• DHS late developing new measure for border security

    A little more than two years ago, DHS officials told Congress that they would design a new method to produce more accurate statistics on security along the nation’s border. Last week the department acknowledged that it has not developed this method yet, and will not for some time.

  • Comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform bill to be unveiled early April

    The Gang of 8, a bipartisan group of senators, is finalizing work on a comprehensive immigration reform bill which will be introduced shortly after Congress comes back 8 April. The bill will offer a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants, add up to 200,000 visas per year depending on the U.S. economic conditions and employment needs, increase substantially the number of visas allocated for highly skilled tech workers, and reduce some categories of family visas.

  • ICE agents re-arrest four immigrants released last month

    As part of a departmental belt-tightening move, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month released 2,228 immigrants from detention, of which 629 had criminal records. Ten of those were Level One offenders, and four have them have been rearrested by ICE agents.

  • Rise in the number of border-crossers dying along the U.S.-Mexico border

    While fewer people are crossing the border between Mexico and the United States, the region saw a significant spike in immigrant deaths last year, according to a report released on Tuesday. the U.S. Border Patrol identified 477 deaths along the border, a 27 percent increase from the 375 deaths in 2012.

  • Was Mexican border firefight killing 40 real?

    It would seem that drug violence only stops at the Mexican border in the imaginations of Washington politicians. On example: Mexican journalists, because of fear for their own lives and the safety of their families, are increasingly reluctant to cover drug cartels’ violence and mayhem. What has occurred in recent months is that American reporters located in American border cities also have stopped reporting on drug-related violence across the border for the same reasons as their Mexican counterparts.

  • Discovery Channel special on protecting U.S. northern border

    The Discovery Channel  on Wednesday aired a documentary on DHS, called “Under Siege: America’s Northern Border.” The show will be shown several more times in the coming weeks. The  one-hour special focuses on the northern border of the United States, which was a  crossing point for some of the terrorists behind the first World Trade Center attack.

  • CBP faces lawsuits over treatment of illegal immigrants

    A number of U.S. Citizens along with illegal immigrants have filed several lawsuits on Tuesday against Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  claiming they were abused and subjected to cruel tactics, including being forced to sit in freezing holding cells for day at a time.

  • CBP sends out furlough notices to agency employees

    The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has started sending furlough notices to its employees, the result of the agency’s need to cope with a 5 percent sequestration-related reduction in salaries and expenses. Border patrol agents say the cuts will hobble efforts to make the border more secure.

     

  • El Paso police receives a federal grant, but resident are worried about CBP budget cuts

    As the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency begins to deal with significant budget cuts and furloughs, the local law enforcement in El Paso, Texas has just received additional funding. Local police officers help residents handle encounters with illegal immigrants, but many residents believe U.S. Border Patrol agents are more suitable for the task.

  • Napolitano says she had no part in immigrant releases

    DHS secretary Janet Napolitano said  she was not part of the decision to release hundreds of immigrants from detention last week. The immigrants were released as the agency scrambled to prepare for sequestration-related budget cuts. She also said that the timing of the announcement was poor.

  • Sharp increase in border crossings in 2012

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    There has been a sharp rise in border crossings into the United States, both legal and illegal, in 2012, giving ammunition to lawmakers who insist that the issue of border security should be addressed as a condition for an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system.

  • DHS official in charge of immigrant removal resigns

    On the same day it was reported that hundreds of illegal immigrants facing deportations were released from federal detention because of upcoming sequestration-related budget cuts, the senior DHS official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his retirement. The administration says the retirement of the official, Gary Mead, is unrelated to the decision to release the detainees.

  • With budget cuts looming, ICE releases undocumented immigrants from detention

    With budget cuts hanging over federal agencies, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started to prepare for the cuts by releasing detainees from its detention facilities across the country on Monday.

  • Silicon Valley plans an immigration “virtual march” on Washington

    A bi-costal push for federal immigration reform geared toward highly skilled foreign workers has Silicon Valley business leaders planning a “virtual march on Washington.”

  • Our primary border security system cannot distinguish between a cow and a terrorist

    One of the main security components along the U.S.-Mexico border is a system of 12,000 aging ground sensors. These sensors, however, cannot distinguish between human beings trying to cross the border, a grazing cow, or a pack of javelin – the wild boar that roams this area along the Rio Grande. DHS has so far spent billions on trying to find a technology which would better secure the border. The question that should be asked is why DHS has not adopted a proven system of sophisticated ground sensors, like the one which the U.S. Army has successfully deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.