Under 'Streamline,' expect jail time when caught

Chief Border Patrol Agent, Del Rio Sector Randy R. Hill grew up as a military brat. His father was assigned to air defense artillery in the U.S. Army at Fort Briggs in El Paso. Hill joined the Border Patrol in 1978 at the Las Cruces, New Mexico station. Before his assignment to lead the Del Rio sector, he was the deputy chief patrol agent in the El Centro Sector in California. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde) (click image to enlarge) Workflow of Operation Streamline Apprehension in the field In-process at the CBP field office, gather biographical data, take fingerprints and conduct background check of criminal history. In the post 9/11 world, the CBP interfaces its databases with the FBI. Press charges for “Illegal Entry” Send to a detention facility, usually the Val Verde County Detention Facility CBP agents who are temporarily assigned as “prosecution agents” process paperwork for the Assistant U.S. Attorney’s office in Del Rio. All suspects are sent before the U.S. federal judge in Del Rio within two to three days of apprehension. First time offenders are charged with misdemeanors. Sentences handed down are generally for two to four weeks jail time. Sentences of up to two years in jail for repeat offenders if convicted of a felony “re-entry after deportation.” After conviction, defendants are turned over to the U.S. Marshals, who find prison bed space in Val Verde, Kinney, and Maverick Counties, to serve their prison sentence. Workflow prior to Operation Streamline Apprehension in the field In-process at CBP field office. Suspect given a future court date for removal purposes and the defendant signs a promise to appear. Defendant released on own recognizance into the U.S. if OTM. Most Mexican nationals were transported and released in Mexico. Most OTM defendants were never seen again. Prosecution was reserved for violent offenders, gang members, suspected narcotics smugglers, and those with a history of repeated immigration offenses. Apprehensions by CBP in the Del Rio Sector were trending up in FY 2005. 'Streamline' was enacted in Dec. 2005, well into the first quarter of FY 2006. (Data contributed by CBP Del Rio Sector/Graphic by Joe Hyde) (click image to enlarge)   When comparing the first four months under 'Streamline' in FY 2007 with the identical four months of without 'Streamline' in FY 2006, there is a distinguishable 61 percent drop in total apprehensions by the Del Rio Sector of the CBP. (Data from CBP Del Rio Sector/Graphic by Joe Hyde) (click image to enlarge)

Chief Patrol Agent Randy R. Hill, the head of the Del Rio sector of the U.S. Customs and Border Security/Border Patrol (CBP) is pleased with the results of Operation Streamline. He can recite a long list of statistics that show the program is working, but the most important benefit of Operation Streamline, according to Hill, is that it allows his command to concentrate more on its number one priority, border security.

“Our number one priority is protecting our border from terrorists, then criminal aliens, and third drug interdiction. What Operation Streamline has done is removed the ‘clutter’ of economic refugees from our primary mission. When we relieve ourselves of dealing with a large influx of economic refugees, it allows us to concentrate on border security priorities,” he said.

“Economic refugees” in the Del Rio sector are mostly Mexican and “Other Than Mexican” or OTMs, illegally entering the country looking for better paying jobs and opportunity. The CBP uses the term “economic refugee” to differentiate between a unarmed, non-dangerous illegal alien and what they call a “criminal alien,” or an illegal alien with a criminal rap sheet in the U.S. or some other country. Operation Streamline has reduced the flow of economic refugees to almost a trickle. Apprehensions for the Eagle Pass area of the sector are down a whopping 77 percent this fiscal year. Across the sector, apprehensions are down 61 percent this year.

“Other sectors are taking Streamline as a ‘best practice’ and it’s being watched at the highest level of the federal government,” Hill explained. “They are already adopting similar programs in the El Paso sector and the Yuma sector. I know the San Diego sector is watching closely too,” Hill said.

To describe how effective Streamline has been for the Del Rio sector, Hill said, “We have heard of apprehensions in Yuma [Arizona] where the aliens were from Ciudad Acuña.” That is, if Mexicans right across the border here are traveling 978 miles to cross at Yuma, the program here is working.

Freeing the agents of the economic refugee “clutter” has allowed the sector to focus more attention on narcotics trafficking. Streamline started during the second quarter of fiscal year 2006. That year the marijuana seizures more than doubled from 24,000 pounds to 53,000 pounds. Cocaine seizures increased from 10.16 pounds to 403.1 pounds.

The big question yet to be determined is, will Operation Streamline only shift illegal alien traffic away from the Del Rio sector and increase it in other sectors? Hill says that along the entire U.S. – Mexico border, economic refugee traffic is down 18 percent. It is a trend he attributes to smarter border enforcement and more money and resources now available to the CBP. As an example, he cites the “Secure Border Initiative.” “CBP awarded the largest national security contract in U.S. history to Boeing,” Hill said.

Boeing’s charge is to examine the operations and design the right mix of technology, manpower, and infrastructure to perform the CBP mission. Boeing calls the system SBInet, and it will provide CBP personnel advantages in securing the nation's land borders through the most effective integration of current and next generation technology, infrastructure, staffing and response platforms.

Hill is also pleased about the impact of Operation Streamline on morale. “It’s been a real and beneficial morale booster. Our agents like it and they think that it [the Streamline process] is what should happen. There’s finality to their work when they know the aliens caught are really going to be detained, and they are delighted with the program. Instead of catching 20 or 30 aliens in a day, in-processing them, and then releasing them, our patrols may only catch one or two. But they know those one or two will be prosecuted,” Hill said. The reduction of economic refuge apprehensions significantly reduces paperwork and keeps his agents out on patrol, in the field, more hours of the day. “And that’s where they belong,” Hill concluded.

Streamline Facts

• Illegal aliens are convicted under United States Code (8 USC, Section 1325)
• All illegal aliens are given due process, to include the U.S. Constitutional right to an attorney.
• Most illegal aliens plead guilty during their arraignment
• Typical Penalties:
  • First offense: 14-30 days in jail
  • Repeat offenders: up to 180 days in jail
• If the judge upgrades the offense to a felony, of Re-Entry After Deportation (8 USC, Section 1326): Up to 2 years in jail.