This Week in USBP History - 10/24-10/30

1924

• This October 30, 1924 memo illustrates the confusion concerning the authorities of Border Patrol Inspectors (BPI).  Concerning BPI's enforcing Prohibition and Customs laws, the United States Attorney writes, "Whether the immigration officer should assist in the enforcement of the other two laws above mentioned, is to my mind, a question of policy to be decided by your chief superior officer."  However, with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1925, BPI's were given law enforcement powers (see Sections 235 and 287, (sound familiar?)).  Further, with the implementation of General Order 63 on March 29, 1926, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labor and the Commissioner-General authorized Immigration and Border Patrol Officers to enforce laws other than immigration laws.

1928

• A cover memo to the Commissioner-General and brief report of a shooting/alcohol seizure that occurred on October 24, 1928.  In this incident, Immigration Border Patrol and a Mounted Customs officer were working together.

1936

• This October 27, 1936 letter is from a company that manufactured USBP uniforms.  The letter is asking clarification concerning the color of the leather for the bill of the USBP's Pershing hat.  This is question is in response to the the USBP's second Uniform Policy, General Order 179 (GO179), where the Sam Brown belt colors were different for the northern border (black) and the southern border (cordovan).

1940

• In this October 30, 1940 memo, the Chief Patrol Inspector of the Tucson Sub-district writes his boss, the District Director of the El Paso District, recommending locations to create Border Patrol "outposts" and includes a diagram of the facilities.

1950

• Camp Chigas was the location of the Sector HQ, station and the academy.  The buildings were old and not really meeting the need of the Patrol.  So, proposals had been presented to create a training facility in El Paso.  This October 24, 1950 memo, discussed the status of continuing the construction of the new training location.  
  • Earlier memos also concerning the project include:
    • A June 5, 1950 memo and an August 8, 1950 lease agreement that identifies the construction location.
  • This memo also has significant information, specifically correcting erroneous history concerning the beginning of a national training academy.  See the paragraph below: 
    • The Border Patrol Training School was set up in 1936 in space that had previously been a part of the office of the Chief Patrol Inspector. Alien apprehensions between 1936 and 1942 varied from ten to twenty per day and these could be readily processed-in the space available. For the past several years, alien apprehensions have been running from 100 to 200 per day, and it is not possible to handle and process the large groups now being brought into El Paso in the space presently available. The Chief Patrol Inspector now regularly uses one of the school classrooms for handling and processing aliens since this classroom is vacant during the afternoon when part of the students are at the Target Range.
  • ​If still standing, the building housing the El Paso Sub-district 2 headquarters and station and, the first national training school (also known as Camp Chigas) would be located in the United States by 10-20 feet.  See this document. However, there is a former U.S. Border Patrol Building that is still standing that is located in Mexico. It is the Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas building.​ See this document​.