Media
Memo to Media: Border Safer than Ever, Quality over Quantity Will Move us Forward
July 15, 2011
USA Today released on Friday an in-depth analysis of FBI crime data revealing that rates of violent crime along the U.S. - Mexico border have been declining for years. The analysis uses more than a decade of crime data compiled by more than 1,600 local law enforcement agencies in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas showing that “U.S. border cities were statistically safer … and have maintained lower crime rates than the national average”. This investigative report stands in stark contrast with politicians’ accounts of a border out of control and overrun with violence. Simply put, the political rhetoric does not match the border reality.
Amid a growing national debate about immigration, Americans keep hearing the Washington mantra of “Border security first. Then address immigration reform.” This shortsighted argument not only ignores the fact that, as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has stated, “the border is as secure as it’s ever been” but it has become a stumbling block to much-needed discussions on how to effectively reform our immigration system.
The National Immigration Forum has compiled an extensive Resource Guide with information on border security for members of the press, available online at: http://tinyurl.com/BorderResourceGuide
Border Security Policy: Quality Over Quantity
The Forum’s 2011 Border Enforcement Resource Guide analyzes what “border security” truly means. For years, Congress has spent vast – and steadily increasing - sums of money at the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet in order to achieve comprehensive border security, we need focused, smart policies that use our tax dollars wisely, enhance the border region’s ability to act as an engine of trade and commerce, and addresses the nature of security threats.
The guide includes information on:
· National Guard Deployments to the Southwest Border;
· The ABCs of Federal Agents on the Border;
· “Operational Control” at the Border: More than Words
· Border Security Spending Principles, and
· The Cost of Operation Streamline.
Border enforcement spending should be examined through the lens of eliminating wasteful government spending, strengthening America’s global standing, and keeping the nation secure. Unprecedented manpower, infrastructure, and technology for border security efforts have been deployed in the last decade—the large majority of which have been directed at surveillance and manpower between ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile, apprehensions along the Southwest border have dropped from 1.6 million in 2000 to 448,000 in 2010 and illegal crossings are at a low not seen since the 1970s.
In just the last four years, spending on border security has ballooned to more than $50 billion—an unprecedented amount billed to the American taxpayers that is neither justified nor properly accounted for. The Border Patrol’s budget alone is now more than $3.5 billion — nearly ten times what it was in the mid-1990s — even though illegal crossings have dipped below 1972 levels due, in large part, to a faltering economy.
Effective border security policies will use taxpayer resources wisely and will allow the Border Patrol to deploy resources to areas that pose the greatest risk. Congress has appropriated unprecedented amounts for border security programs between our ports of entry instead of at our ports of entry.
Targeted and smarter investments in our ports of entry are a common-sense solution that prioritize interception of contraband and illegal activity and promotion of commerce, trade, and tourism. The American public agrees: according to a recent poll by the Tucson-based Sky Island Alliance, an “overwhelming number of Americans believe strengthening U.S. Ports of Entry is a better approach to border security than build additional walls”.
The border is as secure as it can get without new legal tools provided by comprehensive immigration reform. Border residents, law enforcement and elected officials agree on this fact. Instead of fanning the flames of paranoia and false perceptions of border insecurity, politicians in Washington should get to work right away on solid and practical solutions that fundamentally fix our immigration system.
To access the Forum’s 2011 Border Enforcement Resource Guide, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/BorderResourceGuide
To read the USA Today report, please visit: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-15-border-violence-main_n.htm
