[Senate Hearing 111-1051]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-1051
BORDER SECURITY: MOVING BEYOND THE VIRTUAL FENCE
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HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
APRIL 20, 2010
__________
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
JON TESTER, Montana LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois
EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware
Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
Troy H. Cribb, Counsel
Blas Nunez-Neto, Professional Staff Member
Nicole M. Martinez, Research Assistant
Brandon L. Milhorn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Robert L. Strayer, Minority Director for Homeland Security Affairs
Matthew L. Hanna, Minority CBP Detailee
Molly A. Wilkinson, Minority General Counsel
Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk
Patricia R. Hogan, Publications Clerk and GPO Detailee
Laura W. Kilbride, Hearing Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Lieberman............................................ 1
Senator McCain............................................... 3
Senator Burris............................................... 14
Prepared statements:
Senator Lieberman............................................ 33
Senator McCain............................................... 36
WITNESSES
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Hon. Alan D. Bersin, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security............... 5
Hon. Dennis K. Burke, U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, U.S.
Department of Justice.......................................... 17
Hon. Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel, Mayor, City of Nogales, Arizona. 20
Larry A. Dever, Sheriff, County of Cochise, Arizona.............. 23
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Bersin, Hon. Alan D.:
Testimony.................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 57
Burke, Hon. Dennis K.:
Testimony.................................................... 17
Prepared statement........................................... 67
Garcia-Von Borstel, Hon. Octavio:
Testimony.................................................... 20
Prepared statement........................................... 79
Dever, Larry A.:
Testimony.................................................... 23
Prepared statement........................................... 86
APPENDIX
Tucson Weekly Articles submitted by Senator McCain............... 38
Photograph submitted by Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel................... 56
Richard M. Stana, Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues,
U.S. Government Accountability Office, statement for the Record 89
Responses to questions for the Record from Mr. Bersin............ 102
BORDER SECURITY: MOVING BEYOND THE VIRTUAL FENCE
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TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:05 a.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph I.
Lieberman, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Lieberman, Pryor, Burris, and McCain.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN LIEBERMAN
Chairman Lieberman. The hearing will come to order. I thank
everybody for being here.
This is the third hearing our Committee has held to review
America's border security programs in the wake of the stunning
increase in violence caused by the Mexican drug cartels. In
fact, and by coincidence, it was a year ago today that our
Committee held a field hearing in Arizona--with some of the
same witnesses who are on our second panel.
I regret to say that in the year that has passed, the
situation has continued to deteriorate. Since 2006, more than
22,700 people have been murdered in Mexico by narco-terrorists
in the ongoing war between the cartels and the cartels and the
government. That number comes from a Mexican Government study.
It is a multiple--22,700--of the number of Americans killed in
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
The pace of the murders unfortunately has been steadily
escalating: 9,635 murders in 2009, an increase of 50 percent
over the already unprecedented level in 2008 and three times
the 2,837 killed in 2007--Mexican President Felipe Calderon's
first year in office.
These statistics are of grave and great concern to the
United States, as they are to Mexico and its strong and
courageous President. I greatly admire his unwavering
commitment to rid his country of the plague of narco-terrorism.
In the past year, the Mexican Government has arrested or
killed literally scores of leading cartel figures, including
Arturo Beltran-Leyva, known as the ``boss of bosses,'' in
December.
But as cartel leaders are taken out, the violence seems to
increase as the cartels fight amongst themselves for the
remaining pieces of the narco-trade. The obvious fact is that
we have to do everything in our power to support our southern
neighbors in the historic battle they are currently waging
against the cartels.
And we have to be vigilant on the American side of the
border because there are deeply troubling signs that the
cartels and other smuggling groups are becoming more willing to
bring their violence across the border and inflict it on U.S.
citizens.
In the past month alone, as you know, three separate
incidents have drawn our attention, concern, and anger: A
pregnant U.S. Consulate employee, her husband, and the Mexican
husband of another Consulate employee were all gunned down in
Juarez as they left a children's party; the U.S. Consulate in
Nuevo Laredo was attacked with an improvised explosive device
(IED), which is a term we normally hear used with regard to the
terrorist attacks against us and our allies in Iraq and
Afghanistan; and then, of course, a well-known and much
respected and beloved rancher in Arizona was murdered on his
own property. All this follows the murder of an on-duty Border
Patrol agent last year.
