USMC Color Guard - Mounted on BLM Mustangs
Immigration enforcement and drug smuggling
continue to be top priorities for the Department of Homeland Security, and the
Border Patrol's budget has swelled accordingly.
They've added more agents, more
technology, and higher fences.
increasing from just $262,647
in 1990
Despite such progress, human smugglers and
drug traffickers have simply pushed further into mountainous, difficult terrain
to avoid detection.
That's where horses come in.
Since the Border Patrol was founded in 1924, horseback patrols have been widely utilized. In fact, mounted patrols are said to have begun as early as 1904, in El Paso, where men on horseback policed against Chinese immigrants. Horse patrol units now exist along the border in various sectors, through California, Arizona, and Texas
Horse patrols are specialized work. Of the
2,600 or so agents in the border patrol's San Diego sector, only 18 work in the
horse unit. That's a big change since the Border Patrol began in 1924. Horses
were then its primary mode of transport.
The region is isolated and mountainous.
Agents say horses have several advantages over vehicles, including lasting
longer, better visibility and greater accessibility on difficult terrain.
Ranchers in the area often prefer horses on their land to trucks or ATVs.
And agency-wide, the use of horses is
apparently on the rise. According to statistics on the Customs of Border Patrol
website, in 2011, there were 334
horse units in the Border Patrol. That's a 33 percent rise from 2008.
In the San Diego sector's horse unit, just
10 of the 75 agents who recently applied to join the horse unit were accepted
for training, Cluff said, and eight graduated.
"You can go into an area at night on
horseback and practically go undetected, which is a big advantage in what we
do," said Jaime Cluff, a supervisory Border Patrol agent.
Bolstering border security, including horse
patrols, is a key part of the comprehensive immigration reform bill debate in
Congress. The San Diego sector's planned expansion of its horse unit is not
part of that bill, but future expansion hinges on its fate in Congress.
In June, the Senate passed a bill calling
for $46 billion more over 10 years for border security. The money would support
hiring more agents and horse patrols, using 24-hour surveillance systems and
building 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Border Patrol's annual budget for
fiscal 2012 was $3.5 billion.
And more U.S. citizens than ever before are
now being
caught smuggling, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. In
fact, 75 percent of people caught with drugs by the Border Patrol are U.S.
citizens, according to the report. It examined 40,000 seizures and suspect
information, and drew the conclusion that 80 percent had involved U.S.
citizens. The rate has increased every year from 2005 until 2011.
Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San
Diego, says that border security should remain a priority. Nunez attributes the
drop in arrests to the recession and its effect on the job market.
"There are still hundreds of thousands
of people coming to this country illegally every year," Nunez said,
calling drug smugglers and terrorists part of the problem. "So, the
border's not secure, and there's plenty of work to do."
OROVILLE, Wash. - Astride sturdy mustangs
named Okanogan and Spurs, US Border Patrol agents Darrel Williams and Justin
Hefker ride quietly along a ridgeline above the Similkameen River valley.
The mustangs are among a dozen the Border
Patrol's Spokane Sector has bought to patrol a 308-mile-long section of the
US-Canadian border from the crest of the Cascade Range in Washington state to
the Continental Divide in Montana.
"The reason we went with the horses
was to get into those hard-to-reach areas," said the patrol's assistant
chief of the region, Agent Lee Pinkerton.
The Border Patrol, a division of the
Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection service,
routinely uses horses on the southern border with Mexico. But the mustangs
owned by the Spokane Sector are the first to watch the northern border, said
Pinkerton.
The Border Patrol's "Operation Noble
Mustang" adopts horses from the US Bureau of Land Management's wild horse
and burro program, blending today's technology with yesterday's law enforcement
traditions, the agency said.
On a recent day, Richard Graham,
agent-in-charge of the Border Patrol station in Oroville, rides along as his
agents patrol a small section of the border. The avid horseman sings the
praises of mustangs and their ability to patrol the border with minimal
environmental damage.
In the valley below, aspen, cottonwoods,
and a few pine flank the river that flows from Canada into the United States.
Along the river is a Prohibition-era dirt "whisky trail" that shows
recent activity from modern smugglers bringing different contraband, most
likely potent "B.C. Bud" marijuana, from Canada.
The mustangs' big bones and large hoofs
give them a sure-footedness that makes them a perfect fit for scaling the steep
hillsides and thick forests along the border, Graham said. They also have less
of an impact on the fragile wilderness ground than motorized vehicles, he said.
"These horses are truly American. They
are a product that's unique to the United States, and we are putting them in a
position to help us protect the US," Pinkerton said. "There's
something inherently right in doing that."
The BLM Freeze Brand
The patrol contracts with local ranchers to
board and feed the animals. Because they are owned by the government, the
agency saves money it used to spend on leasing horses from local ranchers,
Pinkerton said.
The mustangs were rounded up in the BLM
wild horse adoption program, broken by inmate wranglers at a Colorado prison,
then sent to the Border Patrol's Colville station in Washington state for final
training.
Graham's station is responsible for an
80-mile stretch of border that includes about 50 miles of the Pasayten
Wilderness Area, a 529,477-acre tract where motorized vehicles are prohibited
and there are few roads.
Along the Spokane sector, agents also
patrol the smaller Salmo-Priest wilderness of northeastern Washington state, as
well as Montana's Glacier National Park, where it abuts Canada's Waterton Lakes
National Park.
Graham's station has four mustangs, as well
as three mules and a handful of horses leased from local ranches. Others are
assigned to stations in Metaline Falls and Curlew in Washington state, as well
as Whitefish, Mont.
Law enforcement aircraft have limited use
in the wild, Pinkerton said. It is difficult to see people hiding beneath the
tree canopy, and wilderness laws limit how low aircraft can fly, he said.
"We're going back to the 1800s style
of doing this because it is successful," he said. "On the ground, a
horse is going to be the best mode of transportation in those areas."
Agents on horseback look for signs of
border crossings and watch for low-flying aircraft that drug smugglers are
increasingly using.
The drawbacks are the heavy snow that keeps
horses out of some high country areas for months at a time during winter, and
the spring runoff, which makes some creeks and streams impassable, Pinkerton
said. But those natural hazards also keep smugglers out, he said.
The need for the mustangs became more
urgent after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Graham said. Previously, the Border
Patrol's focus in the area was rounding up illegal workers in orchards. Now the
threat of terrorists sneaking in is a bigger concern.
Command Sgt. Maj. David Hudson, right, and
Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and the chief's
senior enlisted advisor, ride Border Patrol horses during a visit to the U.S.
border with Mexico near Columbus, N.M. Photo by Sgt. Jim
Greenhill, USA
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