Flush with cash, CBP plans more Border Patrol stations, expanded checkpoints in AZ

But stakeholders in Pima and Santa Cruz counties say U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have shared little detail on the ambitious projects and are pressuring private landowners to sell their property to the agency before justifying the need for the projects, and before providing the public an opportunity to weigh in on them.

While CBP has contacted some local officials in Santa Cruz and Pima counties for their input, they have not announced any calls to the public for comment, as would be required under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.

"They’re very likely violating their own public engagement policies" by failing to announce the projects to the public, he said. "We shouldn’t have to rely on our (county) supervisors sending us the letters."

The Arizona Daily Star has identified five projects listed on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's "Acquisition Planning Forecast System" website, which records potential large contracts. The Star has also learned of an additional checkpoint expansion plan, on West Arivaca Road, that CBP has not yet announced.

The planning website lists new Border Patrol stations planned in Three Points, Sonoita and Casa Grande, and two Border Patrol checkpoint expansions: one on Interstate 19 near Amado, about 40 miles south of Tucson, and one east of Dateland, Arizona, on Interstate 8.

The Star reported in August that CBP had also approached the Arizona Land and Water Trust about purchasing its land near the Border Patrol checkpoint on West Arivaca Road, west of I-19, which locals say is often unmanned.

The trust's executive director, Cameron Becker, said the trust has declined to sell the land, which the trust bought for conservation purposes, not to be subdivided.

In an August letter to Pima County officials, CBP said it's preparing an environmental assessment to study the impact of a new station on 87 acres of Bureau of Land Management land on State Route 86 near Three Points. The listing on DHS's planning website said the new Three Points station will have capacity for 500 agents and cost more than $100 million.

The project is "intended to enhance border security within the U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Area of Responsibility, with an ultimate objective of increasing the probability of apprehension of those that have entered into the U.S. illegally," said the letter from CBP's John Petrilla.

The Center for Biological Diversity submitted comments on four of CBP's projects, despite the agency not providing notice of the public comment periods, McSpadden said. He wrote in his comments on the Three Points station that CBP and the BLM "should restart public scoping with broad notice, meaningful project information and a clear opportunity for affected communities and the public to participate."

Pima County Supervisor Jen Allen said it's not clear why the list of CBP projects are necessary.

"Putting it into the totality of existing infrastructure, plus all the proposed infrastructure, this is a massive build-out in Southern Arizona," Allen said Thursday. "I can’t understand how it's necessary, other than just a show of force, and that is often what we see coming from the agency in border communities."

The Star reported in August that, in communities near the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-19, north of Tubac, residents say the proposal to expand the checkpoint onto a 17-acre parcel of land east of the highway is unnecessary, costly and harmful to the local economy.

CBP intends to carry out that checkpoint expansion, with or without local support, and plans to acquire the land through eminent domain, Santa Cruz County officials have said. The landowner CBP has approached, Laurinda Oswald, said she intends to fight any effort by CBP to take her land by force. Oswald said she didn't believe the expansion was needed.

"They obviously just have way too much money to spend," Oswald told the Star last month.

CBP response

CBP has not answered the Star's questions on the projects, including the I-19 Border Patrol checkpoint expansion north of Tubac. The Star submitted detailed questions on the checkpoint-expansion proposal on Aug. 19, without response.

The Star submitted more questions to CBP Sept. 15 on the six Arizona projects identified by the Star. The questions included a request for CBP's strongest evidence demonstrating the need for the Border Patrol checkpoint expansions and new stations.

CBP officials ignored the Star's questions. On Friday, a spokesman shared a general statement via email.

"Funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill will allow CBP to make long-overdue improvements to border security infrastructure," spokesman John Mennell said in the statement. "We are in the early planning stages for new and modernized Border Patrol stations and checkpoints across the Southwest border. These investments will replace aging facilities, strengthen operations in key locations, and give our agents the resources they need to stop human and drug smugglers."

CBP's Mennell said a call for public input is planned for a future date.

"As potential locations are evaluated, CBP will seek input from local communities before projects move forward," he wrote.

The Tohono O'odham Nation's leaders have been advised of the proposed 87-acre Border Patrol station in Three Points, and consider it wasteful and unnecessary, tribal chairman Verlon Jose said in a Friday statement.

"The Nation has not yet entered into meaningful consultation with CBP on this issue. The federal government has claimed for months that they have operational control of the southern border and as it pertains to the Tohono O'odham Nation, we agree. The border is secure, thanks to our joint security measures," Jose said.

