Shadow Wolves Improvement Act passes Senate committee with bipartisan support

The Shadow Wolves are an elite unit within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agents are members of the Tohono O’odham Nation. (Photo via Homeland Security Investigations/Government Accountability Office)

A bill to strengthen border security and expand opportunities for agents involved in the Shadow Wolves Program is advancing through Congress, as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to move it forward.

The Shadow Wolves Improvement Act is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and it passed the committee unanimously on July 30.

The Shadow Wolves are an elite unit within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agents are members of the Tohono O’odham Nation who patrol the 76-mile stretch of land the Nation shares with Mexico.

Since 1974, the Shadow Wolves have utilized traditional tracking methods to assist in disrupting and dismantling drug and human trafficking organizations, according to the tribe.

“Despite their critical role in border security, Shadow Wolves currently lack the same career advancement and compensation opportunities as other Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents,” according to Gallego’s office.

The legislation reclassifies Shadow Wolves as competitive service employees, giving them greater career mobility, improving retention, and making it easier to recruit new agents.

“The chaos at our southern border has harmed Arizona communities and caused a dangerous rise in illicit smuggling, especially on tribal lands like the Tohono O’odham Nation,” Gallego said in a press release.

He said the dangerous rise has stretched tribal law enforcement thin and diverted them from their primary jobs of policing their streets, which is why the Shadow Wolves program is so important.

The Shadow Wolves Improvement Act codifies key recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to enhance and expand the Shadow Wolves program, permitting ICE to change Shadow Wolves from excepted to competitive service status after three years.

Gallego commended the support of the bill’s co-sponsors, U.S. Senators John Hoeven (R-ND), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and James Lankford (R-OK).

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

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