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Posted on Mon, Jul. 11, 2005

PROPOSALS TO ADDRESS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Bush administration and Congress have offered proposals to address the flow of illegal-immigrants over the nation's-borders. Where the ideas stand:

Expedited removal

Last August, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to expand a program meant to speed the deportation of illegal immigrants. The so-called "expedited removal" process, which has been used at official entry points since 1997, was extended to the land borders between these points.

The program was launched in two of the Border Patrol's 20-sectors -- Tucson, Ariz., and Laredo, Texas -- in September. Other-sectors are receiving training. The Border Patrol says more than 20,000 people have been processed for expedited removal, although the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's-Detention and Removal Office told Congress last month that fewer than 7,000 had been deported.

Extra personnel

In December, President Bush signed into law an overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering, which-included several measures addressing border security. For one, the bill called for hiring 2,000 more Border Patrol agents a year over five years -- nearly doubling the agency's size. Bush's proposed budget for 2006 provided only enough money to hire 210 new Border Patrol officers, though in May the president signed an emergency spending bill that would pay for 500 more agents.

Detention space, alternatives

Over the past two years, Congress has provided funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 19,444 detention bed spaces. In May, Bush signed an emergency spending bill providing money for an additional 1,950 bed spaces, for a total of 21,394.

Barriers

In May, Bush signed a bill that allows the Homeland Security-secretary to build border barriers, including the remainder of a fence along a 31/2-mile stretch just north of Tijuana, Mexico. The spot is known as Smuggler's Gulch, a-favorite crossing point for illegal-immigrants and drug runners.

Immigration policy

Many think the tremendous flow of illegal immigrants won't slow-until the nation's immigration-policies are changed.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., are putting together an immigration bill that would conditionally allow certain illegal immigrants to remain in the United States and earn a chance to apply for permanent residency.