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U.S. unveils Secure Border Initiative

The Department of Homeland Security announced a new plan to secure the nation's borders with Mexico and Canada, hinging its latest effort on a temporary worker program, more agents and more resources on the border. The Secure Border Initiative was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Houston. And in Washington, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales stressed the need for a temporary-worker program - something President Bush has been pushing for nearly two years. The immigration and border enforcement initiative comes just days before President Bush is scheduled to attend the opening day of the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he is expected to discuss trade and economic growth with a group of Latin American leaders. The Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill approved last month provides funds to increase the number of agents on the border and increase the bed space for illegal entrants it captures. The money will allow the department to eliminate its policy of releasing detained border crossers with a promise to appear in court, a policy called "catch-and-release." Last spring, the department promised the same kind of "operational control" along the border but by the end of the fiscal year, it became apparent that federal agents had dropped the number of illegal entrants moving through its Tucson Sector only to see them crossing through the surrounding Yuma and El Paso sectors. Analysts say the Bush administration is under pressure to produce real results because it hasn't accomplished anything toward controlling the border. Members of Arizona's congressional delegation were satisfied to see Chertoff's Secure Border Initiative, but in a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said such proposals have been seen before with little to show for them. Unlike last year's Arizona Border Control Initiative, which placed reinforcements along the border but did little for interior enforcement, Chertoff's plan would add 250 criminal investigators and 400 new immigration agents to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael Jackson. The department plans to add 1,000 Border Patrol agents and provides an 11 percent budget increase to $7 billion for Customs and Border Protection, Jackson said. Detention bed space was also increased by 2,000 to about 20,000 beds for illegal entrants who are held in custody. Illegal entrants are generally held for an average of 34 days before they are deported, said Randy Beardsworth, a strategic planner for Homeland Security. The agency hopes to cut that number in half. The expedited removal process does not usually apply to Mexican nationals, the vast majority of the illegal entrants captured, who are normally given the option of immediate voluntary removal to Mexico. What the feds will do for work-site enforcement of the immigration laws was less clear. Beardsworth said there would be attempts to hold employers more accountable while Jackson said the passage of a temporary-worker program would eventually lead to more aggressive enforcement since workers and employers would then be registered. "Clearly the administration has taken the offensive on this but I don't see enough new ideas," said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington. "This is more of the same with more resources and I think it is legitimate to question whether that is going to be enough. What I was looking for in this announcement was that new idea." One new idea was the temporary-worker program, an idea pitched by Bush in 2004 that has never been made specific beyond stating that illegal entrants would be able to obtain three-year work visas twice. Attorney General Gonzales told the Latino Leaders Luncheon in Washington that a temporary worker program is needed, but did not give any specifics about what the program will entail. "Usually the less you say as a politician, the better off you are but here, they really needed to explain what they intend to do," Papademetriou said. Kolbe said he believes the plan is a good one because of the emphasis placed on the need for a guest-worker initiative. "Actions speak louder than words, and in order to successfully stop the flow of illegal immigration, we need to execute this new strategy - not just talk about it," Kolbe said in a statement. "We have heard plans from DHS before yet seen few results. However, I am pleased DHS is addressing the issue of illegal immigration in a comprehensive manner." Sen. Jon Kyl was more receptive to the initiative, saying "This kind of sweeping reform represents a change in both tactics and attitude," adding that it is "the kind of leadership that we in Arizona have long been waiting for from the federal government."