Washington
-- The United States has set a goal to catch and remove
every person who crosses the nation's 7,000 miles of shared
borders illegally, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
says.
"Simply stated, our goal is to gain
control of our borders," Chertoff said in a speech
in Houston November 2.
"I define control to mean that we will
have an extremely high probability of detecting, responding
to and interdicting illegal crossings of our borders."
Chertoff introduced the Secure Border Initiative,
which represents a transformational approach to securing
U.S. borders from terrorism, but also to reducing illegal
migration.
"Gaining control of our borders requires
focusing on all aspects of the problem -- deterrence, detection,
apprehension, detention and removal," Chertoff said
in remarks to the Houston Forum, a nonprofit educational
group.
Coupled with the border initiative, he said,
is the need for Congress to change current immigration laws.
That would include the creation of a temporary worker program
that would allow legal, regulated workers into the United
States to work while still preserving national security.
The Bush administration long has supported
the temporary worker program’s concept as an effective
deterrent to illegal aliens entering the country solely
to find high-paying jobs.
The initiative is designed to enable Homeland
Security to achieve operational control of both the northern
border with Canada and the southern border with Mexico within
five years and to secure the nation’s ports of entry,
he said.
Key elements of the initiative include:
• More federal agents to patrol the
borders, secure the ports of entry for people and cargo
and to enforce immigration laws;
• Expanded and more efficient detection
and removal capabilities to eliminate the practice of "catch
and release" currently used;
• A comprehensive and systemic upgrading
of border-security technology that would include air patrols,
expanded use of unmanned aerial vehicles similar to those
currently used by the U.S. armed forces and new-generation
detection technology;
• Increased investment in infrastructure
improvements at the border to provide additional barriers
to block illegal border crossings; and
• Greatly increased interior enforcement
of U.S. immigration laws, including more robust worksite
enforcement to capture illegal aliens.
Chertoff said that since the September 11,
2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the federal
government has increased border security spending by $2.8
billion, a 60 percent increase. When President Bush on October
18 signed into law the Homeland Security budget, it included
more than $7 billion for Customs and Border Protection,
he added.
The fiscal year 2006 budget for U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement increased 9 percent over 2005 levels
to $3.9 billion, he said.
"Under our Secure Border Initiative,
we will field the most effective mix of current and next-generation
technology and infrastructure with a corresponding mix of
appropriately trained personnel," he said.
"Our goal is to ultimately have the
capacity to integrate multiple ‘state of the art’
systems and sensor arrays into one interoperable and comprehensive
detection system."
Chertoff, conceding that today's problem
of illegal migration has been years in the making and the
solution will not happen rapidly, said the United States
"must act thoughtfully and systematically -- but also
quickly."
Cooperation between the United States and
Canada, and between the United States and Mexico, has been
substantially improved through the Security and Prosperity
Partnership unveiled earlier this year. It has lead to success
in stopping smugglers and those trafficking in humans, he
said.
The full
text of Chertoff's remarks and a fact
sheet on the Secure Border Initiative are available
on the Department of Homeland Security Web site.
For additional information on U.S. efforts
to secure its southern border, see The
U.S. and Mexico: Border/Migration Issues.
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