So the bottom line before our Committee today is what can
the Federal, State, and local governments do together to
control violence in Mexico, on the border between the United
States and Mexico, and violence and other illegal behavior that
will flow over the border into our country.
That brings me briefly to highlight a focus of this
hearing, which is our efforts to use technology to control the
border. When the ``virtual fence,'' or SBInet project, was
first launched, we were told that it would be extended across
our entire Southwest Border--that is nearly 2,000 miles--by
early fiscal year 2009.
Well, it is now, of course, April 2010, almost 4 years
after SBInet began and $770 million has been spent directly on
it, and we are still waiting on the testing of the first 23-
mile stretch of SBInet, which will be in the Tucson Sector.
That is it.
By any measure, SBInet has been a failure--a classic
example of a program that was grossly oversold and has been
badly underdelivered.
When SBInet first started, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) seems to have effectively told Boeing, the
contractor, ``Go ahead and do what you can do as quickly as you
can.''
Without clear goals and expectations, both CBP and Boeing
underestimated the complexity of building the system, I
believe. And the Border Patrol agents themselves--the people
who would be relying on and implementing the system every day--
were not, in my opinion, adequately consulted on what their
actual needs were.
I am also troubled that the program office responsible for
SBInet is heavily dependent on contractors, weakening CBP's own
organic capability to manage the program and ensure capability.
And, of course, the structure of the SBInet contract--one
overarching contract to a single contractor--means that CBP
does not get the benefit of competition for individual tasks
undertaken for the SBInet program.
From the beginning of SBInet, CBP's reports to Congress
read like a quest to find that mystical point where parallel
lines finally meet: It is always just over the horizon, but you
never actually get there.
We have to get there. Our Committee staff visited the
Tucson Sector over the recess, and once again, they heard, ``We
are almost there.''
I do not think the Members of the Committee will believe
that we are there until we are actually there and we can see so
with our own eyes.
I am pleased that Secretary Napolitano has ordered a long
overdue internal review of the SBInet program, which will
consider its long-term viability and determine whether there
are technological alternatives to providing better border
control.
I welcome CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin today. In some sense
maybe on this occasion he is fortunate that it took a long time
to get him into office because he is not accountable for any of
the delays that I just described, but now he has the
responsibility, of course, to end them, and I look forward to
his testimony and the questioning that will follow.
We are also honored to have a second panel of witnesses
from Arizona to bring our Committee a firsthand, from-the-
ground, local perspective on this crisis, which is a homeland
security crisis.
I am honored to be joined as Ranking Member today by
Senator John McCain of Arizona. He has an obvious interest in
this crisis because it so disproportionately affects the people
of Arizona. He has been a persistent advocate for better border
security and urgent action to deal with the violence now
pouring over the border into the United States, and I am proud
to call on him now for an opening statement.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MCCAIN
Senator McCain. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and, again,
I thank you for holding this hearing--you and the Ranking
Member, Susan Collins. This is an important hearing.
As you mentioned, it was exactly 1 year ago today that we
had a hearing in Phoenix, and it was at that time that we
called for the dispatch of 3,000 National Guard troops to the
border. And, unfortunately, as our witnesses will testify, we
are seeing an increase in violence. The situation has not
improved. We are seeing serious spillover violence that affects
Americans living near the border.
Mr. Chairman, I have three articles that I would like
included in the record.\1\
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\1\ The articles submitted for the record by Senator McCain appear
in the Appendix on page 38.
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Chairman Lieberman. Without objection.
Senator McCain. They are titled ``The Chiricahua Corridor--
Drug-trafficking and crime victimize residents and destroy the
environment along the Southern Arizona-New Mexico border;''
``Luck and Fear--A border-area home invasion has forced
residents to take action;'' and ``Chico and the Monkey--How
many times were a border coyote and his accomplice captured and
released by law enforcement? Would you believe 35?''
These are all very interesting articles that I hope all of
my colleagues would take the time to read so they can
understand how serious and uncontrolled our border situation
is.
