PHOENIX — Shutting down scouting sites in Arizona is an effort the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol is putting at the forefront to thwart smuggling in the state. During a big mission this month, agents worked to curb that illegal activity.
On a mountaintop roughly 60 miles north of the border, Special Operations Border Patrol agents dropped from a helicopter into rough terrain. On the ground, they found a scouting base.
“It's a big win for us, taking away the operational advantage from the cartel and giving it back to ourselves,” Sean McGoffin, chief patrol agent for the Tucson Sector, said.
McGoffin says perches like these are used by cartel operatives to keep track of law enforcement movements and run drug and human smuggling operations.
RELATED STORY | At least 11 hurt in South Carolina beach town shooting
“When we go in on these individuals, we don't know if they're armed, we don't know what they're willing to do or how they're going to act,” McGoffin said. “So we need to do it fast, but we've got to do it safely, where we can protect our agents.”
During the mission just west of Ajo earlier this month, agents dismantled the scouting base and arrested two men from Mexico who had previously been deported. Both face smuggling, conspiracy, and immigration charges, according to the Border Patrol.
However, McGoffin says this is just one of many mountaintop perches.
“We have numerous ones that we've been aware of because they've used them over the years, multiple different times,” he said. “Predominantly, right now, we're seeing a lot of that activity on the Tohono O'odham Nation, because it's very remote, and it's up in the mountains.”
McGoffin says the U.S. Border Patrol works closely with the Mexican military to locate these sites, burn gear, and dismantle them on both sides of the border.
In April, at scouting bases in the remote Mexican desert, agents recovered rifles, bulletproof vests, ammunition, and radio equipment.
The mission: to stop smugglers from having a foothold on operations that lead into Arizona. That activity, McGoffin says, too often puts lives at risk.
“Which is a real travesty, because their bottom line is about money, where ours is about saving human life,” McGoffin said. “We have to witness deaths. We have to witness people left behind. And that's why we try to prosecute so hard, because we don't want people getting hurt.”
The Border Patrol Tucson Sector is collaborating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate the scouting site west of Ajo and pursue criminal charges.
This article was written by <i>Jane Caffrey for the Scripps News Group in Phoenix.</i>
