Shadow Wolves Native American tracking unit could expand under new bill

The Shadow Wolves unit, Homeland Security's only Native American specialized tracking team, is ready for a change after nearly 50 years of patrolling the Arizona desert.

Bills that seek to strengthen and expand the Shadow Wolves' authority were approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security in the past month.

If the bills move forward, they will allow Homeland Security to reclassify the Shadow Wolves from tactical enforcement officers to special agents and expand the program to other tribal jurisdictions.

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., is one of the main sponsors.

Since 1974, the elite unit has tracked smugglers across the 2.8 million acres of the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona and the 76-mile stretch of land bordering Mexico. The unit is world-renowned for its skill for “cutting sign,” or reading physical evidence in the landscape: spotting a weft in the desert thicket, the edges of a mark in the sand, or the inside color of a broken twig.