FORT HUACHUCA - The U.S. Border Patrol began flying the Hunter unmanned aerial vehicles along the international boundary with Mexico earlier this week, Fort Huachuca Garrison Commander Col. Jonathan Hunter said Wednesday.
The fort's military police officers are working with the federal agency to reduce the number of illegal immigrants from coming on to post property, the colonel told more than 70 people who attended a Fort Huachuca 50 dinner Wednesday.
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Andy Adame, a spokesman for the U.S Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said the use of the Hunters is a follow-up evaluation of another pilotless plane and the program is expected to conclude at the end of this year.
Previously, the agency evaluated the Hermes UAV, flying the aircraft off the post, Adame said Thursday.
The Army initially used the Hunters as a tactical, pilotless vehicle and some of the aircraft were used to gather intelligence information over Bosnia and they are being used in Iraq.
Adame said the evaluation of the twin-engined Hunter is a combination Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and Department of Defense program and the pilotless planes "will fly the pre-prescribed flight pattern of the Hermes."
Both the Hunter and the Hermes are Israeli-made UAVs.
The federal government did announce it would look into other UAVs as part of the evaluation process.
and the Hunter is the next aircraft as part of the program, he said, adding the estimated cost for the Hunter evaluation is slightly less than $2 million.
"UAVs play an important role," Adame said. The garrison commandersaid the post is the Army's center for UAV operations and soldiers have been trained to fly and operate Hunters on the post.
Another system soldiers are being trained to operate and maintain is the Shadow.
The colonel also told the dinner crowd that he is concerned about the number of illegal immigrants using post property as a path to enter the United States.
"One illegal is too many," he said.
On Monday, military police detained more than 70 illegal immigrants, he said.
On Thursday, he told the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review another 75 were discovered on post property Wednesday night after he had spoken at the dinner.
The military police are more proactive when it comes to looking for illegal immigrants by watching areas they know are used by people- smugglers, the colonel said.
Many nights, the MPs are out on ATVs, especially after being informed by the U.S. Border Patrol that a group has been spotted using trails in the mountains.
Adame said one of the harder jobs agents have is keeping track of illegal immigrants in the Huachuca Mountains. Part of the mountain chain is on the post.
According to figures provided by the post, in the last fiscal year - October 2003 through the end of this September - 3,086 illegal immigrants were detained on the post and turned over to the U.S Border Patrol.
That was more than double for the previous 12-month period when 1,230 illegal immigrants were detained on the post.
While the number is small when compared to the total number of more than 235,000 illegal immigrants taken into custody for the same period in Cochise County in the last fiscal year, Hunter said by working with U.S. Border Patrol agents his goal is to reduce the fort's number.
Last month, 105 illegal immigrants were detained on the post and that is up from the 54 found on the fort in October 2003, according to figures provided by the installation.
Both the colonel and Adame said the Army and the DHS agency have a good working relationship.
The colonel noted the agency uses fort facilities for other training and that has helped establish a good working relationship.
Hunter said in the past, illegal immigrants would travel through the post's cantonment area, that includes family housing, but now they are going around that area.
Thursday, while waiting for the Sierra Vista Veterans Day parade to start, Hunter said, "We have MPs who are very knowledgeable about the trails the illegals use on the fort. Our focus is to stop it."
