"Is U.S.-Mexico border secure enough?"

Here is an excerpt from Elizabeth Aguilera's article in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"Along the U.S.-Mexico border, fortification has reached an all-time peak... Given this unprecedented expansion in resources during the past decade, U.S. government officials said the southwest border is the tightest it has ever been. Skeptics and “border security first” supporters are convinced it is still not enough, while advocates for comprehensive immigration reform believe it is more than adequate and the nation should push forward on other issues... 'No one has described what a secure border looks like. We have no baseline and we have no target,' said David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. 'It’s a great example of a moving standard and for the last 20 years, that standard has been moving up with no targets in sight.'... The number of apprehensions fell 62 percent from 2005 through last year — to a total of 447,731 in 2010.... Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin said a good portion of people who try to cross the border illegally are detained. He cited a rate of 90 percent for the San Diego sector and nearly 100 percent for El Paso. But neither he nor his staff could explain how those rates are calculated... Bersin’s goal is to keep the number of illegal border crossers low enough, and to communicate that achievement to the public so border security no longer becomes fodder for political rhetoric." Link to Full Article

Analysis: What really concerns me about Commissioner Bersin's assessment of border security is that he seems to equate it to the number of illegal immigrants who are successfully apprehended and prevented from entering the US. While illegal immigration is a huge concern for many, I don't really care about immigrants who are looking or work in the US in the sense that I don't view them as a threat to national security. What I do have a problem with is the fact that not once did Bersin talk about apprehending drug traffickers or terrorists, or how DHS is doing such a great job of developing programs to separate them from the crowd of "regular" immigrants.

Granted, illegal immigrants attempting entry into the US usually have different ways of doing it than drug smugglers. The former often use coyotes and attempt to cross in rural areas between officials ports of entry, making their capture the responsibility of the Border Patrol and local law enforcement. Drug smugglers often use ports of entry and try to smuggle drugs in hidden compartments of vehicles. But more and more we're seeing drug smugglers bringing loads across the border by using tunnels, ultralight aircraft, boats and rafts, and hikers. This makes them the responsibility of CBP, Border Patrol, local law enforcement, the National Guard, and anyone else remotely involved in border security.

So which one seems to be the bigger problem, and/or the bigger concern? All those agencies have limited personnel and resources. Which problem should they be focusing on? I wholeheartedly agree with David Shirk in that no one can really clearly define what border security means, and that DHS has not established any benchmarks or targets for it. It's all well and good that we're seeing the lowest rates of illegal entry ever, but how exactly does that translate to better border security? I saw no mention of apprehension rates of drug smugglers or special interest aliens (immigrants from countries with ties to terrorism).

It's a telling sign to me that DHS says the number of illegal immigrants trying to come across the border is lower than it's ever been, yet we haven't seen a parallel decrease in drug smuggling activity. I'm not saying that we should ignore all border crossers who have nothing to do with drug smuggling, but there needs to be some sort of intelligent and focused approach to separating the two (or three, if you count potential terrorists) groups and assigning priorities. The immigration issue is highly complex and politically charged, and potential solutions extend well beyond the border, like the article says. The drug problem does too, but DHS and the federal government have chosen the strategy of interdiction as the best way to fight the drug war. If that's the way they want to keep going, then Bersin and Co. shouldn't worry so much about touting the reduced number of illegal immigrant apprehensions and focus more on how many drug smugglers and potential terrorists they're catching - or not catching.

Comments

[Fred]

You are both correct and incorrect at the same time. You are correct in that the figures concerning apprehensions are misleading, but incorrect in your understanding as why it is so. Long has the Border Patrol used the numbers game to present a picture of the border deemed appropriate at any given time. The numbers which they present can mean a variety of things, depending upon how the Border Patrol interprets the figures for us. What that means is a large number of arrests can show that the Border Patrol is functioning well and carrying out their stated mission, or it can show that the border is over ran and the Border Patrol needs infusion of large sums of cash, equipment and manpower thrown it’s way. In the case when lower numbers are reported the Patrol interprets those low numbers, today to represent a secure border, at least secure in some places. The Border Patrol can do this ( get away with this) because there is NO means in place to readily discount or contradict their figures. To more define this for you I will focus on the area of the border which you also made mention of, and which of course has been the area historically assigned to the Border Patrol, the area between the POE (s). In days gone by the border was largely defined in those areas by a simple cattle type fence made of posts and barbwire. In some places there may have also been a two-track dirt ranch type road paralleling the fence, but little more. Today much of that area is defined by tall steel fencing , vehicle barriers and large well graded roads which the Border Patrol generally uses as their primary ‘’cut & drag’’ for entry detection. All of this of course is supported by a host of fixed base cameras, ground sensors and air operations, and more.
If we compare the resources to include manpower, on that base alone Napolitano/ Bersin
are correct (at least in assuming that it should be) that the border is more secure today than ever before. Sadly most of us know that is not the case, and for the same reasons which should be as apparent to Napolitano/Bersin as they are for most us. Border security cannot be measured piecemeal, nor established in such fashion , as our government has been attempting to do. One could easily compare the Border Patrol’s strategy , and the outcome, to that of a battlefield commander reinforcing his front while leaving his flanks wide open. On that note, it would be one thing if such a commander was new to warfare and simply wasn’t wise enough to understand such a mistake, but quite another if he in fact understood the consequences that were sure to come from his actions. Concerning our border here, and the agency charged with securing it, the Border Patrol, most certainly were aware of the consequences to follow once the piecemeal fortification strategy was adopted. Not only aware that the IA’s that would be pushed out to the flanks ( the deserts) of these fortified areas, but which was the intended result of the strategy. Once this traffic had successfully been redirected to the flanks the previously over-ran communities could then be touted by the Border Patrol as to the success of their strategy, and that they had in fact ‘’stopped’’ X amount of IA’s from entering the country. However what they didn’t tell Congress nor the American public was the fact that they hadn’t ‘’stopped’’ a damn thing. All of the traffic had simply been shifted to the flanks where they were easily smuggled into the country, and VIA the new flank routes into the back-door of these now supposedly secured communities. Then as now the Border had no idea as to the true numbers nor makeup of those diverted, because they never made contact with them. For all intents and purposes once the IA’s had been diverted the Border Patrol ( at least management) were happy campers…mission accomplished!
Now here we are almost twenty years later , and 4 $billion dollars a year later, in the same damn sinking boat, just with slightly fewer holes, and a slightly different twist. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, three and four times, and you can call me Congressman. One final note before I call this deal done here: In reference to Bersin and the Border Patrols numbers. It really doesn’t matter what number is presented, because just like the old shell game where the pea has been removed from play, the counted Illegal Aliens have already crossed again and reached their final destination before the news paper the numbers appeared in was even printed! They ALL make it eventually.

Fred