David V. Aguilar
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David V. Aguilar was named Chief Patrol Agent, Office of Border Patrol, in May 2004, and assumed the position on July 1, 2004. As the nation's highest ranking Border Patrol agent, Chief Aguilar directs the enforcement efforts of more than 12,000 Border Patrol Agents nationwide.
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[edit] Education
Aguilar received an Associates Degree in Accounting from Laredo Junior College. He also attended Laredo State University and University of Texas at Arlington. He is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard Senior Executive Fellows Spring Class of 1999.[1]
[edit] Border Patrol experience
Aguilar entered on duty with the U.S. Border Patrol in June 1978. His first station was at Laredo, Texas. At Laredo he served in a variety of positions including Border Patrol Agent, a first line Supervisory Border Patrol Agent and Assistant Patrol Agent in Charge.
Aguilar served as Patrol Agent in Charge of three different Border Patrol Stations in Texas from January 1988 to August 1996. He was first promoted to Patrol Agent in Charge of the Dallas Border Patrol Station in January 1988. He was promoted to the Rio Grande City Border Patrol Station in 1992. The Rio Grande City Station is one of the most active stations for narcotics interdiction along the Texas-Mexico border. He was also promoted to the Brownsville Station in July 1995. The Brownsville Station was the largest Border Patrol Station in the Central Region of the INS at that time.
Chief Aguilar served as Assistant Regional Director for Border Patrol in the Central Region of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from August 1996 to November 1999. In this position, he was the principal assistant and advisor to the Regional Director in the administration of INS operations relative to Border Patrol. Chief Aguilar managed, directed, guided, and was the principal strategic planner for the Regional Border Patrol Program.
Aguilar has also served as the Chief Patrol Agent of the Tucson Sector United States Border Patrol. In that position, Mr. Aguilar was responsible for all operational and administrative functions of the Tucson Sector. As Chief, he had over 2,000 Border Patrol Agents under his command and over 200 support personnel assigned to the Tucson Sector. He oversaw Border Patrol operations at eight geographically dispersed Border Patrol Stations (Ajo, Casa Grande, Tucson, Nogales, Willcox, Sonoita, Naco and Douglas) along 261 miles of the Arizona/Mexico border. In March 2004, the Homeland Security Under Secretary designated Chief Aguilar as the Border and Transportation Security Integrator for the execution of the Arizona Border Control Initiative.
[edit] Accolades
The Dallas Border Patrol Station and the Brownsville Border Patrol Stations were both awarded the Commissioner’s Award for Group Achievement while under Mr. Aguilar’s command. Most recently, the Tucson Sector was awarded the Customs and Border Protection Office of Anti-Terrorism Commissioner’s Award for operational achievements under Operation Desert Safeguard, an operation planned, designed, and implemented in the high-risk areas of the Tucson Sector in 2003. Chief Aguilar was elected as the President of the Southern Arizona Federal Executive Association in 2004. He was also one of nine Department of Homeland Security employees awarded the 2005 Presidential Rank Award For Meritorious Senior Professional.
[edit] Dissatisfaction of Subordinates
In February 2007, the representatives of the National Border Patrol Council unanimously endorsed a vote of "No Confidence" in Chief of the Border Patrol David Aguilar. The vote was the result of increasing frustration by front line Border Patrol Agents in the decisions of their senior leadership.
T.J. Bonner, a Senior Patrol Agent and President of the National Border Patrol Council, issued this statement regarding the vote:
“The U.S. Border Patrol has a long and proud history. Since its inception in 1924, tens of thousands of dedicated and courageous individuals have honorably served this country as Border Patrol agents, working in conditions that are often arduous and dangerous. To date, more than 100 of these agents have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
Until recently, these men and women labored in relative obscurity, protecting our borders day and night while other Americans went about their daily business or slept. Although the Border Patrol has never had enough personnel or equipment to accomplish its mission of securing our borders, it has always done the best that it could with those limited resources.
As the public has demanded that more attention be focused on border security, our elected leaders have responded by introducing hundreds of legislative proposals, as well as by providing a modest amount of additional resources. Unfortunately, this has been accompanied by the politicization of the top ranks of the Border Patrol. Instead of maintaining their traditional neutral advisory role, these high-level managers have become advocates for the administration’s ill-conceived political agenda that includes amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.
Front-line Border Patrol agents who risk their lives protecting our borders have every reason to expect that the leadership of their own agency will support them. When this does not occur, and instead they are undermined by their so-called leaders, no one should be surprised that they express a loss of confidence in those managers. True leaders have the vision to see what needs to be done, the character to inspire others to follow them, and the integrity to do the right thing regardless of the amount of pressure to do otherwise.
It is important to understand that this vote of no confidence has nothing to do with the normal tensions between labor and management. Those have existed for decades, and have involved a number of other Border Patrol Chiefs. Despite those occasional differences of opinion, the front-line agents respected those leaders and believed that everyone in the organization shared the common goal of securing the borders. Sadly, that is no longer the case.
This lack of leadership has caused morale to plummet, which in turn has accelerated the attrition rate among experienced agents. Unless drastic changes are made soon, the goal of securing our borders will remain as elusive as ever.”[2]
[edit] Personal
Chief Aguilar is a native of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas' border region. He and his wife, Bea (Beatrice), have three children.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Gus De La Vina |
Chief of the Border Patrol July 1, 2004–Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
