What is up with the Border Patrol’s Interstate 8 checkpoint between Yuma and the Valley? Agents hardly seem to ever be there anymore. What is the status of the checkpoint? Was it not an important component in their effort to seize contraband and illegal aliens? Were those agents reassigned to do more important work? – Interstate traveler, El Centro
Border Patrol operations locally and throughout the nation are evolving as a result of the 2012-2016 Border Patrol Strategic Plan presented to Congress by Border Patrol Chief Michael J. Fisher on May, 8 2012. The Strategic Plan uses a “risk-based” approach to securing the border, and it deploys its resources accordingly, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Armando Garcia.
Without disclosing too much operation details, one can expect the Border Patrol to keep “focusing enhanced capabilities” against the highest threats along the border and “rapidly responding” to them as well, Garcia said.
As for the status and importance of the checkpoint in question, it remains the same, Garcia said, although there is a noticeable absence of personnel in comparison to the recent past.
The checkpoint, and every other tool at the agency’s disposal, constitutes what Garcia said is a “multi-layer approach to enforcement.”
As per the Strategic Plan, any noticeable changes to how the agency operates aim to enhance its detection techniques in a more effective and efficient way. The change in operations in this case is not a matter of importance, Garcia said, but rather a change in “methodology” to identify and respond to risks.
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