This Week in USBP History, Vol. 139

April 28 - May 4

Good morning!

Welcome to another This Week in USBP History! ​​​​​

This week we reflect on a series of pivotal moments that have shaped the U.S. Border Patrol and underscored our commitment to duty, valor, and integrity.

We begin our historical journey on April 29, 1918, when Frank Berkshire submitted his visionary "Proposal to Establish an Immigration Patrol Service on the Land Boundaries." This seminal document proposed a substantial force to secure the nation’s borders, laying the groundwork for what would evolve into today's Border Patrol.

Moving to the mid-20th century, on April 28, 1942, amidst global conflict, the INS issued Instruction No. 5, consolidating directives concerning the treatment of alien enemy detainees according to the Geneva Convention. This adherence to international standards highlights our foundational principles of honor and humane treatment.

Fast forward to April 29, 2015, we honor the bravery of Border Patrol Agents Fernando Galvan and Arturo Gutierrez, who demonstrated exceptional courage near the Rio Grande by rescuing individuals from a flaming vehicle, showcasing the quick thinking and valor that define our agents.

This week, we also commemorate the end of watch for Agent Nathaniel A. Afolayan, who tragically passed on May 1, 2009. His passing during training activities is a somber reminder of the personal risks our agents face and the sacrifices made by those who serve.

​Join us as we explore these narratives that span from regulatory frameworks to heroic rescues and profound sacrifices. These stories not only honor the past but also reinforce the enduring values and steadfast commitment of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Enjoy and have a great week!

Cliff
P.S. - As an open and continuous invitation to current and former USBP employees, I am always accepting photos to post in the USBP Photo Galleries and in the Upholding Honor First pages. I sure would appreciate you visiting those pages and sending me anything that you think I could post (just send them to [email protected]). As always, make sure to explore all of the hyperlinks to the documents and pages. Finally, please forward this blog to whomever you think may enjoy it.

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THIS WEEK'S USBP ANNIVERSARIES AND MILESTONES

April 28

• On April 28, 1942, the INS issued Instruction No. 5, Instructions Concerning the Treatment of Alien Enemy Detainees. The purpose of this directive was to consolidate all previous instructions on treatment of enemy aliens into a comprehensive order and to ensure that all Service employees were aware of them. A key provision of this directive was stated as:
  • ​The minimum standards of treatment which have been established and which must prevail throughout the Service are based upon the provisions of the Convention Between the United States of America and forty-six other Powers (including those with whom this nation is now at war) Relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Treaty Series No. 846), known generally as the Geneva Convention of 1929. The Government of the United States has agreed with the belligerent powers to apply these provisions to civilian alien enemy internees wherever applicable. Copies of the Geneva Convention have heretofore been supplied to the various districts.
  • In this connection it should be kept in mind that the basis underlying our treatment of alien enemy detainees is reciprocity, and that nothing must be done or permitted to be done whereby any ground may exist for the charge that the Geneva Convention has been violated or ignored, thereby providing an excuse under the guise of retaliation for harsh treatment and cruel abuse of nationals of this country in the hands of our enemies.
  • ​From - HONOR FIRST:  The Story of the United States Border Patrol - Volume I by Joseph Banco

