confidence we will be successful is because we have had the testimony 

from you all, and I know that we will have your backing in trying 

to get this situation under control. I want to thank you all very, 

very much for what you have done here today. 

This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the Subcommittees were adjourned.] 

[Submissions for the record follow.]

49


28338.001
50


28338.002
51


28338.003
52


28338.004
53


28338.005
54


28338.006
55


28338.007
56


28338.008
57


28338.009
58


28338.010
59


28338.011
60


28338.012
61


28338.013
62


28338.014
63


28338.015
64


28338.016
65


28338.017
66


28338.018
67


28338.019
68


28338.020
69


28338.021
70


28338.022
71


28338.023
72


28338.024
73


28338.025
74


28338.026
75


28338.027
76


28338.028
77


28338.029
78


28338.030
79


28338.031
80


28338.032
81


28338.033
82


28338.034
83


28338.035
84


28338.086
85


28338.087
86


28338.088
87


28338.036
88


28338.037
89


28338.038
90


28338.039
91


28338.040
92


28338.041
93


28338.042
94


28338.043
95


28338.044
96


28338.045
97


28338.046
98


28338.047
99


28338.048
100


28338.049
101


28338.050
102


28338.051
103


28338.052
104


28338.053
105


28338.054
106


28338.055
107


28338.056
108


28338.057
109


28338.058
110


28338.059
111


28338.060
112


28338.061
113


28338.062
114


28338.063
115


28338.064
116


28338.065
117


28338.066
118


28338.067
119


28338.068
120


28338.069
121


28338.070
122


28338.071
123


28338.072
124


28338.089
125


28338.073
126


28338.074
127


28338.083
128


28338.084
129


28338.085
130


28338.075
131


28338.076
132


28338.077
133


28338.078
134


28338.079
135


28338.080
136


28338.081
137

Æ


28338.082