DHS Admits Just 10 Percent of Borders Secured with No Plan to Improve in 2010
At the end of the last fiscal year on September 30, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed that 894 miles of U.S. borders and coastline were under “effective control.” In setting forth its goals for fiscal year 2010, the department plans to have the same 894 miles under control come next September. That’s 894 miles out of a total of 8,607 miles of land and coastal borders that DHS is responsible for protecting — or slightly better than 10 percent.
But it’s not just the Obama administration that is failing to take border security seriously. During House-Senate deliberations on the DHS Appropriations bill, conferees stripped an amendment that would have required completion of 700 miles of double fencing along the southern border by the end of FY 2010. That provision, authored by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), had been part of the Senate’s DHS funding bill.
The apparent lack of concern about protecting our borders ignores the growing threats to homeland security. In recent months, several terrorist plots have been exposed, while drug wars in Mexico pose a growing threat along our southern border. In its final report in 2005, the 9/11 Commission cited lack of adequate border security as a likely vulnerability to be exploited by terrorists seeking to attack the U.S.
The abject neglect of border security further exposes the administration’s and the congressional leadership’s lack of credibility as they press for another massive illegal alien amnesty. Both the President and many congressional supporters of amnesty have promised that tighter enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, including securing the border, would be the trade-off for rewarding millions of illegal aliens.
In his seven point outline for “comprehensive immigration reform” issued in June, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Refugees Subcommittee, stated that, “Operational control of our borders — through significant additional increases in infrastructure, technology, and border personnel — must be achieved within a year of enactment of legislation.” With 7,713 miles of border still to be secured, no plan to bring even one additional mile under control during the coming year, and the congressional leadership’s failure to honor its commitment to complete the border fence, the American public can have no confidence that any future promises of better enforcement will be fulfilled.
