U.S. boosts budget for border patrol

Migrants, terrorist threats cited

By Dave Battagello, The Windsor Star July 16, 2011 9:35 AM

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Washington's Department of Homeland Security has budgeted $10 million more for cameras, drones, towers and personnel to better patrol the U.S. border with Canada, which officials believe is a pipeline for illegal immigrants and a growing security threat.

U.S. Homeland Security believes Canada is a more viable entry point than Mexico for potential terrorists, said the chairwoman of the department's subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security following a recent hearing.

"I like to remind people that we have two borders," said Rep. Candice Miller, who represents the Port Huron, Mich., area. "And both need to be secured."

Miller has become a leader in pushing for improved security of about 800 kilometres of open water on the Great Lakes known as the Detroit sector.

U.S. border officials estimate only about 25 per cent of that is adequately secure.

"I am concerned about the types of vulnerabilities we face along our border where ... we have only a handful of miles that are under operational control," Miller said.

Miller has also pointed to a Washington report which showed homeland security invested $3 billion in upgraded security for the U.S.-Canadian border and saw minimal results. She wants more money, equipment and improved coordination among agencies to tighten the grip on the Canadian border.

But David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association, said Friday that the more rules, data requirements and inspectors the U.S. throws at the Canadian border, the more things slow down for trade.

"We are coming up to the 10th anniversary of 9-11 (terrorist attacks). It's time to turn the page."

Local MP Brian Masse (NDP - Windsor West), who has sat on a variety of Canada-U.S. joint political action committees, says there's little data to show new border security measures have eased the flow of trade.

Increasing spending by homeland security on the Canada-U.S. border needs to stop, he said.

"They have conducted a senseless slaughter on the public purse to address unknown threats," Masse said.

He said the debate on spending for the northern border has occurred in a vacuum of politicians and border agencies with no input from manufacturers and big business.

"What's been the point of militarizing the Great Lakes?" he said. "What value has there really been? What threat have they found? There is nothing there that requires the firepower and equipment for the type of incidents that have occurred."

The problem of a tight grip at the U.S.-Canada border can be linked to the fear by U.S. politicians of being afraid to speak up and get "castrated for being seen as weak on terror," he said.

"At some point, that has to change," Masse said. "Industry is going to have to speak up and demand the measures for security be changed. The economy can't shoulder this any more.

"Everywhere else in the world they are tearing down walls and we have decided to build them."

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