Border monitoring / protection

Congressional Hispanic Caucus moves against Alabama immigration law
Representative Luis Gutierrez (D – Illinois) is stepping up his attacks against Alabama’s immigration law by seeking to enlist DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano; this week Gutierrez and other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with Secretary Napolitano to request that top federal immigration officials make it clear that immigration enforcement is a federal matter and out of states’ jurisdiction
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Study calls latest ICE deportation figures into question
A recent Syracuse University study found that DHS’ latest deportation figures were incorrect and that the majority of deportations in Colorado for the last fiscal year were not in fact high-priority criminals as the agency claimed
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DHS will comply with subpoena regarding non-deported aliens
House Republicans want to know how the Obama administration decides which aliens to deport and which aliens to allow to remain in the United States. DHS says it will comply with a congressional subpoena seeking DHS records on the issue.
California leads nation in E-Verify adoption despite concerns
In the past year California saw a 37 percent surge in E-Verify enrollment by businesses, making it the largest adopter of the system in the United States; unlike other states that have made E-Verify mandatory for public and private employers, California legislators recently passed a law that bans local governments from forcing businesses to sign on to the program
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Illinois Congressman helps worker fight South Carolina immigration law
Representative Luis Gutierrez (D – Illinois) is wading into South Carolina politics by fighting to prevent a local worker from being deported by federal immigration authorities. On Wednesday Gutierrez appeared in a Charleston Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on behalf of Gabino Sanchez, who had been arrested on a traffic violation and found to be an illegal immigrant
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Sector Report for Thursday, 1 December 2011: Border / Immigration control
This report contains the following stories.
* Coyotes using GPS and smartphones to smuggle immigrants, avoid capture

* Lawmakers question DHS on lack of regulations for Mexican truck program

* CBP to unveil new metrics for border security

* Also noted
Plus 1 additional story.
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Coyotes using GPS and smartphones to smuggle immigrants, avoid capture
Human smugglers, or coyotes, have increasingly taken advantage of GPS equipped smartphones to sneak illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border; using the GPS capabilities of smartphones, coyotes stand at elevated points to carefully guide groups of illegal immigrants
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Lawmakers question DHS on lack of regulations for Mexican truck program
The cross-border trucking pilot program with Mexico is entering its sixth week and DHS has yet to issue official enforcement guidelines to law enforcement agencies
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CBP to unveil new metrics for border security
Next February Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will release a new set of metrics to determine safety along the U.S.-Mexico border; according to a recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, CBP will no longer measure border security in terms of “operational control”
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Fixing a broken border
Terry Goddard, the former attorney general of Arizona, argues that to curb illegal immigration effectively the federal government must target drug cartels and smugglers, aggressively cutting off funding and freezing assets; Goddard argues that current measures to bolster border defenses are costly and ineffective as cartels will continue to find ways to smuggle drugs and immigrants across the border because it is simply too lucrative a practice
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Deportation backlog prompts DHS to review cases, procedures
In a move aimed at reducing the strain on overburdened immigration courts, DHS recently began a review of 300,000 ongoing deportation cases; illegal immigrants with a criminal record will face expedited deportation proceedings, while many with no criminal history could have their cases closed
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The challenges of detecting drug tunnels
As the United States has stepped up its efforts to secure its southern border, drug cartels have been forced to become increasingly ingenious in sneaking their cargo into the country; in an effort to avoid border agents, radars, and fences, cartels have increasingly gone underground
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DHS takes down suspected Mexican gang members in New York
On 16 November DHS agents arrested twenty-five suspected members of the Mexican Los Vagos gang on a variety of charges including murder conspiracy, assault, firearms offenses, narcotics trafficking, and immigration violations. Los Vagos allegedly used drug trafficking and violence to defend their turf from the Latin Kings, a rival gang
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Is tunnel detection technology for the U.S.-Mexico border worth the effort?
More and more, smugglers are using tunnels between the United States and Mexico to smuggle drugs and people into the United States. Washington is investing considerable resources searching for a high-tech solution to the problem. There are different technologies to detect tunnels, but all have their limitations. Experts say that old-fashioned investigative work may well be more effective.
DHS offers new guidance for when to dismiss immigration cases
On Thursday, DHS issued guidelines to federal officials, advising that they should consider dismissing pending immigration cases involving some groups of illegal immigrants, among them children, college students, the elderly, and victims of domestic violence.