When Will Obama Tell the Truth About What's Going On Along Our Southern Border?

By Rep. Lamar Smith

Published April 01, 2011

At a town hall meeting in Washington, D.C. on Monday, President Obama once again called for comprehensive immigration reform, which would legalize millions of illegal immigrants.

Administration officials are now touting their so-called record on immigration enforcement and border security. It seems they are trying to convince the American people that their approach is working and that the legalization of illegal immigrants will fix any lingering problems.

But when comparing the Obama administration’s rhetoric with their record, it appears their words do not match reality.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently made comments that the administration’s approach to border security is working. Because deportations are up, apprehensions are down and more resources have been deployed to the border, the administration assumes the border is more secure than ever.

But it appears the administration has exaggerated its record. According to a December 2010 Washington Post article, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials used questionable methods to achieve their record deportation numbers.

In fact, ICE included more than 19,000 immigrants who had exited the previous fiscal year. They also continued operation of a Mexican repatriation program five weeks longer than they had done previously, allowing the agency to count at least 6,500 exits that would not have otherwise been included.

And ICE utilized Voluntary Return to bolster deportation numbers. But Voluntary Return is not removal because it does not subject an illegal immigrant to penalties for returning to the United States.

Even more alarming, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the Border Patrol only has “operational controlâ€