DHS plans no new border fence in 2010
Agents to be redeployed to northern border
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
By Carl Braun
Examiner.com
.jpg)
Border Fence/Vehicle Barrier along the Mexican Border
|
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed in it’s Annual Performance Report for fiscal years 2008-2010 that it does not plan on securing even a single additional mile of border in 2010. Additionally, it is planning on moving several hundred agents away from the Mexican border and redeploying them on the Canadian line.In the report, the Agency charged with securing the homeland, plans to have 815 miles of the US Border “under effective control” in 2009 and 815 miles again in 2010 (page 24). In other words, the government does not plan on adding any fence or human and technology assets in 2010 whatsoever after having made significant progress in fiscal years 2005-2008.
"Border miles under control as defined in the National Strategic Plan is when the appropriate mix of personnel, equipment, technology and tactical infrastructure has been deployed to reasonably ensure that when an attempted illegal entry is detected, the Border Patrol has the ability to identify, classify and respond to bring the attempted illegal entry to a satisfactory law enforcement resolution."
Funding is listed as the primary cause as well as delays in launching SBInet, the highly touted “virtual fence”. In a footnote to the report the agency says:
"The program plans to move several hundred Agents from the Southwest Border to the Northern Border to meet the FY 2010 staffing requirements, with only a small increase in new agents for the Southwest Border in the same year, in addition, limited funding is being dedicated toward purchasing legacy technologies on the Southwest Border until the upgraded technology associated with SBInet is fully deployed. Given these factors, the program expects the miles of effective control to remain constant in FY 2010."
Despite all the rhetoric from the Obama Administration, as predicted, the border will remain largely open and bureaucratic devices will be used to limit its effectiveness. With almost 6,000 miles of “Lower 48” border and 2,000 of that on the violent Mexican frontier, our government has only managed too secure, by its own definition, 13.5% of our international borders since September 11th 2001.
The entire DHS report can be read here
Carl Braun is an analyst for the Homeland Security Policy Institute Group and he's logged 5,000-plus hours on the border. He has written several books including his most recent on Border Insecurity, “Above All Else”
. Contact Carl at Carl.Braun@BPAUX.org.
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For further information please refer to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
|
