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COCHISE COUNTY -- The number of illegal immigrants encountered in Cochise County is increasing again in what Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever likens to a tidal wave.
"Highway 80 is just humming as is Davis Road," Dever said Thursday. "You can see, smell and feel more of them coming. We're being drowned by a tidal wave. We are gasping for air."
Dever is not surprised that figures released earlier this week by U.S. Border Patrol officials show that more than half of the illegal immigrants taken into custody in the agency's Tucson Sector were in Cochise County.
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He is not alone. Other local residents and officials aren't stunned by the agency's figures.
According to the figures, of the 345,543 people apprehended in the Tucson Sector from Oct. 1, 2002, to Tuesday, 175,223 were taken into custody in Cochise County. The Tucson Sector apprehensions increased by 4 percent and the county's by 11 percent compared to those taken into custody from Oct. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2002.
For the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico, the apprehension figures went down 2.4 percent -- from 955,310 to 932,000 -- from the previous federal fiscal year to the one that ended Tuesday.
The government keeps its statistics by fiscal year.
There were years, such as 1999 and 2000, when the number of illegal immigrants coming through Cochise County was higher. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the number of apprehensions declined, but now it is increasing again, the sheriff said.
Roving checkpoints and patrols have helped the U.S. Border Patrol apprehend illegal immigrants, but Dever said he is worried that county residents' lives are in jeopardy because of the unsafe driving of some of the people transporting illegal immigrants and the actions of those who are involved in smuggling people.
On Davis Road near Tombstone, that connects U.S. 191 and Highway 80, "car loads run 80 to 90 mph," he said, adding 87 percent of the traffic on Davis Road consists of non-county residents.
Setting up special traffic checkpoints also found illegal immigrants using High Lonesome Road near Bisbee.
Sheriff deputies' checkpoints are successful for a few hours until the people smuggling illegal immigrants or narcotics get the word and change their routes.
"We are successful for a couple of hours," Dever said "They have a more sophisticated communications network than we do."
Smugglers have forward observers watching the best ways to send their illegal cargos through.
"We sit out there watching them watching us watching them," the sheriff said.
Trails through the mountains, the San Pedro River corridor and other places also are major routes. It is not unusual for sheriff deputies to find groups of 40 or 50, Dever said. Deputies then call for U.S. Border Patrol, which takes the illegal immigrants into custody.
The federal government has failed in its job, even though U.S. Border Patrol agents are doing good work, Dever said.
The sheriff is pessimistic that a plug stopping the flow of illegal immigrants will ever be put in place in Cochise County.
U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., whose district includes the county, said the Border Patrol figures "comes as no surprise to Cochise County or to me."
He promised he will bring short-term and long-term relief through the temporary worker bill he and others introduced. He said a worker program "ultimately is the only viable solution."
Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol, said the bill Kolbe wants to have Congress pass "is complete nonsense. It's amnesty."
The problem is the U.S. government has not done its job, and the Mexican government is doing everything it can to have more of its people come to the United States, Spencer said.
The American Border Patrol, which is not associated with the U.S. Border Patrol, is using high-tech items, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors and live-video feeds, to gather information about the illegal activities crossing the border to inform the public of what is happening, he said.
While U.S. citizens want the border controlled, the government does not appear to be listening, Spencer said.
"There seems to be a complete disconnect between the desire of the people and the government," he said.
It looks like Arizona and Cochise County will remain the main illegal path into the United States from Mexico, Spencer said.
Inga McCord knows the disturbing affects of illegal immigrant traffic. Her home is in Stump Canyon, and there hardly isn't a night when illegal immigrants do not go by her home.
"I'm furious," McCord said.
A longtime outspoken critic of what the illegal immigrants are doing to the environment, she said she sees more trails being cut by those who travel through the Huachuca Mountains.
"I see new trails every week," McCord said.
She supports putting the U.S. military along the border, something national leaders say they will not do.
If something isn't done to control the border, "we're headed for more troubled times," McCord said.
Although she said she can support a portion of Kolbe's guest-worker bill, she cannot agree to all its provisions because it will lead to amnesty for those who are in the country illegally.
Those people entering the United States illegally in search of jobs are the only people bothering McCord. Although the federal government is closed-mouth about the nationalities, other than Mexicans, of those apprehended in Arizona, she said she has been told by more than one Border Patrol agent that some are from countries that support terrorism.
"We've got some bad guys coming in," McCord said.
For Douglas Mayor Ray Borane, whose Arizona community shares the border with the Sonoran city of Agua Prieta, it appears that after a short hiatus, the number of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States through Cochise County will once again go up.
Although figures released Wednesday show the number of illegal crossers apprehended by agents at the Border Patrol's Douglas Station declined, Borane said he is convinced the flow will pick up again, and the Douglas area will once again become a major conduit.
The agency's Willcox Station also saw a decline in the number of apprehensions, but those who work out of the Naco Station saw a 53 percent increase from 61,991 to 95,087.
Saying he admires Kolbe for introducing the bill, Borane said the proposal has too many loopholes that will not stop illegal immigration.
The U.S. Border Patrol is reacting to the problem not working hard enough to solve it, the Douglas mayor said. As an example, the three-week pilot program in September that chartering planes to move illegal immigrants apprehended in Arizona to Texas "was a waste of taxpayers dollars."
According to federal officials, transporting the nearly 6,000 illegal immigrants from Arizona to four communities in Texas, where they were deported to Mexico, cost $1.12 million.
The program only allowed the people smugglers time to relax, Borane said. Now that the charter flights have ended, he said the people-smuggling will start.
"It will be wave after wave coming across the border, like waves hitting a beach," he said. "People are not going to stop entering the country illegally, and, unfortunately, Cochise County is a good avenue to do that."
HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 458-9440 Ext. 115 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
Joe Hicks wrote on Oct 8, 2007 2:22 PM: