GOVERNMENT
Border Patrol Agent Robert Ortiz stands at a Department of Defense lookout near Lukeville, Ariz., April 15. Behind him, hundreds of miles of border wall unfurl eastward.
Law and border With crossings down, CBP is ‘back to chasing people.’ Where? Maricopa, for starters BY DAVID IVERSEN I
physical crossings may be visible, the planning and intelligence components often unfold far beyond the traditional line itself, embedded in the desert, supported by infrastructure and run with military precision. Because of a growing partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, agents were able to quickly respond and apprehend the men. Ride Along To get a sense of how agents were operating some 90 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, InMaricopa met border agents at an outpost in Ajo to learn more about the changing realities. As the truck clamored south, the road quickly changed from pavement to gravel to dirt. In the backroads of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, conversation flowed about the agents’ personal lives and the history of the border patrol. Suddenly, Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jesus Vasavilbaso gave an order: “Stop the car.” He spotted someone walking in the desert less than a mile from the border wall. Ortiz stopped the conversation as quickly as he did the truck.
more about. This route through which the cartel was sending migrants ran straight through Maricopa, a city in the Casa Grande zone of U.S. border patrol’s vast Tucson sector. “These guys are really hard to get if we don’t have air assets available to us because they are going to see us way before we get to them,” explained Border Patrol Agent Robert Ortiz on a recent ride-along with InMaricopa. Cartel scouts often install solar-powered equipment in remote observation sites, enabling them to charge radios and maintain communication with ground units coordinating smuggling routes. “We know they’re there,” Ortiz added, “but since they’re so high up, they can see what’s coming way before it gets there. And they can hide. They can get away. There’s just so many places.” Agents say scouts like these are almost certainly monitoring the border every day. “Absolutely,” one agent confirmed. “It’s a business, yes.” This scout’s operation, believed to be directed by factions of the Sinaloa cartel, underscores a central tension in border enforcement: While
N FEBRUARY, FOUR MEN WERE found hiding high in the Maricopa Mountains, just a few miles south of the city.
They were wearing camouflage over their denim jeans, camo ballcaps and jackets. One man peered through binoculars. Electronics were kept in dark satchels they carried with them. They were all carrying solar panels to keep their communication equipment fully charged in the midday sun. They were tell-tale signs of cartel scouts, according to U.S. border patrol agents who managed to intercept these men through a stroke of blind luck. “It was sun reflecting, hitting one of the solar panels,” said Ortiz. The scout’s presence was confirmed with the help of optical and thermal surveillance. Those scouts, who had been positioned on a peak with a panoramic vista of the Maricopa Mountains near Hidden Valley, were watching a human smuggling route, typical for cartel lookouts. It was a much-publicized bust, one that InMaricopa and its readers wanted to know
InMaricopa.com | June 2025
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