Speech #990215854

Residents have dubbed Highway 117. about a mile north of the border. Camino de la Muerte. or Highway of Death. On June 18. the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies conducted a seminar on the subject of "the Security Implications of Immigration Flows." Mr. Richard Inzunza. Special Assistant to the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. spoke at the gathering. Mr. Inzunza strongly emphasized the violent and criminal elements of life along the border. He noted first that every fifth Border Patrol agent can expect to be shot at. and then that the INS makes more drug seizures than any other Federal agency. When a questioner pressed him about alleged civil rights violations by the Border Patrol. Mr. Inzunza expressed a combination of exasperation and frustration. Noting that each Border Patrol agent arrests an average of 460 individuals each year. he appeared to suggest that such totals and the high level of crime make dangerous confrontations between border officials and illegal aliens almost inevitable. While those factors by no means excuse civil rights violations or the excessive use of force by any authorities. they are suggestive of the high level of tension prevailing in the border regions. In the view of some Border Patrol officials. the tension may be about to overflow. According to the Los Angeles Times. these officials believe that the Civilian Materiel Assistance groupwhich some have referred to as a vigilante organizationhas crossed the Mexican border and confronted migrants who they suspect of drug trafficking. the leader of the CMA group. J.R. Hagan. denies these charges.