Thread: Border agency to aid in relief

http://www2.sbsun.com/news/ci_2999441

Border agency to aid in relief

Brenda Gazzar, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

More than 200 Border Patrol agents and 300 other U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel have been deployed to areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina, officials said.
Armed Border Patrol agents are there to support law enforcement efforts, and others will help provide air, marine and humanitarian support in New Orleans and other areas that were in the hurricane's path.

"Hurricane Katrina is one of the greatest natural disasters that this country has ever seen,' said Mario Villarreal, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "To aid in this effort, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has responded to our fellow citizens.'

The agency's 500-plus employees are joining 1,800 others from the Federal Emergency Management Agency who have been deployed for lifesaving and medical assistance, said Jarrod Agen, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

They also join 4,000 Coast Guard personnel from all over the country that have also been deployed, many of them before the hurricane hit. The Coast Guard has saved more than 4,000 people, including those on rooftops, in flooded neighborhoods and those stranded in hospitals, Agen said.

But T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, argued that the Border Patrol was already stretched too thin and deployment would make a difficult situation on the border worse.

"On the one hand, you go, `It's such a mess down there . . . people need relief,' ' he said. But "our borders are out of control at the same time. Where do you put your finite resources?'

Federal officials argued the deployment should not affect border security.

"The resources that have been deployed are throughout the United States,' Villarreal said, declining to name the Border Patrol sectors from which employees have been deployed. "That mitigates any possible operational impact.'

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http://www.alipac.us/article690.html

This is extremely unfortunate. The calamity of this hurricane will have repercussions for immigration enforcement.

As William said in his email, they will be dispersed across the country while officials are otherwise occupied. That is why we desperately need state and local enforcement of immigration law.

http://www.wtvynews4.com/home/headlines/1816487.html

FEMA - Hurricane Katrina
Associated Press


Katrina-Federal Government-Fact Sheet

Some fast facts about how the Federal Government is responding to Hurricane Katrina.

DISASTER AREAS


Federal disaster declarations are covering 90,000 square miles of affected areas.

LIVES

-17,500 lives have been saved.
-35,000 evacuations have been made from New Orleans

SUPPORT DELIVERED TO DATE

-4.8 million MRE's (Meals-Ready-To-Eat).
-11 million liters of water.
-1.7 million pounds of ice.
-More than 600 buses to transport evacuees.

OTHER SUPPORT

-200 Border Patrol agents, 200 additional law enforcement officers from other Louisiana jurisdictions and 2,000 officers from neighboring states are assisting in restoring order in the streets of New Orleans.

-Nearly 500 US Corps of Engineers civilians and soldiers are working on the New Orleans levee breach and coordinating the transport of ice and water.

-All patients and staff from the 11 top priority hospitals in the New Orleans area have been fully evacuated. Three other hospitals in the area are fully functioning with fuel and power and have no need to evacuate.

FEMA

-FEMA deployed more than 57 National Disaster Medical System Teams and 28 urban search and rescue teams.

-That includes nearly 1,800 personnel to save lives and render medical assistance. Teams have rescued more than 350 hurricane victims.

-FEMA also supplied generators and thousands of cots and blankets.

On the Web: http://www.fema.gov