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3

Securing the Border—and

Reforming Immigration

IMMIGRATION is a source of tremendous strength for our country, but it can also be a source of great division and even confusion for Americans. Talk of immigration tends to stir powerful emotions, provoke strong responses, and generate equal amounts of heat and light in our political discourse.

Most Americans do seem to agree on one thing: they want something done about illegal immigration. They are tired of decades of lip service, inaction, and broken promises. Not surprisingly, they have grown cynical about the federal government's willingness to act. Given the serious threat posed by terrorism in the post-9/11 world, they fear the consequences of perceived inaction at our borders.

In the summer of 2007, Congress stood on the verge of passing comprehensive immigration reform that, for the first time in decades, would have given the federal government new tools and resources to protect the border and our homeland, enforce immigration laws, and create new channels to boost legal migration through temporary worker programs and improved paths to citizenship.¹ The bill's provisions included a measure to bring millions of undocumented workers into a legal, regulated status—provided they pay a fine and go to the back of the line to wait their turn. Proponents of the bill, including the Bush administration, believed this would have solved one of the major challenges of immigration enforcement: combating the economic draw that encourages people to risk life and limb to cross the border. Equally important, it would have freed law enforcement to focus more fully on truly dangerous individuals, including gang members, drug and human traffickers, and potential terrorists.

Unfortunately, the Senate voted down the legislation. Among the key causes for the bill's failure was skepticism that the federal government was serious about securing the border and enforcing the law. Too many years of unchecked illegal migration had created a credibility problem. In the eyes of its detractors, comprehensive immigration reform would only result in further illegal immigration while rewarding those who had already broken the law.

To help restore credibility and create a path for future reform efforts, the administration put forward a set of 26 measures designed to immediately address existing immigration challenges within the scope of current law.² The measures contained three central pillars: securing the physical border through additional infrastructure, manpower, and technology; strengthening interior enforcement by targeting dangerous illegal immigrants as well as businesses that violate the law; and improving temporary worker programs and legal immigration.

While none of these steps alone solve the problem of illegal immigration, they have contributed to substantial, measurable progress to turn the tide of illegal immigration into the United States. They also have helped make it clear that the government is taking this challenge seriously. Ideally, this will help clear the path for future reform efforts in Congress.

Securing the Border

Most of those entering the United States illegally are only seeking a better way of life. The fact that they can enter illegally is, however, a national security vulnerability that must be addressed. Moreover, the manner of crossing—often in the desert heat, and at the mercy of smuggling groups—is a serious humanitarian problem. Additionally, illegal drug smuggling continues to pose a major challenge at the border. In 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized nearly 3 million pounds of illegal narcotics at the border. Most of the drugs that enter our country do not remain at the border. Their ultimate destination is American cities and communities. In a very real sense, what we do to stop drugs at the border protects the interior of our country.

Moreover, areas where drug smugglers and human smugglers are able to operate freely often experience problems with trash, human waste, and abandoned vehicles, which have a damaging impact on wildlife, vegetation, and water quality. Campfires can get out of control and create wildfires, also harming local habitat. Trespassing and even violence affect citizens in surrounding areas.

Finally, after the September 11 attacks, it became clear that dealing with the ease of illegal entry as a national security vulnerability had to assume a new urgency, given the opportunity it posed for those who wanted to launch further strikes on the homeland or commit serious crimes against our citizens. Indeed, over the past year, CBP apprehended more than 200 people with serious criminal records, including convictions for rape, murder, and child molestation. And it continues to encounter individuals seeking to illegally enter the United States from countries with an established nexus to terrorism. To combat these problems, the government is pursing three strategies to secure the southern border: pedestrian and vehicle fencing; additional Border Patrol agents; and new technology.

From the government's perspective, fencing is a valuable tool that makes the job of the Border Patrol easier and more efficient in certain areas. In particular, fencing helps to slow down people who are attempting to dash across the border. This lengthens the amount of time the Border Patrol has to intercept and apprehend migrants before they can vanish into the interior. Fencing also prevents vehicles laden with drugs or illegal immigrants from crossing the border. To the extent that fencing can minimize traffic flows, it also helps protect the natural habitat.³

In building the fence, we sought the cooperation of landowners, state and local leaders, and members of border communities. While some will dispute this claim, we literally held hundreds of town hall meetings with property owners and concerned citizens. We were always willing to listen to concerns and take suggestions. In fact, our direct consultation with a local community in Hidalgo County, Texas, led to an agreement to design the fence in a way that meshed with local flood control needs. As a result, the government is producing a sixteen-foot wall at the border that will serve both to protect against possible floods from the Rio Grande and as a very powerful barrier against drug smuggling and human smuggling into Texas. This is a win-win situation.

Ultimately, our rationale for building fencing is to serve the operational needs of the Border Patrol. If fencing will help reduce migrant flows and the entry of drugs in certain areas, then we have a compelling interest to build it. We have to weigh the good of the entire country—which absorbs the impact of smuggling—against the desires of border residents who have economic or political objections.

Beyond fencing, we also have dramatically expanded the U.S. Border Patrol, whose job is to intercept, apprehend, and remove people who enter this country illegally, as well as to intercept the flow of illegal drugs and other contraband. The Border Patrol was expanded from approximately 9,000 agents at the beginning of the Bush administration to more than 18,000 agents at the end of 2008. This is the largest expansion in the agency's history.⁴ The third element of our strategy is technology. Twenty-first-century tools are needed at the border, which means more than just fencing and barriers. It means high-tech solutions as well, such as unmanned aerial systems and ground-based radar, including systems that allow the Border Patrol to map exactly where migrants are entering so that they can direct their teams to intercept. Technology will never be a substitute for the experience and intuition of well-trained Border Patrol agents, but it helps them be more effective in a challenging border environment.

Are these efforts having an impact on illegal immigration? Perhaps the best statistical measure can be found in the number of apprehensions at the border. Since 2005, Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal migrants attempting to cross the border dropped a full 40 percent, suggesting that fewer people are attempting to enter the country. In 2008, apprehensions dropped 17 percent.⁵ Coupled with other third party indicators, including a significant reduction in remittances to Mexico and Latin America, as well as fewer people in traditional staging areas at the border, we are confident that this reflects a significant change in past trends. Further validation can be found in an independent Pew Hispanic Center study, which in October 2008 noted that “from 2005 to 2008, the inflow of immigrants who are undocumented fell below that of immigrants who are legal permanent residents. That reverses a trend that began a decade ago. The turnaround appears to have occurred in 2007.”⁶ The Pew study found that in 2007, for the first time in years, there was no increase in the net illegal population in the United States. These are encouraging signs for those responsible for protecting the border, suggesting that the policies instituted by the Bush administration can have a positive impact on border security.

Interior Enforcement

Moving away from the borders, we also have to look at the issue of enforcing the law in the interior. Only by promoting a legal workforce can we reduce the incentives for people to enter the country illegally. As we know, what brings the vast majority of illegal migrants into the United States is the prospect of jobs. When businesses hire illegal immigrants it works against our policy of controlling the border. It also encourages more people to break the law and exposes workers to potential abuse by their employers. Thus, interior enforcement remains a major part of our strategy. Worse, we know that some proportion of the people who enter the United States illegally do not come here to do legitimate work; they come to commit crimes. Our first priority is to identify those in the country illegally who are criminals or gang members and arrest them. To this end, we have expanded both our anti-gang initiatives and our fugitive operations teams.