老澳门开奖结果

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 Office of Immigration Statistics 鈥渢he southwest land border is more difficult to illegally cross today than ever before.鈥� Between 2000 and 2016, Border Patrol apprehensions by 72 percent. The decline has been so significant that the average border agent is catching about . Despite this, there are thousands more Border Patrol agents now than even 10 years ago, as the force after 9/11 to over 21,000 authorized personnel today.

The fact of the matter is that U.S. border security is more than adequate, unless you鈥檙e a Republican member of Congress that is.

Yesterday the House Homeland Security Committee voted, on a party-line split, to advance the , which would authorize $10 billion to build Trump鈥檚 鈥渂ig, beautiful鈥� wall, to hire 5,000 more Border Patrol agents, to deploy National Guard units, and to purchase drones and other surveillance galore. The bill, in short, approves militaristic responses to the dystopic but fictional vision President Trump promulgates about the supposedly porous, irredeemably violent border. It also includes a congressional blank check for Customs and Border Protection 鈥擝order Patrol鈥檚 parent and the largest law enforcement agency in this country 鈥� by allowing its agents to ignore dozens of environmental and other laws public enjoyment of federal lands.

The bill approves militaristic responses to the dystopic but fictional vision President Trump promulgates about the supposedly porous, irredeemably violent border.

With our northern and southern border allies, the 老澳门开奖结果 opposes this harmful and unnecessary legislation, and we aim to amplify border residents鈥� concerns about further militarization and surveillance of their communities. But the question remains: Why is the Trump administration obsessed with adding 5,000 new Border Patrol agents 鈥� including efforts to weaken hiring standards 鈥� especially when the force鈥檚 current authorization is not close to fully staffed? There鈥檚 a political explanation, of course, based on Trump鈥檚 fear-mongering about the border and a reward for the Border Patrol union鈥檚 early campaign support. But the policy has no basis in the facts.

A review by DHS鈥檚 Inspector General just that neither CBP nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Trump wants to triple in size, 鈥渃ould provide complete data to support the operational need or deployment strategies for the additional 15,000 agents and officers they were directed to hire.鈥� This report goes into detail about how current Border Patrol deployment plus staff roles are inefficient and inflexible given mission needs.

Widespread reporting, even a recent episode of Last Week Tonight with , shows the perils of the last round of Border Patrol expansion. CBP personnel have a corruption rate identified by a DHS Integrity Advisory Panel as 鈥渇ar exceed[ing], on a per capita basis, such arrests at other federal law enforcement agencies.鈥� CBP has also been responsible for excessive force and other that harm individual rights. The basic principle is clear, and like the Police Executive Research Forum agree: 鈥淒on鈥檛 cut corners to hire large numbers of officers quickly.鈥�

Nongovernmental organizations studying border security reinforce this analysis. The calls Border Patrol staffing and spending 鈥渨asteful.鈥� The Washington Office on Latin America dispels 鈥�,鈥� including rhetoric about a mythically insecure border that simply doesn鈥檛 exist outside campaign rallies.

One clear reason for the House border bill is that Border Patrol expansion serves the administration鈥檚 goal of spreading fear among immigrants by expanding its deportation force. In just nine months of this year, Border Patrol agents have, for example, and DACA recipients, an infant鈥檚 parents at a hospital right before his urgent surgery, about a domestic violence survivor, and street arrests in Louisiana far from any land border.

The border security bill would only exacerbate this culture of impunity at CBP. Complaints, for example, frequently go unaddressed, as several reports this summer distressingly underscore. The American Immigration Council that 96 percent of complaints reviewed by AIC resulted in no action on the allegation, while the Kino Border Initiative the filing of 49 complaints against CBP, with no response by the agency to 36 of them. Our own Border Litigation Project CBP records to reveal that of 408 complaints from detained children:

鈥淥nly 2 percent of the investigative files indicate that the complainant was interviewed. Only 4 percent of case files contained indications that the accused agents were interviewed. Only a single investigative file contained indications that physical evidence was collected. Only one file noted that investigators made a site visit.鈥�

The evidence is overwhelming that CBP must get its house in order on oversight and accountability, not hire more agents. And Congress must stop using the borderlands and their people as caricatured political props. Instead, Representatives and Senators from both sides should stand with these communities to reject defamatory, damaging legislation like the Border Security for America Act.