NEW CHIEF OF BORDER PATROL TEMPERS ENFORCEMENT WITH CONCERN FOR SAFETY

Early in his career with the U.S. Border Patrol, Gustavo de la Vina
came across a scene that would haunt him more than two decades later.

While patrolling near the Texas border town of Eagle Pass in the early
1970s, he found the campsite of a group of illegal border-crossers.
Hidden in the brush was the body of a boy who apparently was robbed,
possibly by smugglers who led the group across the border.

"He couldn't have been more than 12 or 13 years old," de la Vina
recalled. "They cut his throat."

The boy was never identified, and no one was ever charged with his
murder.

Since taking over last year as chief of the Border Patrol, de la Vina,
59, has promoted an initiative to reduce fatalities along the
2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border -- both from violence at the hands of
smugglers or bandits and from exposure or accidents that occur as
illegal crossers try to sneak into the United States.

Such crossings break the law, he said, but the penalty "should not be
a death sentence."

The stance reflects the compassion that de la Vina wants the Border
Patrol to embody along with its enforcement mission. In addition to
identifying the most dangerous crossing points and posting warning
signs, agents are taking on search-and-rescue roles when illegal
crossers venture into deserts or mountains with inadequate water, food
or protection from the elements.

De la Vina, the first Mexican-American to head the Border Patrol and
the highest-ranking Hispanic in federal law enforcement, presides over
an agency that has expanded from fewer than 3,000 agents when he
started to an increasingly high-tech, well-staffed operation.

Infused with cash from a Congress alarmed by the flow of illegal
immigrants and drugs across the southwestern border, the agency in the
midst of a technological and personnel buildup, acquiring an array of
new equipment and boosting its strength to more than 8,000 agents.

In discussing the evolution of the border situation, de la Vina
betrays a nostalgia for the simpler time two decades ago, when there
were fewer illegal crossers and encounters with drug runners were rare.

When caught, "there was almost an understanding," de la Vina said.
"They would greet us. We would greet them. We'd often share our lunches.

"The whole profile has changed," he said. The illegal crossers now
tend to be younger, often led by professional smugglers who have much
to lose if caught.