Border monitoring / protection

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.

U.S. recession drives Mexican immigration to record lows
With the U.S. economy in a tail spin and violent Mexican drug cartels raging out of control, immigration from Mexico into the United States has fallen to all-time lows; Mexican census figures show that net migration is close to zero with few Mexicans immigrating to the United States and many returning home
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Sector Report for Thursday, 17 November 2011: Border / Immigration control
This report contains the following stories.
* Alabama lawmakers backpedal on tough immigration law

* Returning vets and military tech could be deployed to border

* Major drug tunnel discovered, 14 tons of marijuana seized

* Also Noted
Plus 1 additional story.
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Alabama lawmakers backpedal on tough immigration law
Republican senators in Alabama are currently working on a series of amendments that would ameliorate the tough immigration law that has sharply divided the state
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Returning vets and military tech could be deployed to border
Veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be heading to the U.S.-Mexico border next; seeking to take advantage of the military technology and personnel returning from the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, federal border officials are considering a plan to use these newly freed resources
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Major drug tunnel discovered, 14 tons of marijuana seized
On Tuesday customs officials discovered a major drug tunnel below the U.S.-Mexico border which led to the seizure of fourteen tons of marijuana
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