Felix Rocha

Felix started his law enforcement career in 1967 with the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service (USINS) in Yuma, Arizona. There as Patrol Inspector, he worked with the U.S. Border Patrol in the California/Arizona desert tracking "border jumpers". He treated the illegal aliens that he caught with respect and dignity. He offered them water from his drinking bottle which surprised not only the illegal aliens but many of the other Patrol Inspectors. Some fellow Inspectors could hardly believe his actions. "Those are Wet Backs!" yelled one Inspector "Don't give them your water. They are full of disease and other toxic stuff. You're a fool!", but he did not listen. They were thirsty and he gave them water to drink. In 1968, he was transferred to Calexico, CA. He continued working the desert. Tracking illegal aliens became second nature to him. There he was given additional duties. He worked "line watch" which meant staring down the border at a fence that went for miles and miles; and, looking for the occasional fence jumper. While assigned to Calexico, he also worked City Patrol operations which him was a disaster waiting to happen. Especially, when the Senior Officer who ran the operation encourage the Young Patrol Inspectors to look inside the hotel and motel rooms without any advance permission to see if any illegal aliens were hiding inside the rooms. This was particularly dangerous. Many a day you would see one or two young Patrol Inspectors running out of the hotel with a Hotel Manager and/or the occupant of the room giving chase. Through Yuma and Calexico were only miles apart, the two cities Yuma and Calexico were totally different in work assignments. After two years, Phil was transferred to Oceanside/San Clemente, CA. There he learned how to do traffic stops; and, apprehend drug and alien smugglers. While working on the International Highway (I-5), his position title was changed to Border Patrol Agent. On three different occasions while with the Border Patrol, he nearly lost his life. To him the aliens were not the biggest problem that Border Patrol Agent faced. It was the drug and alien smugglers; plus the criminals that they just happened to stop. They did not know, nor did they care that the Border Patrol was searching for illegal aliens at the time. They did not want to be arrested and many times they resisted. From San Clemente, he was promoted to the position of Criminal Investigator with the Investigation Division of Immigration & Naturalization Services in Los Angeles, CA. There he was assigned to conduct general, fraud, criminal and immoral investigations, plus undercover assignments as needed. Later, he was promoted to: Supervisory Immigration Inspector at Los Angeles International Airport and the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaports; Anti-Smuggling Unit Special Agent; Anti-Smuggling Unit Supervisor Special Agent; Special Assistant to the Regional Commissioner for the 1984 Olympics; Program Manager for the INS Western Region; and, finally as a Senior Special Agent with the U.S. Attorney General Organized Crime and Racketeering Section (OCRS) in Main Justice in Los Angeles, CA and Las Vegas, NV. OCRS also known as the Strike Force investigated obstruction of justice cases, murder for hire investigations, money laundering, and pornography violations. Felix loved this kind of work and he was good at it.