email received this morning from Senator Grassley,

Greetings from Washington D.C.

Because of your interest and previous communication to me about immigration, I am writing to inform you of a hearing that my committee is holding today to highlight the problems at our borders. As Chairman of the Committee on Finance, I will hear testimony from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about their undercover border crossings over the last three years.

The GAO used fake documents, phony driver's licenses, and claimed to be U.S. Citizens in order to enter the United States. The hearing will show that the undercover agents got past the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol 42 of 45 times. The agents failed to catch the intruders 93% of the time.

Border checkpoints are America's front door, and our first line of defense. Sadly, this latest GAO investigation proves that anyone with a fake ID and a tall tale can get waived right in.
What bothers me is that my committee pointed this problem out three years ago, but it doesn't look like the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol did much to fix it. The inspectors don't have the tools they need. The agency needs to provide its inspectors with technology, such as scanners, that can automatically let them know if a document might be fake. Some foreign countries, state governments and private businesses are using scanners to check IDs. Such technology ought to be put to work to protect our borders, too.

If you are interested in reading the testimony or statements provided to the Committee, please visit http://www.finance.senate.gov. The hearing will take place at 10:00 a.m. today.

I hope you find this information helpful. I have appreciated your insight and comments over the past few months on immigration reform. Please keep in touch.

Your Senator,


Chuck Grassley
I think a look at the testimony might prove interesting. I think the Border Patrol is under funded. Since Senator Grassley chairs finance maybe he ought to cough up a few bucks for these folks on the front lines.