NW BORDER PATROL PLANES SENT TO ARIZONA

SEATTLE -- This time it's not just Border Patrol agents that are going
south. It's airplanes too.

The only Border Patrol planes in the Pacific Northwest have been sent
to Arizona to bolster increasingly deadly stretches of the Mexican
border, and officials said Thursday the remaining aircraft along the
Canadian border will soon be transferred south, too.

Border Patrol agents from Washington state also are being sent to the
Southwest once again, despite increased marijuana and other drug
smuggling across the Canadian border and lingering concerns about terrorism.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service agreed last fall to stop
such personnel transfers because of opposition from Border Patrol
agents and Washington state's congressional delegation.

The resumption follows at least 217 deaths along the Mexican border,
mostly from exposure, since the fiscal year began in October.

In the same period, more than 352,000 people have been arrested trying
to cross the border illegally in the Tucson sector, compared with
about 1,500 arrests in the Blaine sector south of Vancouver, British
Columbia, said Sharon Gavin, an agency spokeswoman.

"We're trying to prevent more deaths down there," Gavin said. "This is
the deadliest summer on record, with 17 deaths in the Tucson sector
alone."

Seven planes, including one from Spokane and another from Blaine, have
been transferred to bolster Operation Skywatch, a southwestern border
crackdown.

In another month, Border Patrol planes and pilots from Havre, Mont.,
and Grand Forks, N.D., also will be sent south, leaving none in the
north, Gavin said.

Last year agents complained that temporary transfers to the Southwest
caused staff shortages.

Terrorism concerns were raised in December following the arrest of
Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian national who was caught crossing from Canada
at Port Angeles with explosives and timing devices in the trunk of his
rented car.

Gavin said the northern border is being equipped with more lighting,
video cameras and sensors to compensate for the temporary loss of
planes and personnel.