DHS says it still can’t measure border security

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson acknowledged Tuesday that his department still doesn't have a firm yardstick for determining whether the border is secure, sparking concern from Republicans who said that's a fatal flaw as the administration pushes ahead with its temporary amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Mr. Johnson said the Border Patrol has developed some metrics, but he told Congress that he's asked them to go back and refine the measures.

His predecessor, then-Secretary Janet Napolitano, in 2010 canceled the previous yardstick, defined as miles of the border under "operational control." She, and later Mr. Johnson, have promised a replacement measure for years, but none has yet been released.

"The Border Patrol has metrics and I've asked that they improve upon that," Mr. Johnson told the House Homeland Security Committee as he began to give some details on the as-yet sketchy program President Obama announced last month to grant a temporary amnesty to nearly 5 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Mr. Johnson also said he's worried about the potential for fraud in the program he's about to administer, saying it has "the potential to undermine the whole process." He said as his department works out the details, he's asked his staff to take a look at previous best practices for trying to weed out fraud.

One of those best practices is in-person interviews, but that's unlikely given the size of the population involved.

Border security remains the biggest sticking point on immigration, with Republicans pointing out that Mr. Obama himself had previously said taking the kind of executive action he took last month would lead to a new surge of illegal border crossers.

Asked about that prediction from his boss, Mr. Johnson said he disagreed.

He said his department has drawn a line and will go after illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. after Jan. 1, 2014, and he said he hopes would-be illegal immigrants in Central America get that message.

Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, said he was skeptical that would be the case.

"You can't deny the traffickers are going to message this," Mr. McCaul said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...rder-security/

You know if this situation wasn't so tragic, it would be funny. I mean Congress is doodling around about whether Obama will enforce the law after he's just issued an Edict saying he won't? And what's the logic of granting amnesty to some illegal aliens but not others? If someone commits a robbery and is a fugitive for 5 years, when you finally catch him do you give him a lighter sentence than someone who committed the same crime but you caught right away?

I tell you, these pro-immigration supporters are not right in the head.

Maybe they are attempting to measure the wrong statistic. How about going for how insecure it is. Mildly porous, moderately porous, porous, very porous, super porous. Maybe better way is to militarize it, and let military authorities tall us, Thirty troops per mile should be a good beginning.