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Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005

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The U.S. Border Patrol will add 1,700 agents along the Mexican border before October, with Arizona getting more than 640, the agency said yesterday.

The number of agents in the Tucson sector will increase to 2,779 from 2,339 by the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, said Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar. The Yuma sector's total will rise to 757, up from 554.

For several years, the Tucson sector - which includes all of the Arizona border except a small stretch near California - has been the nation's busiest illegal immigrant border crossing area.

The new agents will boost the agency's total from 11,268 two months ago to almost 13,000, some of whom will still be in training, Aguilar said.

In addition, the Tucson sector will get $35 million to add infrastructure, including vehicle barriers in the Ajo and Tohono O'odham Nation areas; improved roadways there and around Naco and Douglas; more stadium-type lights between Naco and Douglas; and additional heavy steel fencing in the Douglas and Naco areas.

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Another $35 million will go toward completing another five miles of a 14-mile San Diego border fence - the bulk of the remaining project, Aguilar said.

The funds for agents come from the fiscal 2006 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill and from the fiscal 2005 Iraq war supplemental appropriations bill, Aguilar said in a teleconference and Sen. Jon Kyl's office announced in a news release.

California will get 352 new agents; Texas, 452; and New Mexico 253, Aguilar said.

"The personnel are absolutely key to our continued progress in gaining control of the border," he said. "In addition to this, of course, we will continue to build the infrastructure and continue to add technology."

Infrastructure also will be added in the Deming, N.M., area, Aguilar said.

Local sector chiefs will decide where to assign the new agents, he said.

The Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol "do have a strategy to get us where we need to be," Aguilar said. "It's a strategy that is incremental and the strategy is well thought-out."

He declined to say how many more agents he believes will be needed for control of the border, which has eluded federal authorities despite a near quadrupling of Border Patrol's agents over the past decade.

Record numbers of illegal immigrants have died trying to cross Arizona's desert the past two summers, despite added agents and other resources including helicopter patrols as part of the Arizona Border Control Initiative.

"It is critical to continue to add the technology and the tactical infrastructure and the personnel that are required," Aguilar said. Federal officials are working with Congress and the Bush administration to identify the best mix of resources, he added.

Technology in that mix will include additional use of unmanned aerial vehicles, Aguilar said. Agents use one such pilotless plane in the Tucson sector and will soon have another, likely in Arizona, he said.

The camera-equipped drones can detect people or vehicles, locate lost people and let agents check whether people or animals set off remote sensors.

© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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