HSI Presidio more than just an assignment

It’s the weekend along the Rio Grande in West Texas and HSI Presidio Resident Agent in Charge (RAC) Josh Whatmough needs to go grocery shopping. 

The options are slim in Presidio. The closest thing to a grocery store is the local gas station that has a small food mart. Subway, the town’s only fast food restaurant opened about two years ago. Whatmough plans to make the 2 1/2 hour drive to Fort Stockton, Texas, to load up on the essentials needed to last until next trip.

For an outsider, what seems like a five-hour inconvenience, is the norm for those who call Presidio – a town of about 5,000 – home. It’s normal for HSI Presidio personnel to drive long distances for everyday tasks, and even farther for their investigative duties.

HSI Presidio’s area of responsibility covers more than 10,000 square miles, including 230 miles along the U.S-Mexico border.  Special agents investigate all crimes that fall under the HSI mission. During a week when agents are on duty, they may be assigned human and narcotics smuggling cases, or cases involving customs violations, or more likely all three.

The infrastructure is equally dispersed.

“The nearest hospital in the United States is 110 miles away.  The nearest jail is about 60 miles, about a three-hour drive.  If an agent arrests somebody who needs medical clearance, this can add at least another 50 to 60 miles to an agent’s transport.”

In addition to the geographic distances, there is a language barrier that presents its own challenges for new agents.

“In our office, if you don’t speak Spanish when you get here, you have to learn quickly because you are immersed in the language,” said RAC Whatmough. “HSI Presidio utilizes Spanish for 99 percent of our interviews and investigations. You either pick up the language very quickly or make friends with the [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] CBP officers or Border Patrol agents who can translate for you.”

But there are benefits to working in small outer offices. In Presidio, for example, strong team bonds are formed.

Special agents assigned to HSI Presidio quickly learn that there is something happening 24/7/365.  To counter the lack of manpower, HSI Presidio regularly receives support in a rotational basis from HSI El Paso and Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico.

According to Whatmough, there are other advantages to working in a small office, such as picking up the phone at 3 a.m. and call his staff, or request assistance from his Border Patrol, CBP or other federal, state and local law enforcement partners.

“I have a direct line to our local sheriff. Normally when I speak with my DEA, CBP, BP or state and local counterparts, our conversations are to exchange information or ask each other for help,” said RAC Whatmough. “In this area we are all so busy that disagreements among law enforcement agencies are about who has to take the load, not whose load it is.  That’s a refreshing change from other parts of the country in which I’ve worked.”

In fact, it was the working environment that brought Whatmough back to Presidio. After leaving the U.S. Army in 1995, his first job was with the U.S. Customs Service as inspector in Presidio. Two years later, he was promoted to special agent and served there until 2002.  When the RAC position was announced in early 2016, Whatmough did everything he could to get back to West Texas.