Cornyn: ‘More Needs to Be Done’ to Secure Our Border
Stresses to Sec. Napolitano that Status Quo is Unacceptable

WASHINGTON —U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) today questioned U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on the Administration’s efforts to secure our southwestern border during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.Below is a transcript from this morning’s hearing.

You can watch video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP3Q0IkLBx8

Cornyn: According to the Government Accountability Office, last fiscal year, 2010, there were 445,000 individuals detained at the southwest border. The Government Accountability Office points out that of the 2,000 miles along the southern border, that 1,120 of those miles were not yet under operational control by the federal government. And of the 873 miles that were under quote Operational Control, they differentiated between controlled at 15% of that 873, and 85% which they call Manage, which means that basically they are in a position to try to detect and detain illegal aliens within a hundred miles of the border. I raise that issue because you made the statement, I believe, earlier that you think the Administration’s approach is working when it comes to border security, and you can correct me if I’m wrong. I would just give you one other bit of data, and that is from the Border Patrol. The apprehensions during fiscal year 2009 up to April 30th, 2010: that out of the 445,000 of the individuals detained at our southwestern border, there were 45,000 detained coming from a total of 140 different countries. In other words, these are not just individuals coming from Mexico…

Napolitano: The category known as “Other Than Mexico.â€