Chertoff’s New Border Policy

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff announced today a comprehensive multi-year plan to secure America’s borders and reduce undocumneted migration, entitled the Secure Border Initiative (SBI).

Detention and Removal

DHS will eliminate completely the “catch and release” enforcement problem.  DHS is developing the capability to return every single illegal entrant amenable to removal — no exceptions.  The goal is to achieve significant progress on this capability in less than a year.  The detention and removal process will be re-engineered to create an efficient system that will always have available detention capacity, and will have a streamlined process for removal while minimizing an alien’s time in detention.  This will be achieved through greater efficiencies in the removal process, cooperation with foreign governments, increasing detention capacity and expanding expedited removal.

Technology & Infrastructure

DHS will field the most effective mix of current and next generation technology with trained personnel.  Our goal is to ultimately have the capacity to integrate multiple state of the art cameras and sensors into a single comprehensive detection system and expand infrastructure systems throughout the border where appropriate to strengthen our efforts to reduce illegal entry.

Interior Enforcement

DHS will strengthen interior enforcement efforts to target those who enter illegally by unequivocally enforcing our laws and making sure that removal is achieved.  Strong worksite enforcement is key to effective interior enforcement. DHS must be able to ensure that employees are in our country legally and are properly authorized to work. 

DHS also plans to strengthen interior enforcement by expanding state and local partnerships with existing state and local law enforcement personnel through the creation of DHS sponsored task forces focused on border enforcement; improving the Criminal Alien Program to identify and remove all incarcerated criminal aliens in federal and state prisons; and increasing fugitive operations until all aliens who received orders of removal are actually removed.

International

Border-related crime affects communities on both sides of the land boundaries, and a shared approach is imperative to disrupting criminal groups and saving lives.  SBI will be implemented in a way that entails an appropriate dialogue with the governments of Mexico and Canada.

DHS will work with other foreign governments to ensure they provide timely travel documents in order to remove the backlog of their nationals in our detention facilities.  DHS will also ensure there is a productive dialogue in order to safely and quickly repatriate migrants back to their nations at the same rate at which they are arriving.   

Temporary Worker Program

SBI will serve as the enforcement complement to the Temporary Worker Program that President Bush proposed last year.  The Temporary Worker Program will have the effect of enabling migrants to pursue work in regulated, legal channels – and will increase safety and security by giving us a better idea of who is entering our country and for what purpose.

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