"Let's not forget that these are taxpayer funds being squandered on massive Border Patrol complexes and double walls. At a time when people can't afford basic commodities like gas and groceries, they should not be wasting precious taxpayer dollars."

Jose has spoken forcefully in recent months against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's plans to build a double border wall along the Nation's southern border with Mexico, despite the Nation's opposition and a lawsuit pending in federal court.

McSpadden said the Three Points project could harm two protected species, whose ranges overlap with the project site: the threatened cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, and the endangered Pima pineapple cactus.

"These are both protected species under the Endangered Species Act," he said. "We'll be calling for careful surveys and assessments, not just on (potential impacts of) the 87 acres, but what expanded patrol operations could do to those species and their habitat."

Sonoita station

In Sonoita, part of Santa Cruz County, CBP plans to build a station, at an estimated cost of more than $100 million, of either 40 acres or 75 acres, depending on the location.

A letter CBP sent to Santa Cruz County officials, requesting comments from local stakeholders, said the agency's selected location is a 40-acre undeveloped parcel, which is near Elgin Elementary School.

The letter also identified an alternative location on 75 acres along State Routes 82 and 83, which is near the existing, smaller Sonoita station.

Elgin School Principal Dan Erickson, also superintendent for the district, said he and other community members are concerned about the location option next to the school, which includes kindergarten through 8th grade.

While Erickson said the district strongly supports the Border Patrol, which has been a "fantastic partner," he added: "You don't build a prison near a school."

"We want to make sure we’re not disrupting what goes on with our mission, which is to provide a first-class education for all our kids," he said.

In comments submitted to CBP on the Sonoita project, McSpadden said CBP has failed to show the need for a new station there.

"Before acquiring and developing another site, CBP must explain why the existing station cannot meet a demonstrated need, whether the new facility would replace or supplement it, and what additional staffing and operations the proposal would enable," he wrote. "Those basic questions are unanswered in the scoping letter."

Santa Cruz County Supervisor John Fanning said he's concerned about the lack of transparency by CBP regarding the Sonoita station and its potential impact on an area known for sprawling ranches, wineries and wide-open spaces.

"My biggest dilemma is the lack of communication with the people it's most going to affect," he said. "And number two is the location right next to the school. ... I think they’re going to get less resistance to the station in Sonoita if they decide to build adjacent to where the station already is."

Fanning hasn't heard much local resistance to the idea of placing a larger Border Patrol station near the existing site, he said. 

The grasslands in the Sonoita-Elgin area connect four Sky Island mountain ranges: the Santa Rita Mountains, Whetstone Mountains, Huachuca Mountains and Patagonia Mountains, McSpadden wrote in his comments to CBP on the Sonoita station proposal.

"Together with the surrounding valleys and foothills, these ranges form part of the transboundary Madrean Sky Islands, a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot extending across the United States–Mexico border. Jaguars, ocelots, Mexican spotted owls and numerous other threatened and endangered species occur in the broader region," McSpadden wrote. "At a minimum, any Environmental Assessment must meaningfully examine habitat conversion and connectivity, protected species, water demand, community impacts and the reasonably foreseeable environmental effects of expanded station-supported operations."

Casa Grande station

A proposed new Border Patrol station in Casa Grande is also listed on DHS's federal contracting website, at a cost of more than $100 million. It would house 300 agents and personnel, but little other detail is included in the online record.

Neither city officials in Casa Grande, nor Pinal County officials, were aware of CBP's proposal when contacted by the Star for comment.

Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple had not heard about the project either, spokesman Sam Salzwedel said in an email.

"Border Patrol regularly assists our deputies in the area, and any expansion of resources is more than welcome," he wrote.

Fanning emphasized he appreciated getting to meet with a CBP official about the project and he supports the Border Patrol's mission. But border security should be concentrated closer to the international boundary, he said.

"I want our Border Patrol to understand we support the men and women in green for all they do to keep us safe," he said. "But we want the border safe, at the border. That’s the bottom line."

Pima County's Allen said the federal government is sinking billions into border enforcement, while cutting critical investments in health care and the social safety net. U.S. legislators are also ignoring the bigger picture, she said: The broken U.S. immigration system.

"Our immigration system hasn’t had a major overhaul since Ronald Reagan was president, so of course it doesn’t work," Allen said. "We need a safe and legal means for people to enter this country legally and orderly."