Less Than Half of Southwest Border Secure, Government Report Says

Just one month after Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced the cancellation of a troubled virtual fence project along the southwest border, a new government report says that less than half of the 2,000 miles separating the U.S. and Mexico is "operationally controlled" by the Border Patrol.

The Government Accountability Office report, released this week, found that only 129 miles are under "full control" of the Border Patrol, leaving the rest "vulnerable to cross-border illegal activity."

The study examined the Border Patrol's ability to detect and respond not only to illegal activity on the immediate border but also after entry into the U.S.

The report found that 873 miles are under "operational control," which is only 44 percent of the entire Southern border. But the report said the 837 miles is on average an increase of 126 miles each year since 2005.

Republicans have seized on the report, saying it contradicts Napolitano's recent remarks that the administration's "border security approach is working."

"It is outrageous that DHS officials would make claims that the border is secure when according to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, the Border Patrol has 'operational control' over less than half of the Southwest border," Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.

"Forty-four percent is a failing grade," he said. "Administration officials are either blissfully unaware of the massive holes in security along the Southern border or are intentionally misleading the American people. Neither is acceptable."

I'm surprised they claim 44% operational control. It's not "unacceptable" as much as irritating. If we're being realistic, the border is probably more secure now than at any time in the country's history. The federal gov't has been derelict on interior enforcement.

The "virtual fence" was a B.S. boondoggle that any sensible person with a modest tech background knew was doomed to failure. It probably existed to pay a political favor to Boeing.

Drones may help extend "operational control" reach. In places along the border, the terrain becomes such that literally walling off or just manning the entire border is not feasible although it would make a helluva "shovel ready" jobs program. /s

We need tougher interior enforcement against employers and their illegal workers. We need to do more, but just fencing isn't enough. Even where there is real fencing, like San Diego, smuggling tunnels (often with rail cars and electricity) pop up with some regularity.

There's no question in my mind: U.S. land claimed by drug cartels must be retaken even if it takes deploying National Guard.

Did you notice that one of the big cuts the repubs proposed was to cut BORDER SECURITY? Cutting the virtual ‘fence’ makes some sense, but cutting e Verify and the REAL fence is just stupid.

GOP Joins Obama To Cut Border Security Funding

2/15/11

Crucial border security programs are on the chopping block under a government spending bill proposed by Republicans, who have long called for strengthening security along the notoriously violent and porous southern border.

The hypocritical move essentially puts Republicans on the same page as Democrats on a contentious issue that has long been the source of partisan battles. President Obama’s proposed 2011 budget, revealed just a few weeks ago, reduces the number of Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border by 180 and cuts $226 million in funding for an electronic “virtual fence.”

The Republican government spending bill introduced just days ago slashes $600 million from border security and immigration enforcement funds. It would not reduce the number of Border Patrol agents but would decrease funding for border security fencing and technology by $350 million and a federal employment verification program (known as E-Verify) by about $33 million.

House Republicans are touting the budget proposal as the “largest single discretionary spending reduction in the history of Congress.” It cuts government spending by a much-needed $100 billion at a time when the nation’s debt is $14 trillion, according to a statement released by the House Appropriations Committee. The entire Continuing Resolution can be viewed on the committee’s website.

Ironically, Republicans blasted President Obama for not taking immigration enforcement seriously when his budget proposal was made public earlier this month. A ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Lamar Smith of Texas, even accused the commander-in-chief of leaving the nation vulnerable to future terrorist attacks by underfunding key national security programs along the southwest border.

Other high-profile Republicans have also denounced the administration’s efforts to secure the Mexican border. Among them is House Speaker John Boehner, who recently said “the violence on America’s border is out of control and the federal government isn’t doing its job.” Boehner was also critical of border enforcement under the George W. Bush administration.

Now both parties have come together to slash funding for border security and the timing could not be worse. Mexican drug-cartel violence hit record levels in 2010 and more than 13,000 people were murdered in disturbing and cruel ways not commonly seen in previous years. In some areas the violence has spilled into U.S. communities, forcing local law enforcement agencies to create special units dedicated to combating criminal activity related to illegal immigration and Mexican drug cartels.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/feb/gop-joins-obama-cut-border-security-funding

ACTION Demand that the Congress cut off ALL funds for Mexico's Merida Initiative. Read on.

REFERENCE There are documented instances where drug cartel savages infiltrated US law enforcement agencies......they were hired, then fired, and arrested. The US does not know how broad the problem is.....but the Mexican govt knows.

SHOCK The Obama administration just cut Mexico's Merida Initiative federal grant money down to $300 million in his cockamamie trillion dollar budget. Keep in mind, Obama cannot fund or defund anything---he can only suggest. The House controls all funding.

WHAT IS THE MERIDA INITIATIVE? The US Congress passed legislation in late June 2008 to provide Mexico with $400 million and Central American countries with $65 million that year for the Mérida Initiative---to fight drug wars. The initiative was announced 22 Oct 2007 and signed into law June 30, 2008.

THE FACTS ARE THESE : Mexico is calculatedly staging the "war on drugs" ------- with a hidden agenda------to wage war against the United States USING OUR TAX DOLLARS. Mexico has infiltrated the US political system, from domestic to foreign policy, AND US L/E, using deceit and guile. The mexican govt is sending millions of Reconquista shock troops over the border (illegal aliens) cueing them in WRT taking the US system.

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Mexico is extorting US tax dollars to support Marxist/terrorist movement via the Merida Initiative----which is Mexico's sub rosa plan to arm its police and military using US tax dollars, in order to safeguard the safety of terrorists and drug cartels across the border into the US.

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Clearly, the Mexican govt is fomenting drug violence in order to: (1) get billions of dollars in US assistance, and, (2) to help their populations flee over the border claiming they are victims of violence and need "asylum." Asylum claims gets illegals thousands of dollars in SS funds.

Mexican Federales are getting rich using some familiar strategies:

(1) plotting to become a ward of the US;

(2) faking victimization;

(3) secretly revving up internal conflicts;

(4) play-acting the ignoramus;

(5) claiming they can't "control" their enemies without US money;

(6) organizing voting blocs----exchanging votes for US cash.

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