WASHINGTON – President Bush and GOP leaders in Congress envision future border security that could look like this: Thousands of new agents flood the U.S.-Mexico line. New detention facilities spring up to house those caught entering the country illegally. High-tech cameras and sensors sprout throughout the desert, filling in gaps between fortified fences.
Legislation the House is set to take up this week or next, combined with measures the Bush administration is already taking, would do that and more.
“It’s setting as national policy the idea that the border has to be controlled,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and the author of the main border security bill scheduled for House debate this month. “That changes the mindset.” The proposals are aimed at tightening lax law enforcement along the southwestern border and cutting down on illegal immigration into the United States. With an eye on next year’s elections, officials are pushing for speedy action on border enforcement as more and more communities around the nation grapple with an influx of undocumented workers.
But observers wonder whether the border-related plans that Congress and the administration are making will be enough.
Without additional money, the legislation under consideration can’t be put in place. Critics already question whether the federal agencies charged with securing the borders are up to the logistics of the task.
And activists say sealing off the border without figuring out what to do about immigrants seeking work is impossible.
“We’ve tripled the size of the Border Patrol since 1993 at a great human cost,” said the Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of Humane Borders, a Tucson, Ariz.-based organization that puts water in the desert for immigrants and advocates for legal status for those already in the United States. “To do an enforcement-only plan is counter to U.S.
interests.” About half a million undocumented immigrants enter the U.S.
from Mexico every year, more than twice the number who arrive legally.
People also come illegally from other countries in smaller numbers.
The Border Patrol makes more than a million arrests each year, although it’s not clear how many of those involve multiple arrests of the same people.
President Bush and some lawmakers want comprehensive reform of immigration laws, including provisions to allow some of the 11 million undocumented immigrants already here to work legally, if only temporarily.
House leaders are pushing forward, for now, with legislation that focuses on border security rather than on a wholesale revision of the laws, which could be more controversial and difficult to pass. Many of the ideas in the House border security bill echo plans the administration is already taking on its own.
The bill would change the way U.S. officials handle many of the immigrants caught crossing the border illegally.
Currently, illegal immigrants from Mexico are immediately sent back to Mexico. But illegal immigrants from other countries are dealt with using a “catch and release” system that turns them loose with an order to appear later in court, which most typically ignore.
The bill would end that system, sending those illegal immigrants back to their home countries. It mirrors a new push by the administration to end the catch-and-release practice.
The bill also would authorize – but not specifically set aside money for – 8,000 new Border Patrol agents and 32,000 new detention beds. And it would order the Pentagon to devise new ways to support border agencies, including expanding the use of sensors and other new technology that’s already being deployed.
Still, critics say the legislation needs to include significant enforcement of laws banning employers from hiring undocumented immigrants in order to make much difference.
“You’ve thrown another 1,000 border agents at the problem – what’s that mean?” said Mark Krikorian, president of the Center for Immigration Studies, which opposes immigration.
Other proposals also could come up during debate. One plan, sponsored by Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., would give the president authority to deploy the military to guard the borders. Another, sponsored by Reps.
Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Virgil Goode, R-Va., would set up a fence along the entire 1,951-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico. But that would cost $2 billion and administration officials dismiss it as too expensive and unnecessary.
“We don’t support a wall across the border,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, adding that the fence would require technology and agents to back it up. “In the desert, fencing doesn’t make any sense at all.” – Contact Mike Madden at mmadden(AT)gannett.com.
– On the Web:@ www.cbp.gov, Customs and Border Protection homelandsecurity.house.gov, House Homeland Security Committee www.cis.org, Center for Immigration Studies — (BREAKOUT MATERIAL) Facts on border security – About 20,000 illegal immigrants are in custody at any given time.
That means all available beds in federal detention facilities for immigration offenses are filled.
– Detaining illegal immigrants costs the government about $95 a day for each immigrant.
– Immigration officials made 1.2 million arrests for illegal immigration from Oct. 1, 2004, to Sept. 30, 2005. That includes people who were arrested more than once.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
AP-NY-12-05-05 1737EST
