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Joined: May 22, 2006 Posts: 28640 Location: Mexifornia
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:31 pm Post subject: Chertoff: Twice as many agents on border
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Chertoff: Twice as many agents on border
Stephen Dinan (Contact)
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday declared success on President Bush's goal of doubling U.S. Border Patrol agents to 18,000 during his time in office, but said they will fall 10 percent short of putting barriers along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The secretary told reporters the progress they've made on enforcement has helped actually reduce the flow of illegal immigrants for the first time since right after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"For the first time, we've reversed momentum and are moving in the right direction," he told reporters.
When Mr. Bush took office in 2001 the Border Patrol had about 9,000 agents. Mr. Chertoff said as of this week they are at 18,049.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Congress fought to increase the size of the Border Patrol, among boosts to other immigration law enforcement agencies. The Bush administration initially balked, but after its own immigration plans faltered the president embraced the goal of increasing the Border Patrol.
He even deployed the National Guard to the border as a stop-gap measure while the Border Patrol hired and trained agents.
Mr. Bush had tried to combine increased enforcement with a plan to legalize illegal immigrants, but that effort failed twice in Congress. The administration and members of Congress said voters were unwilling to accept legalization until they were assured enforcement would be improved.
The secretary said the Bush administration has since made great strides in security, though he said there still needs to be a program for future temporary workers enacted at some point. Still, he said it's unclear whether security has been improved enough for President-elect Barack Obama to take another stab at a broad immigration bill early in his term.
Update version of above story. Note, Chertoff still pushing last year's terribly flawed amnesty bill & believes the belated, sporadic enforcement the Bush adminstration has done is enough to placate those who believe in real border security:
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Thursday, December 4, 2008
Chertoff to hand Obama immigration successes
Stephen Dinan (Contact)
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff declared success Wednesday on President Bush's vow to double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol and near-success on his pledge to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The two measures leave President-elect Barack Obama in a better position to get an immigration bill passed, he said.
Mr. Chertoff said the Bush administration's recent step-up in enforcement has finally made a dent in illegal immigration, and should ease worries of those who blocked last year's immigration bill, arguing that the government needed to prove it was serious about enforcement before it could legalize current illegal aliens.
"For the first time, we've seen a real significant decrease quarter to quarter in terms of illegal immigrants coming into the country," Mr. Chertoff told reporters. "It doesn't mean the job is done, but it means for the first time we've reversed them and we're moving in the right direction."
Mr. Chertoff said the Border Patrol reached a force of 18,049 agents this week, which he said makes good on Mr. Bush's pledge to double the approximately 9,000 agents he inherited in 2001. Mr. Chertoff said Homeland Security will meet about 90 percent of its goal of fencing or vehicle barriers along 700 miles of the 1,950-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
"I think we have made a very good down payment on confidence and enforcement," he said, though he said it will be up to Mr. Obama to decide whether the federal government needs to do more enforcement before trying to achieve his campaign promise of a "comprehensive" immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.
Mr. Bush and a bipartisan coalition of senators tried last year to pass a bill that rewrote the rules for legal immigration, legalized illegal immigrants and promised better border security. But angry voters flooded Capitol Hill with calls, convincing lawmakers that the people lacked confidence that the government would secure the borders, thus sinking the bill.
Since then, Mr. Bush and Mr. Chertoff have stepped up immigration enforcement dramatically. They have granted states the right to enforce immigration laws, authorized high-profile workplace raids that have netted hundreds of illegal immigrants, and written new rules to try to prevent businesses from hiring illegal immigrants.
During this year's campaign, Mr. Obama criticized some of those enforcement efforts and promised to try again to pass a broad bill that included citizenship for illegal immigrants.
A spokesman for Mr. Obama said the president-elect remains committed to his election promises, but declined to comment on Homeland Security's progress or Mr. Chertoff's remarks.
Mary Giovagnoli, policy director for the National Immigration Forum, which wants a more generous immigration policy, said the drop in illegal immigration is more likely a result of a downturn in the economy than an effect of stepped-up enforcement.
