| Established: | March 1, 2003 |
| Department: | Homeland Security |
| Assistant Secretary: | John T. Morton |
| Budget: | |
The "Shadow Wolves" is a unit of Native American trackers. The law enforcement unit is part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Shadow Wolves's primary task is tracking smugglers through a 76-mile (122 km) stretch of the Tohono O'odham nation territory that runs along the Mexico – United States border in the state of Arizona.[1]
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The "Shadow Wolves" law enforcement unit was created in 1972 by an Act of Congress, after the U.S. federal government agreed to the Tohono O'odham Nation's demand that the officers have at least one fourth Native American ancestry.[2] The Shadow Wolves became the first federal law enforcement agents allowed to operate on Tohono land.[2]
The unit is congressionally authorized to have as many as 21 members but, as of March, 2007, it consisted of only 15 members.[2] Members of the unit come from nine different tribes, including the Tohono O'odham, Navajo, Sioux, Lakota, Blackfeet, Omaha, and Yaqui.[2][3]
In 2003, the Shadow Wolves became part of the Department of Homeland Security when ICE was merged into Homeland Security. ICE officials are also considering creating a sister unit of the Shadow Wolves to patrol the Blackfeet reservation in Montana, on the U.S. border with Canada.[2]
The Shadow Wolves comprise a Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactical patrol unit based on the Native American Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona. Shadow Wolf officers are known for their ability to track aliens and drug smugglers as they attempt to smuggle their illegal commodities across the border. The unit boasts an esteemed history of tracking passed down from generation to generation. The name “Shadow Wolves” refers to the way the unit hunts like a wolf pack. The Shadow Wolves were founded in 1972 as an initiative undertaken by the U.S. Congress to track drug smugglers on Native American lands in the American Southwest. Despite possession of high-tech equipment, the unit relies mainly on traditional methods of tracking, primarily a technique called “cutting for sign.” “Cutting” is searching for and analyzing “sign,” which includes any kind of physical evidence (footprints, tire tracks, thread, clothing, etc.). Officers may spend hours or days tracking in the field following a “sign” until arrests and seizures are made, or it has been determined that the contraband has been loaded into a vehicle and transported from the area.
In addition to tracking smugglers on the U.S. border, the Shadow Wolves have also been asked to train border guards and customs agents around the world tracking smugglers, in nations including Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Estonia, Kazakstan, and Uzbekistan.[1][1][3][5] The unit is also being used in the effort to hunt terrorists along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan by training regional border guards in Native American ancestral sign-reading methods.[3][6]
A film about the Shadow Wolves began production in southern Arizona in October 2009. Call of the Shadow Wolves[7] centers on a story of the Shadow Wolves work in protecting the U.S. borders from criminals and terrorists. Director Brian Kosisky said in a news release, "Most people know very little about The Shadow Wolves. This is a tremendous opportunity for a storyteller to create a present-day Western where Native Americans are the heroes."