Although the U.S. Border Patrol has not publicly announced a spot for the permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19, officials have mentioned kilometer 50, a bit south of the Canoa Ranch rest area, as a likely candidate.

Carol Cullen, the executive director of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, said that John Fitzpatrick, patrol agent in charge of the Nogales station, told the Santa Cruz Valley Citizens' Council executive committee at a March 6 meeting that the agency had zeroed in on the location.

Community support

At the meeting, Ron Barber, from congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' office, asked Fitzpatrick if the plans were firmly decided, Cullen said. If they were, Barber said, he needed to inform the congresswoman. Fitzpatrick said, no, the plans were not permanent and the Border Patrol would not select a spot without community support.

When asked later if the Border Patrol had selected a location for a permanent checkpoint, Jesus Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Tucson Sector, said that the agency was still investigating possible locations.

The permanent home for the checkpoint is not the only concern. Some residents, as well as former U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), said that the checkpoint does more harm than good.

During his years on the House Appropriations Committee, Kolbe blocked funding for a permanent checkpoint on I-19. During a telephone interview, he gave two reasons for this move.

First, Kolbe agrees with some Tubac residents that the permanent checkpoint is a great disruption, he said. Immigrants and smugglers are forced to walk around through back yards and neighborhoods to avoid the checkpoint, he said.

"I don't see why one town should be singled out," he said. The second reason, Kolbe said, is that a permanent checkpoint is ineffective.

"It would be like the Nogales Police Department putting up a kiosk on the intersection of Grand and Morley and asking all criminals to pass through," he said. "That's not the way you do law enforcement. If people get through the border, the Border Patrol needs to be highly mobile to catch them."

No clout

Gabrielle Giffords, Kolbe's successor, does not have the clout that Kolbe wielded, and the Border Patrol moved almost immediately to make the checkpoint stationary once Kolbe left office in November. Even if she did, Giffords has not declared her position. C.J. Karamargin, her spokesman, said that the congresswoman plans to discuss it extensively with the community before deciding her position.

Cullen has added that the checkpoint hurts the town economically as well. The stop dissuades people from Tucson and elsewhere from coming south to spend money, she said. She, as well as other Tubac residents, also said that the permanent checkpoint is responsible for the increase of desert shootouts near the community.

Fitzpatrick said at the meeting that the violence was evidence that the smugglers are getting frustrated. Ultimately, he hopes that a permanent stop would deter smugglers from using I-19 at all.

Gustavo Soto, a spokesman for the Tucson Sector, said earlier by telephone, that a permanent checkpoint is necessary because it diverts smugglers and illegal immigrants into the hills around the facility. This makes them easier to catch, Soto said.

The area south of Canoa Ranch would be beneficial for several reasons, Fitzpatrick said. First, the land there is more conducive to spotting those who attempt to go around the checkpoint. The current location at Agua Linda Road funnels smugglers into the Tumacacori Mountains where they are more difficult to detect. It also would contain the traffic coming off Arivaca Road.

Mark Rios, another agent at the meeting, said that a similar checkpoint in San Diego sits the same distance from the border, Cullen said. The area used to have a drug-smuggling problem. Now it is seeing the development of high-end homes, Rios said.

Some residents have suggested that the checkpoint be moved to the Palo Parado exit at Km. 42. The Border Patrol said at the meeting that this would not alleviate Tubac's situation in the smuggling trade, as the town would become a prime location to pick up those who have walked around the checkpoint.

Bottom line?

In addition, a checkpoint at Km. 42 may shift the violence south to Rio Rico, said Rick Bowman, a community member who was also present at the meeting.

Fitzpatrick said that although a permanent structure is three to four years away, the Border Patrol could move their operations to Km. 50 within four to six months. This doesn't make Kolbe happy.

"If I was a smuggler, I would be much more thrown off if I was constantly having to guess where the checkpoint would be," he said. "We already have a permanent checkpoint. It's called the border."