Thread: ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER Public Corruption: A Few Bad Apples

ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER

Public Corruption: A Few Bad Apples

08/09/10

In the surveillance footage taken hours before his arrest, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Michael Gilliland can be seen nonchalantly waving a car through his lane at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego. He was knowingly allowing illegal aliens across the border, and he would do this several more times throughout the evening. His actions that night would earn him nearly the equivalent of his annual salary—and eventually a five-year prison term.

By the Numbers
The Southwest border crime problem measured in numbers.
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Border Corruption
Criminal Investigative Division chief describes issues.
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Video
The FBI works closely with other agencies to fight border crime.
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Gilliland, a former U.S. Marine and veteran Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer with 16 years of experience, has been in jail since 2007. But his case continues to illustrate the pervasive problem of corruption along the Southwest border and the damage that can occur when officials betray the public's trust.

Although the vast majority of U.S. government employees working on the border are not corrupt, as one senior agent who investigates such crimes noted, “Even one bad apple is too many.â€

Better policing of the border, and of those who are charged with securing the border is needed. We can not allow car 98, 99, 100 to come unchecked, carrying those who could do us grave harm.

Psalm 23, it is written, "The Lord is my Shepherd"