Border patrol tightens activities; smugglers look for alternative path

A large portion of human smuggling and drug has shifted towards the north as a result of US Border Patrol’s increased attentions along Interstate 8 and 10. Border Patrol said that there has been dramatic increase in illegal trafficking on Interstate 40, US Highway 93 and US Highway 68, and therefore, in order to control the trend, they have acted out the strategy of “Defense in Depth”.

Under the operation, agents who were deployed in the Kingman area managed to get hold of nineteen illegal people and also held seven vehicles on Wednesday.

Laura Boston, Border Patrol agent with the Yuma Sector affairs, said that agents are deployed in Calif., Blythe, and therefore, they are not able to regularly patrol the Kingman area due to it being far away from these communities. Boston said that it takes approximately three-and-a-half hours to drive to Kingman from the Blythe station, so certain numbers of Border Patrol agents go to patrol the Kingman area together.

Boston said that the area is full of smugglers who transfer illegal aliens or narcotic contraband, and now that I-8 and I-10 have been subjected to more pressure by the Border Patrol agents, these people are trying to utilize other routes. Thus, Kingman has become a preferred path for them.

As per the Border Patrol, Kingman area’s three highways forms a link between the metropolitan areas Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas, which are the heart of transportation to the interior of the US and are famous as destinations for illegal immigrants.