- Record numbers of non-Mexican migrants are being caught
illegally trying to enter the United States, raising national security
concerns, overwhelming federal agencies, and leaving legislators and law
enforcement authorities grappling with how to handle the situation.
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- So far this fiscal year, the Border Patrol has apprehended
almost 100,000 undocumented migrants from countries other than Mexico -
commonly called OTMs. The majority were caught along the southern border.
That number is projected to reach about 150,000 by the end of this fiscal
year, which is a 200 percent increase compared to fiscal 2004, according
to the Border Patrol.
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- "The numbers are staggering," said Border Patrol
spokesman Salvador Zamora.
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- The Border Patrol is on pace to apprehend about 1.2 million
illegal immigrants this fiscal year, which is about the same as last year.
Out of that, about 12 percent are OTMs, which represent a small -- but
growing -- portion of undocumented immigrants caught illegally entering
the country.
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- The situation has also created a human rights disaster,
with hundreds of people dying in the southern desert each year trying to
sneak across the border. Citizen groups also are patrolling border lands,
contending that the federal government has failed to protect the borders
and enforce immigration laws. Organizers of the groups say they will continue
their operations until the federal government does more.
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- Lawmakers, policymakers and federal law enforcement officials
are grappling with how to handle the situation. Some now say that an approach
based primarily on law enforcement no longer works, and argue that fundamental
change in U.S. immigration policy is needed, such as a guest-worker program
that legally recognizes migrants who come to the United States for work
and pose no threat.
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- Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., plan
to introduce what they say will be "comprehensive immigration reform"
legislation by the end of this month. The bill is tentatively titled the
Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act. They already have
published the first section, which deals with enforcement.
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- Cornyn is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship. Kyl is chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security.
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- "The current border crisis has been years in the
making, but it now appears to have reached a critical mass," Kyl said
during a joint hearing of the subcommittees Tuesday.
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- Cornyn added: "What we are proposing is we not only
enhance border security to deal with people as they come across illegally,
but we're also going to provide resources for interior enforcement ...
and then we're also going to [create] a workable mechanism for prospective
employers to deal with prospective employees who can legally work in the
country."
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- POLICY DRIFT
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- Enforcement of border and immigration law falls to the
Homeland Security Department's bureaus of Customs and Border Protection
and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CBP is responsible for enforcement
along the border, while ICE handles interior enforcement.
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- C. Stewart Verdery Jr., former DHS assistant secretary
for border and transportation security policy and planning, said he was
skeptical of a guest-worker program when President Bush first announced
one in January 2004. "But two years in the trenches has convinced
me that I was wrong," Verdery said during the hearing. "It is
the passage of a properly developed and properly funded guest-worker program
that will bring massive improvements to border security, and thus homeland
security."
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- He added that implementing an effective program will
be expensive. Millions of migrants will have to be vetted, placing new
requirements on consular officials and ports of entry. The U.S. government
also may have to increase resources to help U.S. residents prove their
citizenship when applying for jobs.
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- "This is not going to take some kind of plus-up
or shuffling money around," Verdery said. "If you want to build
out an expansive system that can handle the influx, it's going to take
a massive new amount of money."
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- CBP Commissioner Robert Bonner told Government Executive
in May that the Border Patrol is "overwhelmed." According to
Bonner, most people illegally crossing the southern border are "economic
migrants" seeking any kind of work. He said a guest-worker program
would give those migrants a legal way to enter the country and help the
Border Patrol focus on apprehending criminals or those who mean to do the
country harm. He added that the country also needs a beefed-up sanctions
program for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.
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- NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS
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- Concerns about OTMs from special interest countries --
such as Iraq, Syria and Iran -- were amplified, however, when former Homeland
Security Deputy Secretary James Loy testified in February before the Senate
Intelligence Committee on national security threats to the United States.
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- "Recent information from ongoing investigations,
detentions and emerging threat streams strongly suggest that al Qaeda has
considered using the Southwest border to infiltrate the United States,"
Loy said in written testimony. "Several al Qaeda leaders believe operatives
can pay their way into the country through Mexico, and also believe illegal
entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons."
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- CBP spokesmen told Government Executive in May that they
are concerned terrorists might try to exploit the southern border, but
they have no specific information such incidents have occurred.
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- Mexican nationals caught illegally trying to enter the
country are bused back to the border if they do not have a criminal record.
OTMs, however, are sent to ICE detention centers, where they are released
into the U.S. public if they do not have a felony conviction and do not
pose a threat to national security. ICE is required by law to release illegal
aliens who pose no threat. Those migrants are given a notice to appear
in court. Border Patrol agents call it "a notice to disappear."
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- ICE has released about 1 million illegal aliens into
the country to date. Out of that, about 465,000 never showed up for their
court hearing, and about 85,000 have criminal records.
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- Bonner said releasing illegal immigrants is counterproductive
to border security.
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- "I can tell you that when you do that, the message
goes down to El Salvador, to Brazil - frankly, to China - that if you get
across the border, surrender yourself to the Border Patrol, because you're
going to be released, you're going to get walking papers," Bonner
said.
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- "It's a mindless cycle and we need to break it,"
he added.
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- But ICE couldn't hold everybody if it wanted to. The
agency's Office of Detention and Removal can only hold up to 22,000 detainees,
85 percent of which are mandatory holds.
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- "The reality is you cannot lock up every single
person who comes across the border illegally because the system was not
set up that way," said ICE spokesman Manny Van Pelt. "The reality
is there isn't enough prison space in the United States."
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- ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS
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- Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar testified on Tuesday
that his agency wants to expand a process known as expedited removal to
all its sectors. The process allows illegal immigrants to be more quickly
processed and transported back to their home countries, reducing the amount
of time that they are held in U.S. detention centers from more than 80
days to an average of 26 days.
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- "Agents are frustrated out there," Aguilar
said. "But I can tell you that the reason that this is happening is
because of the lack of detention space."
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- The Border Patrol launched expedited removal nine months
ago at its sectors in Tucson, Ariz., and Laredo, Texas. Aguilar said expanding
the program to other southern border sectors is "coming soon."
When pressed, he said "within a matter of months," but added
that DHS has to approve expanding the program.
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- Some also say that major structural changes are needed.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Heritage Foundation
released a report in December arguing that ICE and CBP should be merged.
Janice Kephart, former counsel to the 9/11 commission and author of a staff
report on terrorist travel, has been telling Congress that a new Department
of Immigration and Border Protection should be created. She says border
security remains "woefully inadequate" and gets shortchanged
compared to other priorities within DHS.
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- Organizers of civilian border patrols are trying to stir
up a national movement. They plan to establish citizen camps in all southern
border states by this fall, as well as some northern border states. They
also plan to picket employers in the country who knowingly hire illegal
immigrants. They say they will continue the camps until the government
orders the military or National Guard to secure the borders. They also
want a 400 percent increase in the budgets for ICE and CBP.
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- Although CBP initially criticized the patrols, Bonner
told lawmakers in May that his agency is evaluating whether it can make
effective use of citizen volunteers.
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- Said Bonner: "We want any kind of force multiplier
we can get."
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- http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0605/060805c1.htm
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