Security of our borders in the post 9/11 era is a national security issue. It is a homeland security issue. And, nowhere is this more evident than here on the Arizona border.

Last year, over one-half of all the people apprehended by the Border Patrol were illegally crossing the Arizona border. That’s close to 600,000 aliens illegally entering our country. It constitutes 52% of the 1.1 million Border Patrol apprehensions made by the Border Patrol last year. Put another way, that’s an average of 1,600 apprehensions every day by the Border Patrol here in Arizona.

And, I might note, the Border Patrol seized 479,000 pounds of illegal drugs last year that came across the Arizona border.

These are aliens who are illegally crossing our borders for many reasons—to work, to smuggle people or drugs, or potentially even terrorists!

But, whatever the reason, they are breaking our laws. And, this must stop.

Today, we are announcing the next phase of the Arizona Border Control Initiative. This second phase in nothing less than a full court press to reduce the number of illegal aliens crossing our borders, and to detect and arrest those engaged in illegal cross border activity.

As daunting as it is, the Department of Homeland Security is determined to establish greater control of the Arizona border.

How Do We Do It?
We are going to do this by:

• Increasing the level of enforcement activity at this border;
• By substantially increasing the resources available to the Border Patrol to get the job done;
• By pursuing a strategy of mobility and rapid response to intrusion across our borders; and
• By assuring that our Ports of Entry remain secure against illegal penetration.

In short, we have developed and are implementing a plan—a comprehensive Border Patrol Strategy—to secure our borders.

And, we are backing our plan with increased resources—more Border Patrol agents, more air assets, more technology, and with stronger partnerships with other federal agencies, including ICE, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and with our state and local and tribal law enforcement partners.

Our efforts are focused squarely on getting the job done.

We are increasing operational activity in five key ways:

1. First, we are adding more "boots on the ground."
I have directed that we add a total of 534 additional Border Patrol Agents to Arizona. There are more boots on the ground right now! We have deployed an additional 200 Border Patrol Agents here on a temporary duty basis.

2. We’re increasing our "Sky Patrol."
We have doubled the number of aircraft, from 19 to 42, operating near and along the Arizona border. These aircraft include Blackhawks, A-STARs, OH6s, and Huey helicopters, as well as fixed-wing aircraft. These include aircraft from the Air and Marine Office of Customs and Border Protection and from CBP’s Border Patrol.

This "sky patrol" will be used for increased surveillance, for rapid deployment of Border Patrol agents to remote desert locations, for increased apprehensions, as well as for search and rescue efforts.

3. A third part of our strategy is defense-in-depth.
Our enforcement efforts are not just at the line, or at the border.

The fact that someone has gotten across the border does not mean he’s home free.

Our enforcement efforts are a full court press. Illegal aliens and their smugglers will have to run a gauntlet. The border line is just the beginning of that gauntlet.

We are—and will be—using interior checkpoints and interdiction at transit locations, including airports, to increase our apprehension rate. Because we know that if illegal entry is a futile effort, fewer people will try to enter.

4. Fourth, working with investigators from ICE, ICE and Border Patrol Disrupt Units will disrupt the organizations that illegally smuggle aliens into the United States, especially those organizations involved in moving illegal aliens across the Arizona border.

5. And, fifth, we will use mobility like never before.
We are using the Border Patrol’s new centralized command structure to rapidly deploy resources to where they are needed, when they are needed.

Successes of ABCI
This increased operational effort can be viewed as the next phase of the Arizona Border Control Initiative that we started last year.

Arizona has three primary corridors that illegal aliens and smugglers use to get into the U.S.—the West Desert Corridor, the Douglas Corridor, and the Yuma Corridor.

The first phase of ABCI was focused primarily at the West Desert Corridor, west of Nogales, and we achieved some success in that corridor.

• We increased the number of apprehensions;
• We reduced the number of people attempting to illegally enter through this treacherous corridor;
• We reduced by 19 percent the number of people who died from exposure in the Western Corridor of Arizona; and
• We decreased crime in Arizona.

We even decreased substantially the number of abandon vehicles used by smugglers cluttering the Tohono O’odham reservation. And, as you know, tons of trash and debris are left by the illegal migration, damaging the environment of our nation.

Arizona Border Control Initiative was a step in the right direction.

Now, with the second phase of ABCI, we are taking the lessons learned, and will first shut down the Western Desert Corridor and with rapid rolling operations, we will begin to shutdown the other two Arizona corridors—the Naco-Douglas and Yuma corridors, as pressure increases there.

Conclusion
We are increasing resources and we are ratcheting up our level of enforcement activity here in Arizona. And we will gain control of this—the weakest part of our border.

And we will not just contribute to our national security—which we will—but importantly, we will also save lives.

But it will not happen overnight. And it isn’t going to be easy.

The flood of illegal aliens across the Arizona border did not occur overnight.

But I am confidant that we have a sound strategy and a good operational plan, and that we will take control of our border.

As a sovereign nation, control of our border has always been important. In the post 9/11 era, it is essential.

Now, I would like to call on my friend and colleague Mike Garcia. Mike is the Assistant Secretary for ICE, and ICE Special Agents and detention personnel are playing an important role in this second phase of the Arizona Border Control Initiative.

Commissioner Bonner reserves the right to edit his written remarks during his oral presentation and to speak extemporaneously. His actual remarks, as given, therefore, may vary slightly from the written text.