 
April 29

• On April 29, 1918, after numerous discussions with the Commissioner-General, future Chief and Father of the Border Patrol Frank Berkshire (1870-1934) submitted a 9-page "Proposal to Establish an Immigration Patrol Service on the Land Boundaries."  This was his first proposal which recommended that a force of 1,608 men would be necessary to patrol the border.  The plan suggested patrolmen should be paid between $900 to $1,500 per year dependent upon whether the government provided a horse and equipment.  As the Supervising Inspector of the Mexican Border, his plan did not include staffing estimates for the Northern Border.  In addition, no records have been located to indicate a similar Supervising Inspector existed for the Canadian Border.
• On April 29, 1918, after numerous discussions with the Commissioner-General, future Chief and Father of the Border Patrol Frank Berkshire (1870-1934) submitted a 9-page "Proposal to Establish an Immigration Patrol Service on the Land Boundaries."  This was his first proposal which recommended that a force of 1,608 men would be necessary to patrol the border.  The plan suggested patrolmen should be paid between $900 to $1,500 per year dependent upon whether the government provided a horse and equipment.  As the Supervising Inspector of the Mexican Border, his plan did not include staffing estimates for the Northern Border.  In addition, no records have been located to indicate a similar Supervising Inspector existed for the Canadian Border.
• On April 29, 1931, Chief Patrol Inspector Herbert Horsley (1878-1962) of the El Paso Sub-district wrote a report to the District Director of the El Paso District concerning a gunfight in which three Border Patrol Inspectors had been involved on the night of April 24, 1931.  The inspectors had intercepted three alcohol smugglers, one of which opened fire on the inspectors.  All inspectors returned fire and the smugglers fled to Mexico.  Shortly thereafter, the inspectors receive rifle fire from Mexico.  All three inspectors returned fire.  No injuries were reported in the exchange of gunfire.
• On April 29, 1955, Paul Kester "Bing" Crosby (1910-1965), wrote a paper concerning the USBP recruiting efforts covering March 1953 - December 1954.  During that time frame, 43,809 applications were received and only 467 trainees entered on duty (1.065%).
• Newton-Azrak Award action anniversary
  • Fernando Galvan, Jr. - ​photo
    Border Patrol Agent
    Edinburg, TX
    Arturo Gutierrez - ​photo
    Border Patrol Agent
    Edinburg, TX 
    On April 29, 2015, while patrolling the Rio Grande River near La Paloma, Texas, Border Patrol Agents Fernando Galvan and Arturo Gutierrez received a report of drug smugglers in a minivan moving a large load of narcotics north from the Mexico-United States border. 
     
    Gutierrez discovered the minivan at a nearby intersection where it was off the road and wrecked. When the agents approached the scene they observed flames coming from under the vehicle. The agents removed one unresponsive adult male from the wreck and called for emergency medical services and local law enforcement for support. While Galvan and Gutierrez tried to extinguish the fire, now beginning to engulf the minivan, they discovered an unresponsive man inside the smoke-filled van. 
     
    Unable to put out the fire, they recognized the person inside the minivan was in imminent danger. Galvan and Gutierrez quickly entered the flaming vehicle, and removed the crash victim just in time. Once the agents pulled the man from the minivan, the front end of the vehicle became completely engulfed in flames. They placed both subjects a safe distance from the burning vehicle who ultimately survived.
    
    

April 30

• On April 30, 1918, after having received Berkshire's Proposal to Establish an Immigration Patrol Service on the Land Boundaries a day earlier, the Commissioner-General wrote a 5-page letter to the Secretary of the Department of Labor.  The letter was to provide the Secretary information should he wish to bring the matter before the cabinet meeting that was scheduled to occur that day.  Further, and absent from Berkshire's proposal, the Commissioner-General provided that this initiative may be appropriate in dealing with the threat of German activity originating from Mexico:
  • ...Since the United States entered the war, although every government agency has cooperated and worked the best of its ability, it has been impossible adequately to control the passage of persons back and forth across the Mexican boundary. That information of military value has constantly been carried into Mexico and that the various laws having in view the protection of the United States against the machinations of the enemy have been extensively and repeatedly violated in that quarter has been demonstrated in many ways...
• On April 30, 1924, the Action Commissioner-General sent a memo to the 11 immigration districts that were adjacent to the borders of the United States.  The memo indicated that funding was expected to be approved in the amount "...to effectively put a stop to all smuggling operations along the land boundaries..."  The memo instructed to the district heads to respond by telegram with the number of "guards or patrolmen" each district wished to receive.  They were instructed to follow the telegram with a written, more detailed response.  The memo also contains the telegram responses.
  • When I was conducting research at the National Archives, I assumed that there must have been a plan in existence to implement once funding was received to create the USBP.  The memo above and the corresponding telegrams clearly demonstrate that no such plan existed a mere three weeks before funding would be received.
  • Interestingly, once created and until 1941, the Border Patrol had more inspectors assigned to the northern border than to the southern border.  This occurred even though the southern border had requested staffing levels three times greater than that of the northern border. some my say that a greater number of inspectors were placed on the northern border in response to the ratification of the 18th Amendment and the passage of the Volstead Act, Prohibition. Further, many sources cite that the Border Patrol was created in response to Prohibition.  However, no official Immigration Service documents have been discovered in the National Archives that support that popular claim.

