Thread: Moving Forward to Secure the Border

Moving Forward to Secure the Border

James Jay Carafano, Ph.D. and Diem Nguyen

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has issued two waivers of laws hindering barrier construction and security improvements on the border with Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already built 309 miles of border obstacles, and these waivers will facilitate improvements on about 500 miles of border infrastructure. One waiver addresses environmental and land management laws that applied to about 470 miles across four border states; the other addresses a 22-mile levee-border project in Hidalgo, Texas. The waivers were issued on April 1, 2008, and will become effective upon their publication in the Federal Register.

These DHS efforts reflect longstanding recommendations by The Heritage Foundation. Border infrastructure is an important part of the effort to interdict illegal crossings, and that interdiction is vital to restoring the integrity of America’s borders and immigration laws. With these waivers, the Secretary shows that he is following through on the George W. Bush Administration’s commitment to make border security, protecting the homeland, and enforcing immigration laws a top priority. Congress should fully support these efforts.

More needs to be done to achieve border security, which cannot be fully accomplished until all components of an effective national policy are in place. The Administration must vigorously enforce immigration laws in the workplace, and Congress must provide for temporary worker programs and visa reforms to get employers the workers they need.

Doing What Is Right

During the 2007 immigration debate, Heritage experts traveled to the U.S.–Mexico border to gain a firsthand understanding of the situation. They met with the various stakeholders in the border communities, including men and women from local law enforcement, local businesses, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard, state and local governments, and Mexico.

Heritage’s experts found a broken border, ravaged by transnational crime including drug smuggling and human trafficking. Despite this, they also found that cooperation among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies could make a difference. In Texas, for example, Operation Rio Grande reduced crime in border counties by 60 percent. The Heritage experts concluded that enhancing security and community policing in the border areas was essential.

Waiver Authority

Progress at the border has been stalled repeatedly stalled because some barrier projects are complicated by environmental and land-use disputes. Some advocacy groups, communities, and individual land owners have used endless litigation to thwart the Administration’s efforts. Congress therefore gave the DHS Secretary the authority to waive federal laws in order to expedite border security improvements.

Lesson Learned

The litigation that DHS faced while trying to implement a congressional mandate to secure the border is an example of what could have happened if the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 134 had been enacted. The bill combined an amnesty “firstâ€

Originally Posted by zeezil

Hmm..seems to be an idle threat these days. If the government was sincere about this, we wouldn't have the problem we have today.