Border security tactics reviewed amid staffing complaints

By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
21m ago |

WASHINGTON — A Customs and Border Protection official told a congressional panel Tuesday that his agency is performing a complete review of how it patrols the southwest border amid complaints that the ports of entry are understaffed.

Customs and Border Assistant Commissioner Thomas Winkowski said increased funding and manpower along the 1,900-mile border with Mexico has resulted in increased apprehensions of illegal immigrants, drugs, guns and cash that flow through the border. He said his agency seized 4.1 million pounds of narcotics in 2010 and has increased the percentage of cargo and people that are screened.

But members of the committee repeatedly questioned whether Customs and Border Protection needed more people, drug-sniffing K-9s and technological upgrades at the ports, where up to 90% of cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin enters the USA.

From 2006 to 2010, the number of Customs and Border Protection officers who inspect people and cargo crossing through the ports of entry along the southwest border increased by 15%, while the number of Border Patrol agents who patrol the rugged terrain between those ports increased by 59%, according to agency figures.

"I took a step back and decided to really redesign the staffing model," Winkowski told members of the House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security. He said he would consult with members of the committee after completing his review to determine how to best assign people along the border.

Rep. Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican who chairs the subcommittee, said the lack of funding for the ports of entry was a serious threat to national security, and hurts the economies of the border region that is so dependent on travel between the two countries.

While she said the Border Patrol was doing a good job apprehending illegal immigrants between the ports of entry — catching an estimated 70% of people trying to cross there — only 30% of those trying to cross through the busy ports of entry are caught by Customs officers.

"(The hearing) really highlighted that we need to think about what kind of activity is actually occurring at the ports of entry, which is the lion's share of illegal immigrants, drugs, guns," she said. "We need to make sure that we are allocating the resources properly."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... rity_N.htm