A US-based manufacturer of construction and agricultural machinery. It has provided vehicles and equipment to US Customs and Border Protection.
Deere & Co, headquartered in Moline, Ill., and doing business as John Deere, is a manufacturer of construction, agricultural, and forestry machinery.
John Deere has supplied all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), utility vehicles (UTVs), crossover vehicles (XUVs), and other equipment to U.S. immigration authorities.
Between 2006 and 2016, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) awarded John Deere at least 14 contracts for UTVs, tractors, and other equipment. The agency has also acquired John Deere vehicles and equipment from third-party dealers. CBP’s most recent contract with John Deere ended in 2017, and the agency does not appear to have purchased John Deere equipment through third-party dealers since then.
Seven of CBP’s contracts with John Deere, held between 2009 and 2017, were for ATVs, UTVs, or XUVs. Some of these contracts mentioned the company’s Gator UTVs, which are designed to carry passengers and equipment over rugged terrain. One contract specifically mentioned the purchase of a Gator XUV 850D “Military Utility Vehicle,” a militarized version of the company’s Gator UTVs.
CBP agents have used ATVs and UTVs to patrol rough terrain surrounding the U.S.–Mexico border, particularly in remote areas that are inaccessible to other vehicles. For example, in January 2019, an ATV unit from the Lordsburg Border Patrol in New Mexico was used to locate and arrest four immigrants. That same year, the Presidio Station ATV Unit in Texas arrested 17 immigrants in a remote part of the Chianti Mountains.
John Deere’s largest award from CBP, a contract that ended in 2016, was for the purchase of a motor grader for the agency’s Tucson, Ariz. border sector. Motor graders are used to flatten soil—necessary for creating roads along the U.S.–Mexico border wall and preparing land for border construction.
In addition, John Deere has provided vehicles and equipment to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The company’s most recent contract with the agency, spanning September 2019–2020, was for UTVs used to train ICE agents at a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.