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The GAO said that by the end of fiscal 2010, the Border Patrol had been able to secure operational control of only 44 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border. Then, with 56 percent of the border not under operational control, DHS simply stopped using operational control as a measure of the Border Patrols performance. Since then, DHS has counted the number of illegal border crossers the Border Patrol apprehends, and used this count as an interim measure of whether the Border Patrol is accomplishing its mission.
According to GAO, this interim measure limits DHSs accountability and Congresss ability to conduct oversight of the department. At the end of fiscal year 2010, DHS reported achieving varying levels of operational control of 873 (44 percent) of the nearly 2,000 southwest border miles, Rebecca Gambler, the GAOs director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on the Border. In fiscal year 2011, citing a need to establish new goals and measures that reflect a more quantitative methodology and an evolving vision for border control, DHS transitioned to using the number of apprehensions on the southwest border as an interim goal and measure, Gambler said. As GAO previously testified, this interim measure, which reports on program activity levels and not program results, limits DHS and congressional oversight and accountability.
Starting in 2004, Congress provided the Border Patrol with a significant increase in resources, which until 2010 were focused on actually securing the physical border of the United States. For example, from fiscal years 2004 through 2011, the number of Border Patrol agents on the southwest border nearly doubled, from about 9,500 to about 18,500; and DHS reported that since fiscal year 2006, about $4.4 billion has been invested in southwest border technology and infrastructure, Gambler testified. Through fiscal year 2010, these resources were used to support DHSs goal to achieve 'operational control' of the nations borders by reducing cross-border illegal activity.
The Border Patrol said it had operational control of a mile of border when it could not only detect illegal border crossers there but actually interdict them when they crossed. The extent of operational controlalso referred to as effective controlwas defined as the number of border miles where Border Patrol had the capability to detect, respond to, and interdict cross-border illegal activity, Gambler testified. In its most recent strategic plan for DHS, the Obama Administration indicated that it intended to begin focusing resources on mitigating risk from illegal penetration of the U.S. border rather than increasing the security of the border itself.
See more at: Testimony: DHS No Longer Uses Control of Border as Measure of Border Patrol | CNS News
"As fiscal uncertainty remains over the continuing resolution and possible sequestration, ICE has reviewed its detained population to ensure detention levels stay within ICEs current budget, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement released on Tuesday. Over the last week, ICE has reviewed several hundred cases and placed these individuals on methods of supervision less costly than detention. (See email from Gillian Christensen, ICE Statement.pdf)
All of these individuals remain in removal proceedings, Christensen said. Priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety. Were getting reports from multiple detention centers in Texas, Florida and New Orleans where detainees who are low priority are being released in mass without bond, Domenic Powell, a spokesman for the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, an immigration advocacy group, was quoted as saying in a McClatchy Newspapers report on Monday.
On Monday, during a press briefing at the White House, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the sequester is a threat to national security. Threats from terrorism and the need to respond and recover from natural disasters do not diminish because of budget cuts," Napolitano said. "Even in the current fiscal climate, we do not have the luxury of making significant reductions to our capabilities without significant impacts."
See more at: Citing 'Possible Sequester,' Administration Releases Illegal Aliens | CNS News
Mr. McAleenan, if I were a could-be terrorist, and I flew into the Harrisburg International Airport or Des Moines, Iowa, airport and didnt leave after my visa expired, how would you find me? Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), a member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, asked Kevin McAleenan, acting assistant commissioner in the Office of Field Operations for CBP. So were assuming this individual is not known to the intelligence community or law enforcement as a potential terrorist? McAleenan asked. Thats correct, Barletta said.
Okay, thats a multi-agency effort. First of all we would use the biographic information transmitted to CBP, called the advanced passenger information system, which would tell us who they are, when theyve arrived, a record of their crossing date. We would work with U.S. Visit in Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine whether they left on time. Thats a biographic exit effort, McAleenan said. If I could just interrupt you one second please then how would we have 40 percent of the people in the country illegally, whose visas have expired, why havent we been able to do that? Barletta asked. I think this is an acknowledged area, representative, where we need to improve, and weve been improving over the last several years, McAleenan responded.
