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How about this...is it really getting better????
Increased border enforcement called a partial success; efforts to continue
Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Sept. 21, 2004 04:50 PM
TUCSON - A top Department of Homeland Security official said the government's recent push to secure Arizona's border has resulted in more arrests of undocumented immigrants and people smugglers.
Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary for DHS, said Tuesday that the Arizona Border Control Initiative has led to more than 350,000 arrests since March - a 56 percent increase from the same period last year - in the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma Sectors, which include all of Arizona and a small portion of California.
As part of the initiative, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona received more agents and resources, resulting in a 45 percent increase in felony prosecutions here during the operation, up to 1,431 compared with 973 at the same time during the previous year.
"I'm not here today saying we fixed the problem," he told reporters. "I'm saying we've made progress."
In March, Hutchinson announced plans to ship 200 permanent agents, 60 temporary agents, four helicopters and two unmanned drones to the Arizona border. In July, the agency added a repatriation program that offered captured border-crossers free flights into Mexico's interior, at a cost of $13 million. Officials in Washington, D.C., said the estimated cost of the operation is more than $29 million, but could not give a specific figure.
The initiative's goal was to gain control Arizona's porous, 350-mile border, the most popular gateway for illegal entry into the United States. It accounts for 40 percent of all arrests. The agency also aimed to reduce the number of deaths, but set another record in Arizona this year, with at least 168 bodies and skeletal remains reported by the U.S. Border Patrol since Oct. 1.
"Migrant deaths are still too high," Hutchinson said. "One death is too many."
The Border Patrol plans to keep the 200 agents and four helicopters permanently assigned to the Tucson as part of the initiative, but likely will ship the 60 temporary agents to other areas of the Southwest border at the end of the hotter months, officials said. The interior repatriation program is scheduled to end in late September or early October and may be started again next year, Hutchinson said. The unmanned drones, another test project, will also end Sept. 30.
In a meeting Monday with Hutchinson, Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas and other Tucson religious leaders called for a change in immigration policy, saying the current system is "broken and needs to be fixed."
Kicanas advocated creating more legal channels for immigrants and offering a path to legal residency for undocumented immigrants already living in the United States.
Increased border enforcement called a partial success; efforts to continue
Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Sept. 21, 2004 04:50 PM
TUCSON - A top Department of Homeland Security official said the government's recent push to secure Arizona's border has resulted in more arrests of undocumented immigrants and people smugglers.
Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary for DHS, said Tuesday that the Arizona Border Control Initiative has led to more than 350,000 arrests since March - a 56 percent increase from the same period last year - in the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma Sectors, which include all of Arizona and a small portion of California.
As part of the initiative, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona received more agents and resources, resulting in a 45 percent increase in felony prosecutions here during the operation, up to 1,431 compared with 973 at the same time during the previous year.
"I'm not here today saying we fixed the problem," he told reporters. "I'm saying we've made progress."
In March, Hutchinson announced plans to ship 200 permanent agents, 60 temporary agents, four helicopters and two unmanned drones to the Arizona border. In July, the agency added a repatriation program that offered captured border-crossers free flights into Mexico's interior, at a cost of $13 million. Officials in Washington, D.C., said the estimated cost of the operation is more than $29 million, but could not give a specific figure.
The initiative's goal was to gain control Arizona's porous, 350-mile border, the most popular gateway for illegal entry into the United States. It accounts for 40 percent of all arrests. The agency also aimed to reduce the number of deaths, but set another record in Arizona this year, with at least 168 bodies and skeletal remains reported by the U.S. Border Patrol since Oct. 1.
"Migrant deaths are still too high," Hutchinson said. "One death is too many."
The Border Patrol plans to keep the 200 agents and four helicopters permanently assigned to the Tucson as part of the initiative, but likely will ship the 60 temporary agents to other areas of the Southwest border at the end of the hotter months, officials said. The interior repatriation program is scheduled to end in late September or early October and may be started again next year, Hutchinson said. The unmanned drones, another test project, will also end Sept. 30.
In a meeting Monday with Hutchinson, Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas and other Tucson religious leaders called for a change in immigration policy, saying the current system is "broken and needs to be fixed."
Kicanas advocated creating more legal channels for immigrants and offering a path to legal residency for undocumented immigrants already living in the United States.
