Victor M. Manjarrez Jr. named chief patrol agent of nation’s largest and busiest sector
TUCSON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has welcomed Victor M. Manjarrez Jr. as the new Chief Patrol Agent of the Tucson Sector of the United States Border Patrol.
Giffords met with Manjarrez on Monday at her Tucson District Office. It was his first official act after taking over leadership of the Tucson Sector.
“I came away very impressed with Chief Manjarrez and his dedication to securing our border,” Giffords said. “Chief Manjarrez brings tremendous experience to his new job, including first-hand familiarity with Southern Arizona. The chief assured me that he is committed to working closely with residents, ranchers and business owners in the effort to halt the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants into our country.”
A 21-year veteran of the Border Patrol, Manjarrez now is responsible for the largest sector in the United States, overseeing the operations of eight Border Patrol Stations in Arizona.
Manjarrez is no stranger to Tucson. From July 2006 to July 2007, he served as the Tucson Sector’s Deputy Chief Patrol Agent. He also has served as Patrol Agent in Charge of the Naco and Douglas Stations.
Manjarrez comes to Tucson after serving as Chief Patrol Agent of the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which covers the entire state of New Mexico and the two western-most counties of Texas. During his assignment there, he served as an executive member of the Texas and the New Mexico High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces and was instrumental in partnering with other local law enforcement agencies to make El Paso one of the safest cities in the United States.
On Sunday, the El Paso Times published a guest opinion by Manjarrez in which he noted “the importance of building trust and becoming frontline ambassadors in the communities we serve.”
In the article, Manjarrez discussed several programs in which Border Patrol agents mentor young people in the community. He also wrote about his Rancher Liaison program, which designates a point of contact for dialogue in discussing concerns in rural areas. Southern Arizona ranchers have long insisted on having a close working relationship with the Border Patrol.
“It is the daily sacrifice and strong sense of professionalism by the men and women of the Border Patrol that keeps our borders secure and our communities safe,” Manjarrez wrote in the El Paso Times. “Their law-enforcement efforts as well as their civic participation create a strong bond between your Border Patrol and the community in which we work and live.”
In Tucson, Manjarrez becomes the 19th Chief Patrol Agent, succeeding Robert W. Gilbert, who headed the Tucson sector since March 2007.
Before Gilbert left Tucson, Giffords praised his work in the Congressional Record and presented Gilbert with a framed copy of the entry.
“During his time in Tucson, Chief Gilbert never lost sight of the fact that our border is more than a boundary separating two nations,” Giffords wrote in the Congressional Record. “He knows that our border with Mexico is a conduit for trade through which hundreds of millions of dollars of vital goods and services flow each year.”
The Tucson Sector is the nation’s largest and busiest border region. More than 3,200 agents are assigned to the sector which has 262 miles of border, from the Yuma County line to the Arizona’s border with New Mexico.
In just the first three months of fiscal 2010, agents in the Tucson Sector arrested 51,111 people and seized 270,418 pounds of marijuana. When he was posted here, Gilbert called the Tucson Sector “ground zero for the Border Patrol.”