Illegal traffic moving east after Goldwater lockdown

After the halt of illegal immigrant activity on Yuma’s Barry M. Goldwater Range, illicit drug smuggling and assaults on Border Patrol officers farther east has risen sharply.
 
In the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, east of the Marine Corps' portion of the range, the amount of marijuana seized has increased 88 percent since 2004 and 228 percent since 1999, according to the patrol.
 
Violence has also escalated to the east.
 
“The (illegal immigrants) are becoming more aggressive as the difficulty to transfer humans has increased,” said Michael Scioli, Tucson Sector agent.
 
In 2004, the Tucson Sector, which extends from the Yuma-Pima County line to the Arizona-New Mexico border, had 103 assaults on officers, according to the patrol. Last year, it jumped to 261.
 
By making human trafficking more difficult, the price for an individual to be smuggled has increased. Because of this, the smuggling cartels are becoming more aggressive in assuring the people being transported get to their destinations, said Scioli.
 
These changes to the east are being attributed to the Yuma Sector’s border lockdown, said Ben Vik, Yuma Sector supervisory agent.
 
Since 2004, a multifaceted attack by the air station and Customs and Border Protection stopped nearly all human and drug traffic on the Goldwater range, he said.
 
“Everyone we are catching in Wellton is coming from the east now,” said Vik.
 
In the past, most illegal immigrant apprehensions came from the south.
 
This recent rise in activity to the east of the Goldwater range is following a trend of illegal immigration that has held steady for 15 years.
 
In 1994, the Border Patrol launched Operation Gatekeeper, focusing border security on the five westernmost miles of the California-Mexico border. By 1997, the program extended eastward, allocating funds and manpower to the El Centro Sector, which ends at the Imperial Sand Dunes west of Yuma.
 
Another result of the illegal immigration moving eastward is the effect of humans and vehicles to the Sonoran pronghorn, a deerlike animal from the antelope family.
  
The increased activity is having an effect on the Sonoran pronghorn and will likely make an even larger impact this spring, said James Atkinson, wildlife biologist and Sonoran pronghorn recovery team leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department.
 
Between March and June, the fawns end up being separated from the does when illegal immigrants and Border Patrol personnel and vehicles disturb them.
 
The separation causes the fawns to die, said Atkinson. Fawns are disappearing at the same time each year because of disturbances.
 
“It’s the human presence that is doing this,” said Atkinson.
 
One concern of station personnel and U.S. Fish and Wildlife is that the ground activity will drive the Sonoran pronghorn onto the Barry M. Goldwater Range.
 
However, the Sonoran pronghorn have recently been showing no organized migrations. They have a massive flight response, causing them to flee from minimal disturbances.
 
“The pronghorn have been unexpectedly popping up with no explanation,” said Atkinson. “I don’t have an answer yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some of these animals had to move a great distance every day to avoid disturbances.”
 
The animals have not migrated directly onto Goldwater range. However, if they do begin to move, U.S. Fish and Wildlife could place flight restrictions above the range, said Pete Loughlin, station mission assurance director.

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Reprinted from The Desert Warrior, the newspaper of the Marine Corps Air Station.