FAIR Applauds Administration’s Plan to Reduce Border Violence

New Effort Must Not Come at Expense of Interior Enforcement

(Washington, D.C. - March 24, 2009) The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) applauds the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new initiative to crack down on the increasing violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Deadly violence, perpetrated by Mexican organized crime rings, has been spilling across the border threatening the security of the United States.

The increased focus on securing the Southwest border should not come at the expense of other enforcement efforts, cautioned FAIR. “Controlling the violence is urgent, but the problem extends well into the interior of the U.S.” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “The Mexican drug cartels which have turned the southwest border into a virtual war zone now operate in 230 cities across America, bringing murder, kidnappings and other criminal activities to every corner of this country. Without a strong interior enforcement component, the administration’s strategy will be doomed to failure.”

In announcing the new initiative, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano noted that the $126.8 million the department is committing to the border security initiative will be “revenue neutral, funded by realigning from less urgent activities.” Previous statements by the secretary seem to indicate that enforcement efforts aimed at violent felons will come at the expense of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s other duties.

“When criticized for trying to take on too many difficult tasks, President Obama has repeatedly replied that he and his administration are capable of multi-tasking,” Stein noted. “Stopping the criminal gangs operating along the border is vital, and we fully support the administration’s initiative, but enforcing other immigration laws especially interior worksite enforcement - is essential to any strategy to end the mayhem along the border.”

The long-term failure of the nation to enforce its immigration laws is responsible for creating the chaos along the border now being exploited by criminal organizations. The long-term failure to carry out interior enforcement operations has provided cover for the same criminal gangs to establish footholds all across the United States.

“The plan announced today by the administration, we all hope, will address some of the symptoms of policy failures that occurred long before President Obama took office. But, as the president has noted in formulating economic recovery policies, we must also address the underlying causes of the violence that plagues our Southwest border,” said Stein. “Those causes cannot be remedied by a strategy that abandons other immigration enforcement efforts, including worksite enforcement, cooperation with state and local police, and the elimination of non-essential benefits and services to people who are in the country illegally.”

“The violent criminal gangs are taking advantage of the conditions created by unenforced immigration policies. Until those policies are enforced, and order is restored, the criminal gangs will continue to flourish both at the border and in cities and towns all across America,” Stein concluded.