Thread: Feds say no plan for fewer agents along U.S.-Mexico border

Feds say no plan for fewer agents along U.S.-Mexico border
By Brady McCombs

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.25.2009

There will be no decrease in the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents on the Southwest border when the new fiscal year starts next week but Department of Homeland Security acknowledge that they are trying to add agents along the border with Canada.
Homeland Security hopes to increase the number of agents on the nearly 4,000 miles of U.S.-Canada border in the coming years but will not sacrifice security along the southwest border with Mexico to get there, said Matt Chandler, acting deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security.
“Our duty is to execute the mission at both borders,â€

Several media outlets reported that 384 agents would be moved to the border with Canada at the beginning of fiscal year 2010...

Recall reading that and glad to hear it is not true.

I presume this is to prevent the tens of thousands of Canadians who do not flood over our northern border illegally each year from getting the idea of doing so?

While it is good news to learn that the reports that agents were to be removed from the Mexican border are untrue, all this "arming the northern border" in the interests of "national security" nonsense is simply to placate the false "hurt feelings" of the Mexican government--and their unpaid representative, Janet Napolitano--who claim that placing so much security exclusively along our border with Mexico is "offensive" and "discriminatory". As a result, on top of all our other unnecessary immigration expenses, U.S. taxpayers are now paying to "beef up" and build new "border stations" at obscure northern outposts which see 2 to 5 cars of people crossing legally a day!

So much for our previous and happy "longest unarmed border in the world" with Canada!

Administration to Cut 384 Agents from Mexican Border...
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-957519.html#957519

Originally Posted by Texas2step

I presume this is to prevent the tens of thousands of Canadians who do not flood over our northern border illegally each year from getting the idea of doing so?

So much for our previous and happy "longest unarmed border in the world" with Canada!

Hear Hear!!!!! I get so sick of America treating Canada like a 3rd world Country, and Mexico treated like royalty!

I read that Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, together with a number of other influencial people. stand to make quite a bit of money from all the "border stations" which suddenly must be either rennovated, expanded, or constructed along our northern border to guard U.S. citizens from onslaughts by Canadians. Sen. Tester's Contact information follows his commentary.

Guest Commentary: Sen. Jon Tester

Northern Border Also Needs to Be Secured

By Sen. Jon Tester , 09-25-09

A few folks have asked me why the Department of Homeland Security has decided to rebuild Montana’s Port of Whitetail – a 45-year old, asbestos-contaminated facility that doesn’t see as much traffic as America’s southern border.

My response is simple: Our borders are only as strong as their weakest link. And as a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I’m fighting to secure our borders by strengthening each and every link, including remote areas and Montana’s frontier.

Since I’ve been in the U.S. Senate, I’ve said we need to do homeland security better – and smarter.

That begins by securing all our borders. And we’re starting to see results. Illegal border crossings in the south have gone down to levels not seen since the 1970s.

But we are fooling ourselves if we think the immigration problem is solved. We’ve still got lots of work to do on the southern border, but I’ll keep fighting to make that border secure to keep illegal immigrants out.

Unfortunately, too many folks in Washington forget about the border Montanans see every day. That is why my first legislative proposal in the Senate was to get the non-partisan Government Accountability Office to give Congress some recommendations about how we can do a better job securing the northern border.

Our northern border is vastly more complicated than the southern border. It’s wide open. And it’s uncrowded. We have to keep our eyes open for drug smugglers and for terrorists who would do harm to our country.

To do that, we need to make improvements all along the border. We need to rely on technology to help us cover the gaps between our ports. Whether it’s as complicated as remote sensors or unmanned aerial vehicles, or as simple as night-vision goggles, we’ve got to give the men and women of the Border Patrol all the tools they need to do their jobs.

And we need to make the ports themselves better. That means investing in modern screening equipment, so that Customs Inspectors have the best tools available to detect smuggling and to ensure that anyone who shouldn’t be in this country does not get in.

Some folks in Texas are sore that they aren’t getting more money from the federal government for their border needs. But the threat doesn’t always go where the most people live. Consider these headlines on the northern border this summer:

• Nearly $34,000 in undeclared cash seized from two individuals trying to enter the U.S. at the port of Portal, N.D. (Population 131).

• 577 pounds of marijuana seized by Border Patrol agents near Maple Falls, Wash. (Population 277).

• 238 pounds of cocaine seized at the Blaine border crossing in Washington.

• And in June, the Border Patrol seized more than $11,000 worth of marijuana and cocaine in Havre.

Whether it’s drug smugglers, terrorists or illegal immigrants, they’ll try and go where they think our weak points are.

And we ought to make sure that we close the gaps – all the gaps – and not pretend that the threats to our country exist only on one border.

I’ll keep working in the Senate to shine the spotlight on the northern border. Montana and our nation demand nothing less.

Jon Tester is a Democratic U.S. senator from Big Sandy.

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/ ... red/13143/

Here is Sen. Tester's Contact information
Scroll below the email form if you want fax, telephone, or postal mail info.
http://tester.senate.gov/Contact/index.cfm

UMMM amazing what a little American outrage will do!

RELATED

Border Patrol Will Not Pull Agents Off Mexican Border

Written by American Border Patrol
Sunday, 27 September 2009 20:01

http://www.rightsidenews.com/2009092866 ... order.html

posted as Comment @ http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-173283.html

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

UMMM amazing what a little American outrage will do!

ain't it???