| | |  Americas & Beyond 
ICE Relies on Native American Shadow Wolves to Patrol Arizona-Mexico Border
 Sylvia Cochran Sylvia Cochran - Associated Press
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October 20, 2010
| | Meet the Shadow Wolves, an elite unit of just 12 Native American federal agents who hunt down drug smugglers crossing into the US through a desert the size of Connecticut using ancient techniques. More info HERE | |
Drug- and human-trafficking are just some of the problems that plague the Arizona border with Mexico. When the hotly debated Arizona immigration law sent ripples across the nation and spawned boycotts, "buycotts" and ill-conceived comparisons to some of the darkest times in German history, an elite U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) border patrol group continued its work with little fanfare and virtually no recognition: the Shadow Wolves.
ICE uses this group of Native American law enforcement professionals to patrol southern Arizona's border with Mexico. Dating back to 1972, the Shadow Wolves initially served to combat drug smuggling on tribal lands. Rather than relying on the latest gadgetry to ferret out the drug- and alien-smugglers (the latter are also referred to as "coyotes"), Shadow Wolves utilize time-honored tracking traditions that focus on reading footprints, identifying tracks, searching for disturbed vegetation and "reading" nature to determine the likely activities that took place at any given location.
As a result, not even the Arizona mountain terrain is safe for smugglers and their ilk. The downside is just as clear: the Shadow Wolves have a field that covers approximately 2.8 million acres - the primary focus is the 76-mile joint border with Mexico that the Tohono O'odham Nation shares - and consists of difficult topographical venues. Adding insult to injury, there are now only 12 Shadow Wolves (that's down three from the original 15 in 2007) currently working this stretch of desert land for ICE.
In spite of the danger, difficult terrain and sheer mass of acreage to patrol, success is frequent. KPHO Phoenix reported back in May that the Shadow Wolves found about 40 pounds of marijuana with a street value of approximately $32,000 hidden beneath cacti. The group credits its success not only to their tracking skills but also to their willingness to work past traditional office hours and go out as late (or early) as two in the morning by themselves.
So why is it that there are only 12 Shadow Wolves currently on border patrol? Well, the hours stink, the job meets each and every qualification that would classify it as "highly dangerous" and the act of securing the Arizona border is a thankless undertaking. That may be part of the reason why there is not anyone rushing to join. (A 2007 Washington Post article notes that Congress apportioned sufficient funding for a 25-member strong group to work with ICE.)
A 2004 piece of news sheds even more light on the reason for the small number of Wolves: Mexican drug cartels have placed a $500,000 bounty on the heads of Shadow Wolves, with a payment of $50,000 for the assassination of a Wolf's immediate family member. With a lot of home-grown hostility already aimed at American border patrol agents in general and ICE in particular - in addition to foreign bounties - it is not surprising that finding replacements for this elite tactical group is becoming more difficult.
Will it soon prove impossible?
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