• Controversial DHS immigration registration program suspended

    Last month DHS ended a controversial program that required immigrants to register with federal authorities if they came from Arab countries associated with terrorism; the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) required all males entering and exiting the United States that were above sixteen years of age to report to immigration officials for interviews and fingerprinting if they came from certain countries; NSEERS was specifically aimed at individuals hailing from twenty-five countries with ties to terrorism including Libya, Syria, and Yemen; officials say that the program did not lead to the capture of any terrorists

  • U.S. will allow more foreign graduates to work in U.S. longer

    The Optional Practical Training program allows foreign students graduating from American colleges to stay in the United States after graduating for twelve months to work in their field of study; the George W. Bush administration introduced a measure allowing some science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates to stay for additional seventeen months — for a total of twenty-nine months of practical training; the Obama administration has now expanded the STEM list to include many additional degree programs, among them soil microbiology, video graphics and special effects, dairy science, neuroscience, mathematics and computer science, business statistics, personality psychology, medical informatics, and pharmaceutics and drug design

  • New York ICE agent arrested for stealing and selling government property

    A special agent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency was recently arrested on Tuesday for allegedly stealing government property and then selling it on eBay; the agent, Steven Kucan, was a resident of Wood Ridge, New Jersey and will appear in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey; Kucan reportedly sold approximately $37,000 worth of ICE property using an eBay account that was opened in the name of an elderly relative; stolen items include printer cartridges, camera lenses, film, combat lights for M-4 rifles, and even a special diving suit designed to prevent hypothermia in cold water

  • New way to measure security along U.S.-Mexico border

    A new DHS approach to gauging border security will develop a numeric value to be assigned to each of the Border Patrol Sectors to measure just how secure it is; the new index will still include traditional measures such as crime data, apprehensions of suspects, and contraband seizures, but it will go beyond these measures to include hospitals reports on suspected illegal aliens they treat, traffic accidents involving illegal aliens or narcotics smugglers, rates of vehicle theft and numbers of abandoned vehicles, impacts on property values, and other measures of economic activity and environmental impacts

  • Malaysia begins fingerprinting all visitors

    Under a new trial program, next month the government of Malaysia will begin scanning the fingerprints of all travellers entering and exiting the country to help combat international crime and terrorism; the program, dubbed the Biometric Fingerprint Security System, is aimed at reducing fraud from the current screening method which involves a security official matching a traveller’s face to their passport photo; 3 percent of the 24.4 million foreigners who visited Malaysia last year were involved in crimes; biometric scanners are currently being installed at sixty-one of Malaysia’s ninety-six ports of entry, and the trial program will begin 1 June

  • Brain, not eyes, performs near-optimal visual search

    In the wild, mammals survive because they can see and evade predators lurking in the shadowy bushes; this ability translates to the human world — Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners can pick out dangerous objects in an image of our messy and stuffed suitcases

  • Arizona to solicit donation to build border fence

    Arizona lawmakers, saying they have lost patience with what they regard as federal dithering over the issue of building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, announced plans to launch a Web site which will solicit private donations for the project; donors will receive certificates declaring that the individual has “helped build the Arizona wall”

  • DHS struggles to detect billions in cash smuggled across U.S.-Mexico border

    Each year Mexican drug cartels smuggle billions of dollars of cash into and out of the United States, yet despite their best efforts, DHS officials are struggling to stem the flow of cash that is fueling the drug wars; the Department of Justice estimates that each year Mexican drug cartels smuggle as much as $39 billion in cash across the southern border; DHS officials say that it is having a difficult time detecting cash; officials are actively seeking to develop technological solutions to help detect individuals smuggling large amounts of cash across the border; but the technology to accomplish this goals may not exist yet as there are several large technical and logistical hurdles that must be overcome

  • Milestone: Trusted Traveler reaches million members

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the agency’s Trusted Traveler Programs have reached one million members; Trusted Traveler Programs include Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST

  • Texas lawmakers fight for more drones

    Texas lawmakers are pushing federal officials to deploy more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) along the state’s southern border with Mexico; currently one Predator drone patrols the skies above Texas’ border and the Gulf Coast, while three Predators operate out of Arizona and one in North Dakota; Representative Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and two other congressman from Texas recently met with state and federal officials to lobby for the additional deployment of drones

  • Civil rights groups seek to block Utah's immigration law

    On Tuesday, two civil rights and immigration advocacy groups filed lawsuits against Utah in an attempt to stop a tough Arizona-style law from taking effect; Utah’s immigration law is scheduled to take hold on 10 May and comes after legislators made many compromises to draft a bill that they thought would avoid legal challenges; the American Civil Liberties and Union (ACLU) and the National Immigration Law Center brought forth a class-action lawsuit against the law on the grounds that it interferes with the federal government’s responsibility to enforce immigration; Utah’s attorney general is determined to defend the law

  • DHS allocates $25.5M for border communications

    DHS recently announced that it would spend $25.5 million on additional security measures along the border; the money will be allocated to states as part of the Border Interoperability Demonstration Project (BIDP) which is designed as a one-time competitive grant program to develop innovative solutions that improve emergency communications for first responders and law enforcement agents; seven states including California, Maine, and Texas will receive grants

  • Lawmakers call for designation Mexican drug cartels as terrorist

    Several lawmakers called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to support labeling Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups and craft a strategy to help Mexico defeat them; the lawmakers behind the letter warned that escalating violence perpetrated by the cartels in Mexico “threatens the very foundation of that nation” and threatens to turn into “a lawless haven”

  • DHS offers grants for interoperable border communication

    DHS announced $25.5 million in grant funding under the Border Interoperability Demonstration Project (BIDP) — a one-time competitive grant program focused on developing solutions to strengthen interoperable emergency communications along the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico