Border/Immigration | Homeland Security Newswire

Land down under

Airport flu scanners as global health alert increases

Australian government orders all airports to use thermal imaging systems to detect passengers who may be infected with swine flu; the scanners can detect if a passenger has a raised body temperature

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Drug cartels now use ultralight aircraft to smuggle drug into U.S.

The drug cartels south of the U.S. border have a new weapon in their arsenal: Ultralight aircraft; these ultralights can carry up to 300 pounds of narcotics

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Border security

RAID surveillance system deployed along border

Aerostats differ from blimps in that blimps are powered, while aerostats are anchored to the ground through a cranked tether that also supplies electrical power

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Border security

Aerostats used along India-Pakistan border and in other hotspots

Unpowered blimps have been used for two decades now; the one aerostat Kuwait owned alerted its leadership to the Iraqi tanks rolling toward the border in 1990; India, Pakistan buy them to bolster their border security

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DHS highlights successes in fight against trafficking and illegal immigration

On a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, DHS secretary Napolitano highlights the department’s success in efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and contraband trafficking

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U.K. border agency notes first failure since becoming independent

The U.K. Border Agency became an independent government agency on 1 April; the next day, the system it uses to collect fingerprints from foreign visitors and compare them to a large biometric data base, malfunctioned

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Mexico police seize anti-aircraft weapon near U.S. border

A day before President Barack Obama is to visit Mexico, the Mexican police finds a truck-mounted anti-aircraft weapon on the U.S.-Maxico border

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Piracy boosts maritime security business

In London, the business capital of the world’s maritime industry, firms shape decisions on arming ships and negotiating with pirates

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El sur

Lieberman wants U.S.-Mexico border security funding in supplemental

President Obama has submitted a $83.4 billion supplemental request to Congress which contains $66 million in additional aid to Mexico’s anti-drug efforts (Congress has already allocated about $700 million to Mexico — including $300 million in the recently enacted fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill); leading senators say more should be done to shore-up border protection, and they propose an amendment to the supplemental which would add $550 million in border security funding

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U.S. saw record number of visitors in 2008

Dire predictions about how enhanced security at U.S. port of entry notwithstanding, 2008 saw a record 50.5 million foreign visitors come to the United States

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CBP unveils plan to modernize U.S. land ports of entry

Funds from the stimulus package — $720 million to be exact — will be directed toward address infrastructure needs at ports of entry

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U.K. border security agency to exchange fingerprints with U.S. and others

U.K. Border Agency (UKBA) said that by December 2008 it had enrolled more than 3.6 million sets of fingerprints from visa applicants, finding more than 5,200 cases of identity swaps; the agency now wants to exchange fingerprint information with the United States, Canada, and Australia

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Manchester airport recalibrate facial recognition machines to shorten lines

Five facial recognition machines at Manchester airport produced many false negatives, causing long lines of irate passengers; to shorten lines, the machines’ sensitivity was recalibrated from 80 percent to 30 percent; experts say the machines are now useless: tests show that at 30 percent, the machines cannot distinguish between Gordon Brown and Mel Gibson — or between Osama bin Laden and actress Winona Ryder

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Rapiscan wins U.K. contract for its mobile cargo scanner

The company says the Eagle Mobile 4500 can scan shipping containers and trucks in less than twenty minutes while also being capable of penetrating dense cargo at increased inspection rates without impeding the flow of commerce; Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs wants several of these scanners deployed at U.K. ports of entry

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Less bureaucracy at the border reduces poverty

The need for more security at the borders, together with typical behavior of large bureaucracies, reduce the positive effects of cross-border commerce

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U.S. installs more cameras on Canada border

The federal government has focused security efforts on the U.S.-Mexican border, but DHS says “the terrorist threat on the northern border is higher”; in response, DHS will add 64 cameras to the 20 cameras already installed (note: the U.S.-Canada border is 4,000-mile long)

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Lawmakers to add $550 million to Mexico border security

The two leaders of the Senate homeland Security Committee introduce legislation to channel another $550 million for more federal agents, investigators, and technological improvements

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GAO: TSA lax on U.S. security of commercial trucking, buses

Billions of dollars have been invested in improving air travel security; critics charge that ground transportation security has been treated as an after thought; there are more than a million U.S. companies which help transport 65 percent of the daily freight across the United States; busing companies carry 775 million passengers a year, more than the airline industry; GAO says both trucks and buses operate virtually free of security restrictions

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DHS to focus on employers in new immigration emphasis

The new policy will aim enforcement efforts at those who hire illegal workers; DHS says immigration raids will continue

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U.S. intelligence chief: Mexico not on brink of collapse

There is a debate among different U.S. intelligent services about how close to a collapse Mexico is; Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, says the drug cartels’ escalating violence is a product of their weakening state not their strength

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