The original Santa Teresa point of entry border crossing opened in 1992, and was replaced in 1997 by a modern state-of-the-art facility. It is located 42 miles south of Las Cruces, New Mexico’s second largest city, and twenty minutes from El Paso, Texas, which is a stone’s throw from Juarez, Mexico.
The town of Santa Teresa itself had a population of 2,607 in the 2000 census, but its close proximity to El Paso means the small town is well-connected with the region. The major trans-American interstates I-10 and I-25 border the town, exposing it to human, weapons, and drug trafficking. This has made border patrol jobs for field canine coordinators and air interdiction agents particularly important to the duties performed in and around Santa Teresa by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
CBP Officer Careers in Santa Teresa
In fiscal year 2007-2008 CBP agents processed 377,673 private vehicles, 24,476 pedestrians, and 45,499 commercial vehicles. On average that makes more than 1,226 crossings into the United States each day. Here a border patrol job requirement is to make sure each and every crossing follows the correct procedure, which is no small task. On a random day last November (2012); Border Patrol Agents seized more than 900 pounds of drugs in three separate incidents, all thanks to a Field Canine Unit.
The primary dog breeds used in CBP canine fieldwork are Belgian Malinois, and German and Dutch Shepherds. Only one of every hundred dogs will pass the rigorous U.S. Border Patrol selection test. Border patrol handlers are volunteers with previous proven work experience in other border patrol jobs, such as CPB Officer or Border Patrol Agent. In addition to sniffing out drugs and explosives, Canine Units assist in search and rescue, as well as locating concealed illegal aliens. Canine handlers take their dogs home with them at the end of each workday.
Border Patrol Field Canine Units in Santa Teresa
On November 20, 2012 a field canine unit alerted Customs and Border Protection Officers at the Santa Teresa point of entry to the presence of drugs being smuggled on three separate occasions. The first involved marijuana hidden in a truck’s cab floor and bed, the second involved methamphetamine being hidden in a radiator, and the third involved marijuana hidden in a gas tank. About a month earlier in one incident, CBP Officers in Santa Teresa discovered more than 700 pounds of marijuana carefully hidden in a man’s truck.
Import Specialists in Santa Teresa
About thirty percent of all cattle imported from Mexico enter through New Mexico, and the Santa Teresa livestock facility is the most modern of its kind on the U.S.-Mexico border, open since 1991. At the facility, livestock walk through a processing plant from one side of the border to the other, a timesaving procedure compared with other border crossings where livestock must be trucked across. Import Specialists at the Santa Teresa facility can process up to 5,000 heads of cattle each day.