The End of the Line: Arivaca and the Secure Border Initiative
by Richard Conway and Mary Scott
published in The Connection, May, 2007
Last week a group of Arivacans gathered on a hilltop on the southwest edge of Arivaca. It was an exquisite evening and the view was extraordinary. But this was not the reason they were there. In November of 2005 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) and in September of 2006 the Boeing Company was awarded the contract to design and implement the SBInet, a multiyear program that will use the latest in technology and strategies to attempt to secure America’s borders. All this was interesting news coming from a place far from southern Arizona. But then “Project 28” appeared and Arivaca found itself in the middle of a major trial of the entire border strategy. And this hilltop was ground zero.
Project 28 is a $20M effort to test SBInet on one the most challenging stretches of the southern border. It parallels 28 miles of border from a western end 16.5 miles west of the Port of Entry in Sasabe to an eastern end 11.5 miles east of Sasabe and immediately southwest of Arivaca. Project 28 includes 9 redeployable sensor towers, a Command, Control & Communications center in Tucson, a Forward Operating Base in Sells, 50 technology retrofitted Border Patrol vehicles and new transport vans. The sensor towers are at the core of the project – and the controversy. They are 98 feet high and are mounted with cameras, radar, communications equipment and a loud-hailer horn. Each tower is installed inside a fenced area along with a satellite dish, a continuously running generator and a propane tank. A tower was successfully tested under controlled conditions in Florida at the end of March. The first Project 28 tower has been deployed in the Altar Valley. All towers are scheduled for installation by the end of May and for full operational capability in June.
Following the expected success of Project 28, DHS and Boeing plan to have the entire southern border secured by mid-2008. They hope that SBInet will enhance detection and apprehension of illegal border entrants and effectively halt the illegal entry of people and contraband and the loss of life that results from the border struggle. They further hope that people and communities along the border will realize immediate benefit from the program as the destructive impact of entrants, drug smugglers, and Border Patrol activity is minimized.
Arivaca is a beleaguered town that struggles daily with border problems and would be the first to welcome a real solution. But misgivings and frustrations among its inhabitants are many and wide-ranging. As people on the hilltop spoke, it became clear that SBInet is not welcome along the Arivaca borderlands. Concerns were voiced about the violation of our beautiful and quiet desert, the loss of our privacy, and the specifics of the system’s architecture and use of technology. There was unanimous frustration with the extremely brief and poorly executed period for public comment. The Draft Environmental Assessment was delivered to the Arivaca Library Saturday, April 14th. Despite the fact that the library would not reopen until Tuesday, the deadline for comment was Wednesday, April 18th. Although Congressman Grijalva’s office in Washington DC represented that they would press for an extended deadline, no such extension was granted.
The concerns addressed in the few email messages that were sent before the April 18th deadline were dismissed in a document delivered to the Library the following Tuesday. The eastern-most tower in Project 28 is labeled TUS M6, with a “preferred” location of Site 29 (that very hilltop just southwest of Arivaca) and it is the lightning rod for concern. Although four alternate sites for M6 have been identified (and each of these seems a better choice for many reasons), this hilltop on Tres Bellotas Road closest to town is preferred by the contractor. The citizens of Arivaca have expressed these concerns about the site:
· Placement of this tower effectively moves the international border to within a mile of Arivaca. Why not choose a site closer to the actual border, which is about 12 miles away?
· This site has a great view of the citizens of Arivaca, their townsite and their homes. Because of local topography, however, it has extremely limited views of the two major corridors of illegal entry, along the Yellow Jacket and Fraguita washes. Who is being watched?
· This is the easternmost site for Project 28, and it is on Arivaca’s southwest corner. Given what we’ve seen historically from selective enforcement, will this just push the flood of migrants to the east side of our community?
· With an output of 130 decibels (dB), the loud hailer-horn on the tower will affect public health. Experts state that immediate damage can result from exposure to sounds in that range. At 115 dB, damage can occur in less than 30 seconds, and for every 3 dB above that level, permissible exposure time is cut in half. There are homes, families and livestock (including horses, cows, goats and chickens) very nearby. And what impact will 130 decibels have on our birds, bats, bees and other wildlife?
· The site is very close to community assets that will be severely impacted by use of the loud-hailer horn. The Desert Light Labyrinth, a sacred space for meditation and prayer, and the non-profit Lonesome Oak Ranch, which offers horsemanship lessons to children, are both within a mile and a half and in direct line of sight to the tower location.
· Despite the fact that the federal government controls a huge proportion of radio communication bands, SBInet will be using a band in that tiny part of the radio spectrum available to the public. This will at a minimum increase interference in our wireless communications, and may disrupt them completely. Wireless communications are essential in our remote community with many telecommuters; we have no other high-speed Internet access. Further, using the public radio spectrum leaves this security project wide open to hackers.
· Underlying all concerns is the failure of the Administration to create a realistic and effective immigration policy.
DHS responses have made it clear that Project 28 is a done-deal and based on its performance will be the new model for border protection. The Border Patrol declined an invitation to Arivaca’s first evening gathering but consented to meet with citizens at the Arivaca Community Center April 30th, the evening of the publication date of this edition of the Connection. Check with the Arivaca Library or www.arivaca.net for more information about Project 28. A copy of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement along with public comments and DHS responses is available at the Library. A summary of the April 30th meeting will be posted on www.arivaca.net. Boeing maintains an SBInet Web page at http://www.boeing.com/ids/advanced_systems/sbinet/. Googling SBInet will provide an abundance of information.
The coming months will be very revealing as border entrants confront cutting-edge technology and military strategies on this most difficult 28 miles of the nearly 6000 miles of America’s land border. Will they merely use topography to travel the canyons and washes outside of the watchful eyes of the towers, or will they flow around the east end of the 28 mile line to the corridors that will bring them through the most populated areas of Arivaca, as well as Tubac, Amado, and Green Valley? We know they will keep coming. How will DHS measure success? Boeing can test functionality, but can the Border Patrol test effectiveness? Crossings along the 28 mile stretch will diminish just because it’s easier to cross elsewhere. And how will they count those they do not see? Until the entire border is similarly secured how can you test the well-funded responses of sophisticated drug smugglers or the ingenuity and will of impoverished people seeking a better life?
