The Border Patrol arrested nearly 1.2 million people who tried to cross the border in fiscal year 2005 and over 6 million since 9/11 leading the President to acknowledge that “the men and women of our Border Patrol are doing a fine job in difficult circumstances.”

Photo Credit: Gerald Nino

President Bush addresses the Border Patrol on May 18 about the urgency of obtaining needed support for them as soon as possible.

In the halls of Congress, in the media, and in cyberspace, the debate about how to manage illegal immigration rages on. It is fueled by the complex relationship that Americans have with legal and illegal immigrants. As the President stated in his speech, “Illegal immigration puts pressure on public schools and hospitals, it strains state and local budgets, and brings crime to our communities. … Yet. …the vast majority of illegal immigrants are decent people who work hard, support their families, practice their faith, and lead responsible lives.”

During the President’s speech, he committed the United States government to secure our borders, while he acknowledged the necessity for a greatly enhanced interior enforcement effort. On the other hand, he supports a guest-worker program that would allow immigrants to temporarily work in the United States. This would allow law enforcement to focus on people who come to our country with less than honorable intentions.

For its part, U.S. Customs and Border Protection welcomes the President’s decision to send National Guard troops to the border, as it accelerates CBP’s existing five-year border security strategy, particularly where additional human power is concerned. The agency has received funding to double the Border Patrol agent force to 18,000 by 2008, and is also planning to launch new technologies to create a “smart border” bounded by motion-detecting sensors, high-tech fences, unmanned aerial vehicles, and the like. Until those agents and technologies can be deployed, the National Guard will continue to increase its much-needed support role. The Guard will operate surveillance systems, analyze intelligence, install fences and vehicle barriers, build patrol roads, and provide training. The Border Patrol itself will continue to actually guard the nation’s borders.

Border Patrol agent escorts an apprehended migrant.

At the same time, CBP officers will be closely monitoring the port of entry activities to measure and provide appropriate responses to increased narcotics smuggling or illegal immigration activity that may be deflected there as a result of increased law enforcement presence along the land border with Mexico. Our ports of entry are currently equipped to address most surge operations and CBP maintains a ready mobile force to assist if the event or circumstance warrants it.

CBP, prior to the President’s address, initiated and implemented a border security strategy that increased personnel, strengthened the infrastructure, and improved and added technology. The Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Border Initiative (SBI), which, like the National Border Patrol Strategy, emphasizes the use of technology, among other things, to deter illegal migration addresses this challenge with an integrated mix of increased staffing, more robust interior enforcement, greater investment in detection technology and infrastructure, and enhanced coordination on federal, state, local, and international levels. The President is committed that all of the CBP and DHS initiatives to control our borders will be among the very highest national priorities.

A critical component of the SBI strategy is the Department’s plan to launch a comprehensive program to transform its border control technology and infrastructure. This program, named SBInet, will integrate multiple state-of-the-art systems and traditional security infrastructure into a single comprehensive border protection system for the department.

Ultimately, partnership is critical to the realization of CBP’s vision of achieving operational control of the border. Partnership with the military; with state, local, and tribal governments; across the federal government; with the private sector; and even with international partners will be the key to making secure borders a reality.