"There's a significant number of studies that suggest that the amount of illegal immigration has been slowing gradually, really even since 1993, and it has more to do with our economy than it does U.S. government actions," she said.
She also said Mr. Obama will have to undo much of Mr. Bush's enforcement efforts over the past 18 months.
"You can't just do enforcement and expect to solve problems. What we've seen this year is that enforcement without measures of grace or means for people to attain legal status leads to a sort of cowboy attitude about enforcement - that all enforcement is great," she said.
On the other side of the argument, those pushing for stricter enforcement said more agents and more fencing might not mean much.
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the Border Patrol has cut corners in recruitment and training in order to get 9,000 new agents into the field, and said with 30 percent of them leaving the job in their first 18 months, the agency will be hard-pressed to keep up its performance.
"George Bush unfurled the 'Mission Accomplished' banner on the deck of one of our aircraft carriers a few years ago, and that didn't turn out quite to be true," said Mr. Bonner, whose union represents more than 12,000 non-supervisory agents.
He said it will take at least 25,000 agents to properly secure the southern and northern borders, and Mr. Bush could have gotten closer to that goal if he had made it a priority earlier in his administration.
Mr. Bush came into office hoping to pass a landmark immigration bill, but was caught between competing forces in his own party. While some Republicans wanted to pass a bill in order to secure a flow of immigrant workers for the future, most Republican lawmakers said his plan to grant citizenship rights to illegal immigrants amounted to amnesty.
Democrats, meanwhile, were split, with most backing Mr. Bush while some said his legalization plan was still too harsh on illegal immigrants and skewed too heavily toward business interests rather than family unification when it came to future immigration.
Mr. Chertoff urged Congress to stick to basics of the agreement that senators reached last year.
"I think what would be a mistake is if one side tried to dramatically skew it one way or the other," he said.
He also warned Mr. Obama against splitting up the Homeland Security Department, which was created in 2003. In particular, he rejected calls to split off the Federal Emergency Management Agency, arguing that the recent terrorist attacks in India show the importance of coordinating emergency response and law enforcement.
"The reporting a couple of days ago about Mumbai was the fire department, the emergency managers and the police came on the scene and, according to the news reports, they were not well coordinated. That, in a nutshell, is the argument for keeping all this stuff consolidated. When you look at a crisis or an emergency, you cannot stovepipe your emergency response and your police response."
When Mr. Bush took office in 2001 the Border Patrol had about 9,000 agents. Mr. Chertoff said as of this week they are at 18,049.
Sorry Mr Chertoff, too little too late!
It took 8 years to double the number of Border Patrol agents, AND 8 YEARS TO DOUBLE THE ILLEGAL ALIEN POPULATION BECAUSE OF INCOMPETENCE.
This fake enforcement effort was all smoke and mirrors to begin with. It was a half-hearted effort to soften the resolve of patriots who mowed down Jorge Boosh's ambitions to completely wreck this country with amnesty so they could have another go at it. (As we have seen, he later wrecked it economically by robbing the American people and giving our money to his rich buddies. But that's a different story) Now we have to go through this again with Obama who we are not even certain that he isn't an illegal alien himself.
Why is it that suddenly, within a generation, we have elected office on every level of gubmint chock full of traitors who seem to be hellbent on destroying this country? I mean America is the greatest thing that has ever happened to mankind in the history of the world and these clowns seem to just hate America and the American people. This is the twilight zone!!!
The day I hear of 12+ million illegal aliens were deported and 10 million American's got jobs, I will then believe they are doing something worthy of press..as long as the news contained word of an actual fence built by the actual specs drawn and paid for.
I makes me sick to see gloating (even if bloated) by people who partially did their job. Once they actually DO their job, they can rightfully gloat till they puke. Until then, I will help flood the switchboards! Making claims that they did "something" means nothing if the end game is the same. _________________ Have you ever stopped to think, and forget to start again?
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