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TUCSON — There has been “measurable and significant progress” in moving toward border security in the past few years, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday.
But he cautioned that the job has not been completed and that the progress is reversible.
“If there is a change in approach, if there’s a lack of commitment to continuing what we are doing on border security, we could see ourselves surrendering many of the gains that we’ve made,” Chertoff said during a visit to the University of Arizona to give a lecture.
Chertoff suggested that increases in Border Patrol manpower and resources have been instrumental in achieving those gains. The agency will have doubled to 18,000 agents since 2001 and more than 600 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing should be “completed or significantly completed” as of Jan. 20, when Barack Obama is sworn in as president and Chertoff steps down.
 Michael Chertoff (The Associated Press) |
That includes almost 200 miles of fencing in Arizona.
“I think we’ll be largely completed with our physical fence by the time we leave, about 90 percent either done or under construction,” he said.
His general advice to his successor?
“This has been proven to work. This was not my idea. This was something that was born from the Border Patrol... that would put the right assets in the right location, and it has yielded positive results,” he said.
Chertoff said he’s ready to move on after four good years, and is looking forward to working with his successor from the outside.
Ultimately, the secretary said, securing the border will require comprehensive immigration reform, including a legal work program helpful to workers, U.S. business interests and to the Border Patrol in reducing some of the pressure on it — but in a way that insures respect for the rule of law.
“The American public will not tolerate an outcome that rewards the breaking of law,” he said.
On Thursday, Chertoff toured a portion of the Mexican border between Nogales and Sells with Border Patrol officials, calling it “a great way to evaluate where we are, how far we’ve come and what needs to be done to secure the border.”
He cited a number of indicators that “point very strongly in the direction of getting control of the border,” including decreases both in the number of apprehensions and illegal entries.
The controversial virtual fence pilot project near Sasabe — a string of surveillance towers with cameras, radar and infrared — is operational, “and we look forward to continuing to deploy this kind of technology” in areas covered by the patrol’s Tucson and Ajo stations beginning in 2009, Chertoff said.
The private Pew Hispanic Center’s annual report shows a first-time decrease in the number of illegal immigrants coming into the country, as well an estimated fewer illegal immigrants than legal immigrants, Chertoff said.
In the meantime, he said federal officials “are very concerned about violence south of the border.” Narcotics trafficking organizations have been battling Mexican military and police organizations as well as each other for control of turf and distributing drugs into this country.
He said the deadly gunfights are “a direct result of the outstanding and heroic effort of President Calderon and his government to take on these very sophisticated and dangerous drug and criminal organizations,” and he warned that failure would be extremely bad for Mexico and the United States.
Chertoff said there has been no sustained cross-border violence, but that a multiagency contingency plan is in place in event of a violence spillover.
Walt wrote on Nov 15, 2008 10:14 AM: