http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_3606675

U.S. security threat not taken seriously, Puerto Rico leader says

Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

Diversion of homeland-security resources from Puerto Rico to the U.S.-Mexico border has left the United States open to potential terrorist threats, says the president of the U.S. territory's Senate.
Puerto Rico Sen. Kenneth D. McClintock is asking U.S. congressional leaders to remember the island, which he says is already overrun with illegal immigrants, when drafting immigration reform this month.

"Every time a (Southwest) border-area congressman complains about illegal immigration, agents and equipment are pulled out of disenfranchised Puerto Rico," McClintock said.

"Rather than appropriate additional resources to add personnel and equipment, (they) shift them from U.S. jurisdictions with no vote or power in Congress to states with political pull." A lack of national security on the island does not surprise agents there who said that moving resources from Puerto Rico to the Southwest has placed the United States at risk.

Only 23 Border Patrol agents work security for all of Puerto Rico, and many have their hands full trying to catch those arriving there, said Agent Rodolfo Martinez Jr., vice president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2724, a labor union.

"There are just as many line agents as supervisors," Martinez said. "It's ridiculous. We have just as many people sitting in the office as those patrolling the island."

The loss of agents, boats and helicopters has only exacerbated the security issue, which has been debated in Puerto Rico's Senate, McClintock said.

Puerto Rico also has little say in homeland-security issues, he added. The island's police are overwhelmed with illegal immigrants who arrive by boat because offshore areas are insufficiently patrolled, he said.

Many illegal immigrants arrive on the island, obtain false identification and then use commercial airliners to enter the U.S. mainland unchecked, Martinez said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Puerto Rico is protected by a combination of federal agencies and does not pose a significant security risk.

"The island's security risk is not comparable to that of Arizona," Salvador Zamora, spokesman for the department, said in an earlier interview.

But Puerto Rican border agents and legislators disagree, saying U.S. officials have ignored serious flaws in protecting the nation's borders.

"Future legislation regarding porous borders and national security should include a close and hard look at the island," McClintock said.

"We have people from all over the world trying to make it onto the island including Chinese and people from Pakistan. We don't always know who's been here and who's left on a flight into the mainland."

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing nearly 10,500 border agents, said the island is just one example of numerous flaws in U.S. national security.

"It's not surprising that (the Department of Homeland Security) is trying to convince the public that there are no security problems in Puerto Rico," Bonner said. "This administration has used the same deceptive approach concerning the porous southwest and northern borders, as well as our seaports. This lack of candor has completely destroyed their credibility."

Border agents are wary of the Department of Homeland Security's restructuring of agencies responsible for patrolling the island.

Most of the Border Patrol's boats and helicopters have been turned over to Customs and Border Protection Marine, an agency that mostly deals with intercepting narcotics, not illegal immigrants, Martinez said.

"If they make it past us, which they normally do, all they need is to get a license that says they're Puerto Rican and fly into the United States," Martinez said. "It is just that easy to get into the country. Anyone who says anything different is lying."