Thread: Demands for “operational control” of border from Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Mich

Demands for “operational control” of border from Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Michael McCaul

By Todd J. Gillman
11:22 am on April 9, 2013
The Dallas Morning News


U.S. Border Patrol agents keep watch on the Rio Grande near Mission, Texas, on Feb. 13. (Kirsten Luce/The New York Times)

With Congress poised for an immigration debate, a key pair of Texas Republicans are putting a fresh focus on border security.

Sen. John Cornyn and House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul of Austin filed a bill Tuesday to require “operational control” along the U.S.-Mexico border – a benchmark the government set aside in 2010.

They and other security-first advocates insist that it’s premature to consider legal status for undocumented immigrants until such control is achieved.

“Who better than a couple of Texans with a 1,200 mile border with Mexico to take the lead on this important issue,” said Cornyn, the deputy GOP leader in the Senate, and the top Republican on the Senate subcommittee that oversees immigration and border security.

He and McCaul unveiled their plan on a call with reporters, even as a bipartisan “Gang of Eight” in the Senate edges closer to filing a bill that would tackle immigration and security as one package. GOP Sens. John McCain and Marco Rubio and their partners in this promise a “trigger” to preclude legalization until certain security benchmarks – not yet specified – are met.

Critics likely will view the Cornyn-McCaul effort as an attempt to delay comprehensive reform. Cornyn denied that, saying he views his push as consistent with the Gang of Eight approach.

“But rather than haste we want to get it right,” he said. “…There’s still a significant number of people coming across the border without authorization. 360,000 were detained last year alone. In many instances they’re drug dealers, human traffickers, gang members, other people up to no good. The border piece is really about public safety as much as anything else.”

Rep. Pete Gallego, an Alpine Democrat whose West Texas district includes about 800 miles of border, called the proposal disingenuous.

“The math doesn’t add up,” he said. “You can’t reduce border wait times and apprehend more people with fewer employees and less money. Those who supported sequestration should see that.”

So-called comprehensive reform would package heightened security and enforcement with some sort of legalization for the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants now in this country; McCaul’s committee shares jurisdiction with the Judiciary Committee, which will handled the part involving immigration policy.

In 2011, the Government Accountability Office reported that the Border Patrol had 873 miles of the 2000-mile Southwest border under operational control.

The Cornyn-McCaul effort would require a 90 percent apprehension rate for anyone coming across the border without permission, and a 50 percent reduction in wait times at ports of entry. The bill would require “situational awareness” of the entire Southwest border within 2 years. That would require more manpower and aircraft, including perhaps unmanned drones and aerostats no longer needed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Cornyn said he doesn’t want to dictate how the Homeland Security Department accomplishes these goals. But, he and McCaul argued, without better metrics, Congress shouldn’t yet alter immigration policy.

“What we want to do is not make the same mistakes that we did in 1986, when we passed immigration reform and did not enforce the border security provisions,” McCaul. “First and foremost that operational control is necessary, so that we’re not having the same discussion 15 years from now about another 15 million people that are in the country illegally.”

McCaul said he hopes to get a House vote on his bill next month.

Democrats control the Senate, however, so prospects on that side of the Capitol are less rosy.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.c...l-mccaul.html/

Yes we've got to secure the border now more than ever. Human traffickers, gang members, murderers, rapists.... At least they are stating what we citizens have been screaming about for how many years now? Over and over Obama and the illegal alien supporters have stated that the numbers are down but that is false, the numbers of apprehensions in South Texas are up by 65% but I think that number is not the true number only what BP could catch. The numbers of illegals found dead in South Texas is up by 120+% and I think that is what is coming across our border now, which means that they are flooding in now... Look at the link on the huffington post and read the secure the border and no amnesty comments: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3038685.html there is a link to the full article but no comments (for fear of the Mexican Drug Cartels) in the Monitor which is in South Texas, Rio Grand Valley, on the Mexican Border.

Article from above link here

Border Patrol seeing immigrant deaths spike in RGV Sector

April 3, 2013 5:50 am

Ildefonso Ortiz | The Monitor


McALLEN — As warmer temperatures make their way to the Rio Grande Valley, U.S. Border Patrol officials are seeing a rise in the number of immigrants dying amid their quest for the American dream.

In the first three months of 2013, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector have encountered the bodies of 70 immigrants who have died trekking through the brush while trying to circumvent checkpoints or who drowned in the waters of the Rio Grande. That compares with 150 for all of 2012, and 66 for all of 2011.

Another dismaying trend is an increase in sexual assaults against immigrants by human smugglers, said Henry Mendiola, Border Patrol spokesman. While the Border Patrol doesn’t have statistics for such attacks, he said field agents have seen an increase in those cases.

“Human smugglers don’t value human life,” he said. “Their victims are just cargo that can be used and sold without any concern for their well-being. They are only thinking of profit.”


‘THE ELEMENTS’

While the Rio Grande proves a dangerous adversary with treacherous currents, the deadlier threat has been the harsh terrain through which many have trekked in an effort to avoid the Border Patrol checkpoints in Falfurrias and Sarita, Mendiola said. Those checkpoints sit along the main highways heading out of the Rio Grande Valley.

“People don’t realize the dangers that come with walking through unknown terrain,” Mendiola said.

Human smugglers typically cram immigrants who have entered the country illegally into stash houses for days, and once there they are given little food or water before they are moved north, Mendiola said. That means that when many set out, they are already malnourished and dehydrated.

“They begin their journey in a weakened state as it is,” he said. “There have been times when we have had to rescue our own agents who have gotten lost and fallen ill from the elements.”

Brushy areas, like the routes many take to get around the Falfurrias checkpoint in Brooks County, hold many hidden dangers, said Rafael Hernandez, the leader of Angeles del Desierto. The rescue group searches for missing immigrants and too often ends up finding their bodies.

Hernandez, who is based in California, began taking a closer look at the Rio Grande Valley in 2012 after receiving numerous calls from people saying their loved ones went missing as they left the Rio Grande Valley.

While the number of immigrants who die along the way continues to climb, the actual numbers may be much higher since bodies are generally found along transited areas or by coincidence, Hernandez said.

“There are large expanses of land in that area that haven’t been searched,” Hernandez said in Spanish.

Hernandez has reached out — unsuccessfully — to various ranchers to get access to their properties to try to bring closure to the hundreds of families that wait for a phone call to learn the fate of their loved one.

“Getting lost, the heat, the wildlife, the lack of water can easily kill a person,” he said.

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Ildefonso Ortiz covers courts, law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at iortiz@themonitor.com, (956) 683-4437 or on Twitter, @ildefonsoortiz.

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