Oscar
Charleston, SC
Male, 31
Spent a bit over four years (2006-2010) serving as a Border Patrol Agent in Tucson Sector, AZ: the busiest sector in the country. Worked numerous positions, and spent the last year and a half operating/instructing ground radar installations. Duties included: field patrols, transport, processing, control room duties, transportation check, checkpoint operations, static watch duties, etc.
From an official standpoint, obviously the Border Patrol does not endorse or condone "vigilante" style groups like the Minutemen. That being said, I don't mind them. We were required to report them and confront them if we found them operating in our AOR. This was rare though, as our sector was far too busy. We had a lot of people who would call in and help us (even had a lady who erected a watchtower in her backyard).
I never viewed the Minutemen as a "lunatic fringe" group. Most of the people are farmers/landowners or friends/relatives of them...people who are suffering at the hands of the border problem.
The stories of American citizens being forced to leave or sell their homes and land because of the flow of illegals/cartel members etc. is heartbreaking. So, officialy -no we don't support them, but on a personal level none of us really cared. We never had any citizens arrests etc.
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No idea. That's a customs question, so I'm not sure. Mexican customs is pretty lax.
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I'm not entirely sure, but I'd believe so. Children are always at the mercy of their parents decision, regardless of their citizenship. A case would have to be made to the authorities (child protective services) to warrant removing the children from their parents.
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Not at all. Stolen vehicles are cheap and disposable. We used to capture dozens of stolen vehicles per week. It's also why car insurance is incredibly high in the South West compared to other parts of the country (especially if you own a full size pickup truck). They are also very fond of using rental cars (obviously with no intention to return them).
If they get chased, they'll just get away if they can and then bail out. It's far too expensive/time consuming to use properly purchased vehicles. The vehicles we're talking about are used for delivering large amounts of weed being shipped to local stash houses. When they are talking about dispersal, they're not talking about normal street dealers. These vehicles would be loaded with 1500-2000 lbs. of weed each.
Sometimes they even drive these vehicles in pairs or trios. There are tons of small-time cartel lackeys in Phoenix, Tucson etc. who's job is solely to steal vehicles and bring them down to the border, stash them in the desert for use by drivers.
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Dry Cleaner
Why don't more dry cleaners stay open late?
Social Security Employee
Did the US economic collapse cause a surge in disability applicants?
Toll Collector
What happens when a car blows past a tollbooth without paying?
BP Agents have authority to apprehend illegal immigrants anywhere in the country. However, special statutes and laws which allow us to set up traffic check-points, inspect items/people coming into the country, and stop vehicles for immigration purposes diminishes as you move further into the country.
If, for instance I was in Ohio and someone admitted to being an illegal immigrant, I could apprehend them. This of course assumes I'm on duty and in uniform etc. In this instance I would end up taking them to the nearest I.C.E. processing center.
Illegal is illegal.
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Jai,
This website exists for occupational questions, not debates on police procedure. If you have questions or concerns regarding immigrations laws and procedures, you need to contact a consulate or a sector headquarters, perhaps even an ICE field office. I'll simply say this, in four years and thousands of people apprehended, we never had a person who was wrongfully imprisoned or caught. If a person is caught lying to a federal agent, you've now committed a crime worse than illegal entry.
If a person lies about his country of origina successfully and gets sent to another country, well he'll have to deal with their immigration service or federal police. Feel free to take your chances. I've met Guatemalan and Mexicon federal police - not the guys you probably want to screw around with.
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Yes.
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