Thats exactly my point, because you see some of the 9/11 and you know this some of the 9/11 terrorists overstayed their visas. In fact, one of the 9/11 terrorists was granted amnesty in 1986. He said he was an agricultural worker and was granted amnesty and later was one of the masterminds to that, Barletta said. Barletta told the panel of witnesses, which included Michael Fisher, the chief of CBP, that not all threats come from people crossing borders but includes every state with an international airport. Any state that has an international airport is a border state, Barletta said. Any state with an international airport is a border state.
Forty percent of the people that are in the country illegally didnt cross a border, Barletta said. They came here on a visa. The visa expired, and they disappeared into the system, and we cant find them. Barletta noted that Tuesday marked the 20th anniversary of the 1993 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center that killed six people and injured about 1,000 others. We are a long way from secure borders, and it should be a reminder to everyone here in Congress that we dont replace the carpet in our homes while we still have a hole in our roof, Barletta said.
- See more at: Lawmaker Grills Border Protection Official on Efforts to Track 40 Percent of Illegal Aliens with Expired Visas | CNS News
George Hawley, who teaches political science at the University of Houston, crunched the numbers and found that Republicans who backed immigration reform in that election didnt fare better with Hispanic voters, and in fact probably suffered overall thanks to a drop in support from white voters. While Republican incumbents may have any number of justifications for supporting immigration reforms that provide a pathway to citizenship, they should not expect such policies to be an electoral panacea, Mr. Hawley wrote in a report for the Center for Immigration Studies, summarizing an academic paper he is publishing in Social Science Quarterly.
The question of political peril and reward from immigration has been front-and-center after the November elections, when President Obama won an overwhelming share of the Hispanic vote en route to a fairly easy re-election victory. Immigrant rights advocates and many members of the GOP leadership concluded that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney alienated Hispanic voters by running the most hard-line immigration campaign of any major-party nominee in modern history. Now, those same forces argue that Republicans can recapture some Hispanic voters if they join efforts to pass a broad immigration bill that would grant illegal immigrants a path to citizenship along with stricter enforcement and a rewrite of the legal immigration system. Indeed, some immigrant rights groups warn that focusing on enforcement will only doom the Republican Party.
But Mr. Hawley said the 2006 election shows otherwise. He looked at incumbent Republicans running for re-election to Congress that year and their grades on immigration as determined by NumbersUSA, an organization that supports a crackdown. He then looked at exit-poll data for 1,550 Hispanic voters and 14,378 non-Hispanic whites in those members districts. Whether a Republican member of Congress was a strong liberal or a strong conservative on immigration, most Latinos living in Republican districts did not vote for the incumbent in 2006, he concluded. Thus, Republicans who take a more liberal stance on immigration should not expect to see a corresponding increase in their share of the Latino vote. All told, the Republicans congressional candidates averaged less than 30 percent support of Hispanic voters in their districts, his study found.
Immigrant rights advocates said the political situation has changed dramatically since 2006 and that the study has been overtaken by events. Right now, we have a majority of Americans supporting immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship, a consensus in Washington from both parties how often can you say that about an issue that there is an imperative to do something about this issue, and a fair, bipartisan framework that and process that by all accounts is make serious progress towards a legislative debate in the spring, said Angela Marie Kelley, vice president for immigration at the Center for American Progress. The latest polling does suggest a shift among voters, including Republicans, who say they are increasingly likely to embrace a path to citizenship for some of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S. Frank Sharry, executive director of Americas Voice, said his group arranged a study of 2008 congressional campaigns looking at 22 competitive races featuring a pro-immigration reform candidate running against a candidate calling for a crackdown. He said that in 20 of those races, the pro-immigration reform candidate won.
Read more: Republican courting of Hispanics, immigrants no lock for a date on Election Day - Washington Times
