More agents, aircraft to patrol border
BY JONATHAN ATHENS
Apr 2, 2005
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Federal authorities on Friday confirmed nearly half of the 534 soon-to-be-assigned additional U.S. Border Patrol agents for Arizona will be coming to the Yuma area.
Yuma Sector Border Patrol spokesman Joe Brigman said a total of 208 agents will be assigned to the Yuma sector in the coming months. Of those, 173 will be trainees and the remaining 35 will be experienced agents coming from Border Patrol sectors in California, Texas, Louisiana and Florida. Brigman did not say how many of the 23 additional aircraft might be assigned here.
Authorities did not specify how many agents would be assigned to Yuma earlier this week at the
Tucson news conference that announced Phase II of the Arizona Border Control Initiative. The initiative is a multi-agency effort to stop terrorists from entering the United States and to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants.
Brigman said Yuma currently has approximately 350 patrol agents and uses 10 aircraft.
The announcement comes as the sector saw a record number of illegal immigrant crossings, up by an estimated 70 percent from the year before.
Brigman said Border Patrol agents here arrested 60,119 illegal aliens between Oct. 1 and midnight Tuesday, compared to 35,602 arrested during the same time frame last year.
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Jonathan Athens can be reached at jathens@yumasun.com or 539-6857.
http://sun.yumasun.com/artman/publish/articles/story_15798.php
BY JONATHAN ATHENS
Apr 2, 2005
Email this page
Printer friendly page
Send Us Your News
Federal authorities on Friday confirmed nearly half of the 534 soon-to-be-assigned additional U.S. Border Patrol agents for Arizona will be coming to the Yuma area.
Yuma Sector Border Patrol spokesman Joe Brigman said a total of 208 agents will be assigned to the Yuma sector in the coming months. Of those, 173 will be trainees and the remaining 35 will be experienced agents coming from Border Patrol sectors in California, Texas, Louisiana and Florida. Brigman did not say how many of the 23 additional aircraft might be assigned here.
Authorities did not specify how many agents would be assigned to Yuma earlier this week at the
Tucson news conference that announced Phase II of the Arizona Border Control Initiative. The initiative is a multi-agency effort to stop terrorists from entering the United States and to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants.
Brigman said Yuma currently has approximately 350 patrol agents and uses 10 aircraft.
The announcement comes as the sector saw a record number of illegal immigrant crossings, up by an estimated 70 percent from the year before.
Brigman said Border Patrol agents here arrested 60,119 illegal aliens between Oct. 1 and midnight Tuesday, compared to 35,602 arrested during the same time frame last year.
---
Jonathan Athens can be reached at jathens@yumasun.com or 539-6857.
http://sun.yumasun.com/artman/publish/articles/story_15798.php