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FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2002

The following are remarks made by Attorney General John Ashcroft at the Native American Border Patrol Conference. January 17,2002. Washington, D.C.

Thank you very much. During my opportunity to serve America here in Washington, D.C., I have the privilege of attending a lot of events. And frankly, I see a lot of honor guards. And I think these individuals demonstrate a level of discipline and excellence that is superior to which I see in virtually any other circumstance. I would invite you to join me in giving them a real hand. (Applause.)

You know, the role of leadership is not just doing the job yourself. The role of leadership is doing something so well and with so much intensity and so much quality yourself that it inspires other people to do a better job than they would do on their own. And when these members of the United States Border Patrol come in and bring us to respect our heritage, and our country, and our nation with such quality, it inspires me to do a better job. And I want to thank you and thank them for that. There is a note of sadness in our meeting today because one of the officers of the United States Border Patrol who died last night, Officer Hernandez, in the McAllen sector in Texas. And any time our family suffers a loss, we all feel a sense of sorrow. And we all extend to the family of Agent Hernandez our sympathy and our desire to be of assistance. All of those of us who have the privilege of serving together in one way or another are giving our lives for the achievement of the goals that are important to America and to any society -- respecting human dignity and providing a basis for security for ourselves and our families. And we're grateful to Agent Hernandez and his family for the work that he did.

I'm delighted to be here at the U.S. Border Patrol, Native American Border Security Conference. And I'm very pleased to say that the involvement of Native Americans in everything that the Justice Department does is substantial. We have many Native Americans who work in the Justice Department in its operations on a regular basis. And just yesterday I believe it was, or the day before -- a very short time ago -- Larry Thompson, the deputy attorney general, returned from the Zuni Pueblo Indian Reservation in New Mexico where he met with the governor of the reservation, the tribal council, the chiefs of police and the public safety officials in an effort to coordinate and to help elevate the way in which the Justice Department serves Native Americans in that particular setting, and serves the United States of America.

And we in the Justice Department -- all of us in the Justice Department family, in law enforcement have to understand that we are a service organization. And those of us that have the opportunity in Washington have a greater group of individuals that we must serve than those who are at a local level, whose focus is obviously much more by necessity narrower.

But I wanted to say to you how much I appreciate the work that you do, and how much I appreciated the fact that Deputy Attorney General Larry Johnson just returned from that New Mexico visit in which he conferred with officials there to improve the security and safety of the citizens in Indian country and the way in which the Justice Department can serve those individuals. He carried on my behalf a message to the people and government of the Pueblo-Zuni, and it was -- I'm grateful to him for that opportunity.

Let me begin my remarks by thanking Jim Ziglar, the commissioner, for spearheading this conference. He believes that greater cooperation with Native Americans tribal leaders and law enforcement is an essential component of any comprehensive strategy to improve the security of the United States and I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree. We are not in a situation where someone wins and someone else loses. When we have greater security and better integrity of our security operations, it's a win-win situation. That's a concept understood by Gustavo De la Vina (sp) -- and you'll forgive me for calling you Gus. The first time I got to know Gustavo, he was sporting a sling around his arm. He had been out riding and his horse and he had gotten into a disagreement -- (laughter) -- and the horse won. (Laughter.) Now, if I hadn't met him in that setting, I could probably call him Gustavo for the rest of his life, but if your win, the arguments -- I'm just going to call you Gus. You do a good job. It's a difficult job. And the Border Patrol obviously is one of the great organization of law enforcement in the United States of America.

At my house in Missouri where Janet and I call it home, I have on the wall of the house -- Janet's not too pleased about this, but the folks down there in the El Paso sector got one of these old skulls from the desert and put the longhorns on it because I'm a collector of western stuff, and I have that in the hallway of my house and it's this big and it sticks out about that far in the hallway, and everybody has to bow a little bit when they go by -- (laughter) -- when they go by the Border Patrol, but that's the way it ought to be. Gus told me that when anybody goes by a Border Patrol, they should just bow a little bit. (Laughter.) Not quite, but almost.

I want to say a special thanks and welcome to Washington to the leaders and law enforcement officials of the 19 Native Americans tribes who are here today. When I saw welcome to Washington, I just don't mean that in terms of, well, we want to show you our hospitality. We do. And I hope every courtesy will be extended to those of you who are coming here and are involved here in every way. But I want to say that your ideas are welcome. Your creativity is welcome. Your understanding of how to do the job in ways that we wouldn't understand from Washington, D.C. -- that's welcome here. We want to welcome you here because we have something to learn from you, and we have things to learn from each other. And that's perhaps the most important thing of all. So, I want to thank you for being here, and to welcome you personally, but to welcome you conceptually, and welcome the fact that you will bring quality to what we do, and bring an improvement to our capacity to be of service.

The attacks of September 11th demonstrated in a very dramatic fashion the need to pay attention to all facets of our national security. Would-be terrorists, drug smugglers, other illegal migrants pose continuing threats to the health and safety of our nation and its people. Your presence today, your willingness to come here, your willingness to contribute, to help advise and cooperate, demonstrates a clear recognition of a critical need for this close inter-working relationship and communication between the U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement officials to protect our borders generally, and especially the borders in Indian country.

