Photos:
The indoor parking garage filled with tons of border patrol cars
Old immigration records from the building's archives
A boat used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Lake Erie (in service)
Inside the boat
Today, we toured the facilities of some federal law enforcement agencies. Although doing so wasn't even on my mind when I sat down with Judge Helmick in September of last year to plan my Winterim, it was a good experience because I now have some more background of what defendants go through before they go to court. As stated last Friday, the United States government (represented by Assistant United States Attorneys) moves forward with a prosecution by receiving evidence from a federal law enforcement agency. The federal law enforcement agencies indict individuals almost like how local law enforcement agencies do (for more information for how the government moves forward with a prosecution, see blog post "1-16-2015: The Prosecutor").
Judge Helmick and I, along with Judge Knepp, Turner Booth, and John Sullivan, headed east to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Sandusky Bay Station in Port Clinton. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. Housed in the Sandusky Bay Station are three CBP agencies: the Office of Air and Marine (OAM; often called the "tan guys" because they wear tan colored pants), the Office of Border Patrol (OBP; often called "green guys" because they wear green pants), and the Office of Field Operations (OFO; often called "blue guys" because they wear blue pants). They all have similar functions, but each agency has different "specialties." The OAM protects the border from the air and on water (Lake Erie). The OBP protects areas between legal ports of entry. The OFO meets individuals at legal ports of entry (these are the people stamping our passports at the airport).
The facility, built in 2012, cost $25 million, and is the first to house the OAM, OBP, and OFO in the same building. It mainly consists of offices, but it also includes a room to house search dogs and five short-term detention cells used for booking arrested individuals.
We talked to Border Patrol for a long time in particular about how to prosecute those caught being illegally present in the United States. Along with commentary from the two judges, they explained it's a fine line the government must traverse. The officers explained that if they apprehend individuals only on their first offense, they will usually deport them, with no further criminal charges against them, as it may not be in the OBP's interest to prosecute these individuals due to the cost and time-consuming nature of the process. However, if individuals repeatedly caught trying to cross the border with nothing to lose may face prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. The officers work a lot with Assistant United States Attorneys to determine when they should prosecute individuals.
One of the Border Patrol officers talked about what they look for. He explained that they cannot profile individuals and jump to conclusions about their legal status in the United States, because they have arrested illegal immigrants from all over the world. The officers say that the automatic assumption is that illegal aliens in the United States are from Mexico is wrong and ignorant because the countries of origin list of arrested individuals totals more than ninety countries. Both explained that they instead need to look for behavior. For example, one of the officers said there is a difference between a man driving his two children to the ice cream shop and a group of twenty individuals walking down the state highway. Both of them reiterated that they have to look at whole portraits of individuals when they are suspicious of something, and not just physical appearance.
Today was an eye-opening day, a change from being in and out of courthouses from morning to afternoon. It gave me more perspective of what else happens in the federal legal system apart from the courts. I understand more what happens to individuals when they are apprehended by the Border Patrol. And finally, it showed me the difficulty that the Border Patrol, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and judges have in trying to find appropriate punishments to deter the same individuals from trying to illegally enter the United States.
Fascinating. The patrol must be suspicious without being hostile and they must be careful not to tramp on the rights of US citizens. I just read an account of a man from Sudan who flew to Mexico, disappeared into the countryside, and then paid someone to board a frozen food truck headed to the US. As they approached the border the driver gave the refugees hats and gloves, told them to hide behind some boxes, and then turned the temperature down very low. When the border patrol opened the door of the truck the frigid air came pouring out and thinking that it was too cold for anyone to be in there they didn't bother to enter the truck.
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