Bill Sends Border Agents South

A congressional committee has decided Twin Falls border patrol agents are better off serving on the Mexican border, but the Twin Falls County prosecutor contends the agents have more than enough work to do within his jurisdiction.

Tucked inside a $25 billion spending bill is a mandate to shift the priorities of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Three Twin Falls agents would be relocated south if it is enacted.

It is a move to amass agents near the border to stop illegal aliens from coming in, and to concentrate on employers who hire them.

The bill designates money for 300 more Border Patrol agents, as well as shifting 700 to the Mexican border. The Twin Falls agents would be replaced by an unspecified number of investigators to work with local authorities and inspect work sites.

While the Twin Falls office has shipped out up to 900 illegal aliens during each of the past two years, the investigators would look more at document vendors, alien smuggling, and illegal use of public benefits, said Theodore Denning, Border Patrol deputy assistant chief in Havre, Mont.

That worries Twin Falls County Prosecutor Richard Bevan, who deals with Border Patrol agents every week in obtaining hold orders to keep suspected aliens in jail and sending criminals back to their countries.

“I think it could have a direct impact on our ability as enforcers of the law,” he said.