Although Border Patrol agents have been working with Native Americans ever since the Border Patrol was established three-quarters of a century ago, most of this cooperation has been on an ad hoc basis -- a little here and a little there, and it's grown and naturally flourished in many circumstances, but this informal partnership, while it has often been productive, needs to be extended, needs to be something we encourage. And the seeds of this kind of cooperation and value that can inure to the benefit of all of our community needs to be -- these seeds need to be sown on a regular basis. We must establish permanent, formal relations in order to secure the safety and security of all Americans more effectively.

Now, securing the borders of the United States is an easy phrase. It rolls off the tongue with a sense of facility. It's easy to talk about. But the United States shares some 7,400 miles of patrollable international boundaries with Canada and Mexico -- 7,400 miles. More than 25 Indian tribes govern lands that are either adjacent to borders or directly accessible by boat from the border. These tribal lands encompass over 260 miles of international boarders.

That's a distance 100 miles longer than California's border with Mexico that tribal lands have. It's no wonder we need to cooperate and learn from each other. Tens of thousands of illegal migrants cross these borders and disappear into the heart of our nation every year. Along our southern border, for example, the Tohono Odham Nation in Arizona shares a 75-mile border with Mexico. Traffic across the tribe's desert lands accounts for an estimated 700 to 1,000 illegal entrants each day -- each day. Along our northern border, the Blackfeet Nation shares approximately 63 miles of border with Canada. These border lands are comprised of vast expanses and remote passes.

Potentially vulnerable points on our border demand our attention now more than ever. Indeed, as we succeed in protecting routine entry points, we may expect greater challenges in remote areas, as persons who wish to enter illegally look for new places with lower visibility. And our homeland security remains threatened so long as any portion of our international border remains unprotected. Law enforcement agencies play a crucial role in securing our nation's borders, and tribal law enforcement agencies are no exception. You know your territories. You know your constituents and members. You know, you understand how and where people illegally enter the United States. You know about local circumstances and what can be done to improve our performance in these settings. Your work brings you face to face with these circumstances that promotes an understanding that would be impossible from afar. And you know how you come face to face with people who would otherwise escape from our security efforts if you didn't have your special awareness of how things can be managed in unique circumstances. And this conference offers an opportunity to marry the local tribal expertise with federal expertise, and for one tribe to learn from another tribe, and one governmental unit to inform another governmental unit.

We've seen that as coordination increases, so do security of our borders. Operation Northern Door in the Northern District of New York, and the integrated border enforcement teams are models of cooperation in which federal law enforcement and tribes have been working together for years. We've seen the improvements. We've seen the benefit. In addition, ride along programs, cross-cultural training and youth outreach in the Tucson and Swanton sectors have fostered greater understanding between Border Patrol agents and tribal law enforcement officials and their counterparts. We must build upon these efforts throughout Indian country, and we must do what we can to achieve improve performance and service for the American people.

Operation Over the Rainbow, for example, was a multi-agency investigation that brought together U.S. and Canadian federal officials and tribal law enforcement individuals. It targeted a smuggling operation that spanned five continents and earned an estimated $170 million by smuggling as many as 115 Chinese nationals a month -- that's a monthly rate -- from Canada to New York through the St. Regis Mohawk Territory. Smugglers sought to exploit the fact that the United States, Canada, New York State, Ontario, Quebec and tribal governments all had some jurisdiction over the border territory they used, and they sought to smuggle through the cracks between the jurisdictions. And for a time -- for a time, they succeeded.

But when we began to work together with each other, tribal governments, including the St. Regis Mohawk Police and the federal governments, and the state and local authorities, the smuggling operation was shut down. Operation Over the Rainbow culminated in the arrest of 45 alien smugglers responsible for operating the most complex, largest smuggling ring ever encountered on our northern border, and it came as a result of our ability to work together. This is but one example of the many dividends that can be reaped by investing time and effort needed to build a productive partnership.

And again, I want to thank you, each of you -- I want to thank Commissioner Ziglar (sp), I appreciate your work and dedication to the United States of America, Gus, glad to see you in good health. Thank you for your work with the Border Patrol. It's an organization of which every American should have a sense of -- for which they should have a sense of satisfaction and gratitude. And I want to thank all of you who are here today for demonstrating your commitment to the sense of working together, and the additional service that we can render to the communities we represent.

Tribal law enforcement and the federal government working together will continue to play a pivotal role in making our borders safe and secure. Now this is an important concept. It's an historic conference. It's a first step. It marks the beginning of an ongoing process, and I believe

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dignity, and freedom and security. I am grateful for this opportunity to be with you. I thank you for the energy you bring to helping America do a job that needs to be done in order that we would live in the ways that we deserve and ought to live.

God bless you, and God bless America.

Relevant Links:
Attorney General John Ashcroft - http://www.usdoj.gov/ag

Related Stories:
Border conference attracts tribes (1/17)