http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=8 <http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=8&id=33333> &id=33333
DHS: Arrests along U.S.-Mexico Border Decline U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents made fewer arrests of illegal immigrants trying to enter the country last year, the government said Monday in a report that credits stronger enforcement. Arrests fell 8.4 percent from 1.2 million in fiscal year 2005 to 1.1 million last year. It was the first decrease since 2003, the Homeland Security Department said in releasing its annual statistics on illegal immigration. "What we ideally would like to do is stop them from coming in the first place. The extent that we see fewer crossing the border, that suggests that line of defense is working," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a news briefing. He noted that the department added more than 1,900 border patrol agents in the last year and installed fencing and other security measures such as electronic sensors and cameras. "These kinds of successes underscore the importance of viewing what we do to protect our borders as part of a comprehensive solution, one that allows us to target the worst of the worst," Chertoff said. Statistics released Monday also show the government: _Removed a record 186,600 illegal immigrants from the United States in the past year. That's a 10 percent increase from 2005. _Seized more than 1.3 million pounds of marijuana, a 13 percent increase from the previous year. _Nearly tripled the number of fugitive operations teams, from 18 to 50, as part of efforts to locate, apprehend and remove criminal aliens. The figures, which were complete a month ago, were released a week after President Bush signed a bill authorizing 700 miles of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The new law, which didn't come up with new funding beyond the $1.2 billion previously approved by Congress, gives Republican candidates a pre-election platform for asserting they're tough on illegal immigration. Congressional elections are Nov. 7. On Monday, Chertoff said improved border security will not be enough. The centerpiece of Bush's immigration policy, a guest worker program, remains stalled in Congress. "Without a temporary worker program, getting control of the border by the end of 2008 would be very, very difficult," Chertoff said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/