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Proposed budget increase DHS budget by 6 percent; priorities include cyber security, helping TSA screen travelers, increase bomb disposal and counter-IED capabilities, border security, emergency response
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Aggressive deportation strategies employed by DHS deliver questionable results, focusing less on criminals and more on hard working men and women
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U.K.’s e-border scheme may subject Northern Irish citizens to security checks similar to those other foreign visitors are subjected to when entering the rest of the United Kingdom via sea
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Along the U.S. northern border, CBP processes more than 70 million international travelers and 35 million vehicles, makes approximately 4,000 arrests, and interdicts approximately 40,000 pounds of illegal drugs annually; UAVs in the sky will help
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The U.K. has added South Africa, Bolivia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Venezuela to the list of countries the nationals of which need biometric visa to enter the United Kingdom; these five countries failed a test of the threat posed by their citizens in terms of security, immigration and crime; the list already covers three quarters of the world’s population
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With a 700-mile section of the U.S.-Mexico fence almost complete, DHS shift its focus to the technology program designed to stop border crossings
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One of DHS secretary Janet Napolitano’s action directives calls for tightening security along the U.S.-Canada border; CBP reports that sensors installed along parts of the border already enhance security
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Trend: Homeland security as a job source
CBP launches National Career Day around the United States to announce CBP’s goal for hiring approximately 11,000 frontline and mission and operations support positions in 2009
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DHS secretary Napolitano issues additional Action Directives on cyber security and northern border strategy
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With drug-related killings doubling in 2008 over 2007, and with drug lords becoming more brazen in their attacks on the state, the U.S. Joint Forces Command warns of the potential for “rapid and sudden collapse” of the Mexican government
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SENTRI, launched in 1995, is a land-border crossing program that provides expedited CBP processing for pre-approved, low-risk travelers along the U.S./Mexico border
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E-Verify was supposed to take effect 15 January, but was delayed to 20 February; system allows employers to verify their employees’ eligibility to work legally in the United States
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The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program (C-TPAT) was established in 2001 to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve international supply chain and U.S. border security; DHS says program is achieving its goals, with more than 8,000 applicants validated since 2003
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Japan spent more than $44 million dollars to install the biometric system at 30 airports; a deported South Korean woman was able to re-enter Japan by using fingerprint-altering special tape
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RFID technology is incorporated into more and more documents (e-passports, enhanced driver’s licenses); trouble is, the technology still suffers from privacy and security vulnerabilities
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New system, connected to the U.S. National Data Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia
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DHS will begin to collect biometric data from permanent residents of the United States and from refugees; new rule, to go into effect on 18 January 2009, will include “nearly all aliens,” except Canadian citizens on brief visits
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The H2-B visa program allows foreign workers into the United States for specific seasonal jobs; the program is capped at 66,000 workers per year; regulatory changes in the waning days of the administration aim to set in place policies favored by the business sector
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GAO says that DHS has not developed accurate cost estimates for the proposed tracking of travelers leaving the U.S. and has failed to include how much the system would cost airlines and cruise lines to build
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The first UAV is expected to begin patrolling the U.S.-Canada border in January
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The long view
The Manufactured Crisis of Migrant Terrorists at the Border
Politicians and pundits have given rise to a flood of rhetoric about terrorists exploiting border chaos to harm Americans. But exaggerated threats of terrorists crossing the southern border lead to costly, disproportionate policy decisions.