 
May 1

• On May 1, 1926, Chief of the Border Patrol George Harris (1876-1941) wrote a memo concerning the importance of the "oral examination".  The most telling part of the memo is the following sentence:
  • The writer is sure the Bureau will thoroughly agree with him that the oral examination should be uniformly accorded to all patrol inspector candidates who have successfully passed the written test. In no other way is it possible so effectively to weed out obvious misfits and save the Service later trouble and expense.
• On May 1, 1931, Assistant Commissioner-General George Harris wrote one of the earliest memos found concerning Border Patrol Inspectors participating in shooting competitions.
  • An interesting aspect about this memo is that Harris had been one of the Chiefs of the Border 1926-1927 before he had promoted out of the position.  He would return to the Border Patrol as Chief 1932-1933 coming the first and only person to have served as Chief of the Border Patrol in non-consecutive terms.  Finally, it should be noted that when he first became "Chief", the position was called "Supervisor, Border Patrol".  His second time as "Chief" the position was called "Director of Border Patrol".
• May 1, 1955 was the last day that suntan rough duty uniforms were authorized as per this memo.
• On May 1, 2003, Chief of the Border Patrol Gustavo De La Viña (1939-2009) signed a memo changing the criteria of the Newton-Azrak Award. This would be the award's second criteria.
  • In 2003, the INS was dissolved and the U.S. Border Patrol was transferred to the newly created U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The Newton-Azrak Award was carried over into CBP.  However, instead of providing the award criteria that had been in place since 1973 as implemented in the INS Administrative Manual the U.S. Border Patrol drafted a new criteria in the form of a memorandum from the Chief of the Border Patrol. Had the original INS criteria been implemented in CBP, all CBP law enforcement employees would have been eligible to receive the award.  However, with the change in criteria, only Border Patrol Agents could be recipients and only for acts of bravery or heroism.  Under the new criteria, CBP carried the Newton-Azrak Award as a Commissioner's award that could only be presented to Border Patrol Agents.
• Line of Duty Death anniversary
  • ​Nathaniel A. Afolayan
    Date of Birth:                     March 26, 1980
    Entered on Duty:                February 16, 2009
    Title:                                   Border Patrol Agent (Trainee)
    End of Watch:                    May 1, 2009
     
    Details:
    On April 30, 2009, newly hired Agent Nathaniel A. Afolayan collapsed during a physical training exam. Agent Afolayan had just completed the 1.5-mile run portion of his physical techniques final exam. After his collapse, he was transported via ambulance to Artesia General Hospital. Later that day, his condition worsened and he was taken via life-flight to Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. Agent Afolayan died May 1, 2009. An autopsy concluded his death was accidental due to heat illness.
     
    Agent Afolayan was a native of Nigeria. He was a member of the 856th Session of the Border Patrol Academy and was to be assigned to the Newton-Azrak Station in the San Diego Sector.
    
    ​Gravesite

 
May 2

• On May 2, 1931, this collection of documents describes a gunfight that occurred between Border Patrol Inspectors and alcohol smugglers in which suspect, Guillermo Rodriguez was killed.  The documents include a diagram and photographs of the international boundary between Cordova Island and the United States.  Patrol Inspectors involved in the shooting were:
  • Patrol Inspector Raymond M. Dudley (1906-1983)
  • Patrol Inspector Richard L. Martin (1902-1996)
  • Patrol Inspector Henry Waxstock (1904-1995)

 
May 3

• On May 3, 1926, a memo providing very general guidance for the position of Senior Patrol Inspector was issued by the Assistant Commissioner-General.  The position was newly created with the signing of General Order 61 on March 18, 1926.
• On May 3, 1929, General Order 132 was enacted.  This General Order was anchored to the March 4, 1929, "Act Making it a felony with penalty for certain aliens to enter the United States of America under certain conditions in violation of law."  That Act would be superseded in 1952, becoming 8 U.S.C. 1326, Reentry of removed aliens.
• On May 3, 1956, a multipage document was drafted to compare costs to build a border fence or to increase manpower (and associated costs) to address illegal entries. The proposed location for the fences were, Chula Vista, El Centro, Yuma, El Paso and Brownsville.  Spoil alert, it was projected to be less expensive to build fences.

 
May 4

• Today marks a quiet day in USBP history.