As you mentioned, just last month, three Americans were
killed on the Mexican side of the border, and a third-
generation Arizona rancher was found dead on his property near
the Mexican Border, reportedly shot by a suspect that may have
entered our country illegally. Interestingly, last week the
L.A. Times reported that more than 22,000 deaths in Mexico
during the past 3 years occurred because of drug violence with
the cartels--22,000 Mexican citizens.
The violence is increasing and impeding the everyday life
and the peace of mind of our citizens in the border region.
Some believe that they are living in a lawless land where there
is little or no consequence for the violation of their land,
property, and well-being.
The President's most recent budget, unfortunately, seeks to
cut 181 Border Patrol agent positions. Inexplicable.
Inexplicable. This comes after the number of Border Patrol
agents already declined between fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year
2010.
As all the witnesses know today, the Border Patrol in the
Tucson Sector accounts for almost 50 percent of all illegal
immigrant apprehensions across the country. Specifically, in
fiscal year 2009, the Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector
apprehended 241,453 individuals--the size of the population of
Reno, Nevada. And we will hear from our witnesses what
proportion are not apprehended. Some say three times, some say
five, but regardless, that number is astonishing.
The Tucson Sector also accounts for 50 percent of all the
marijuana seizures in the Nation. In fiscal year 2009, the
Border Patrol seized more than 1.3 million pounds of marijuana
in the Tucson Sector alone--the first time any Border Patrol
sector had ever seized more than 1 million pounds of marijuana
in one fiscal year. Additionally, 90 percent of the cocaine
used in the United States comes through Mexico, and much of it
is smuggled through Arizona, right up the I-10 highway. So it
is for these reasons that in fiscal year 2009, 73 percent of
the District of Arizona's criminal filings involved either
immigration or drug charges.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, yesterday Senator Jon Kyl and I
released a 10-point border security action plan that calls for
3,000 National Guard troops to be sent to patrol the Arizona-
Mexico Border, 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents to the
border, 24-hour-a-day surveillance by Predator B Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and construction of a fence that truly
deters illegal entries, among other issues.
I hope the hearing today will highlight the outstanding
work that our State and local officials are performing to
provide for the safety of Americans, despite the inability of
the Federal Government to secure the Southwest Border from the
flow of drugs, money laundering, and illegal immigration. In
our second panel, we will hear from the Mayor of Nogales,
Arizona; the Sheriff of Cochise County, Larry Dever, who deals
with these issues on a day-to-day basis; and our U.S. Attorney,
Dennis Burke, who has increased the number of border-related
prosecutions, I am happy to say.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, on SBInet, it is a disgraceful
failure. At least $800 million so far has been wasted. Think of
how that money could have been spent to try to improve our
border security. There has been a lack of oversight; there has
been a lack of accountability. And by most reports, this
virtual fence, which has already consumed hundreds of millions
of dollars of taxpayers' money, has been a complete failure.
I will look forward to hearing from Commissioner Bersin on
this issue, along with other border security issues.
Again, I thank you for holding this hearing.
Chairman Lieberman. Thank you, Senator McCain.
Commissioner Bersin, I am glad to welcome you here for your
first appearance since you assumed the responsibilities of this
critically important office. We look forward to working with
you as the oversight Committee for the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), and we would invite your testimony at this
time.
TESTIMONY OF HON. ALAN D. BERSIN,\1\ COMMISSIONER, U.S. CUSTOMS
AND BORDER PROTECTION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Bersin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Senator
McCain, Senator Pryor, Senator Burris, and staff. I appreciate
this opportunity to return to testify before the Senate. I had
many years, earlier years, in the 1990s, in which I watched the
border from my home and the place where I worked in San Diego.
And as I have come back during the past year, I understand that
we face many of the same problems, but we have many more
opportunities because of the resources and the support that the
Congress and, in particular, this Committee have provided to
Customs and Border Protection. I take the reins at CBP with
honor and pride, and I understand that I am accountable to our
people and to this Committee.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Bersin appears in the Appendix on
page 57.
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The Committee indicated it wishes to hear from me on three
subjects:
The status of border security efforts--and that is our No.
1 priority, to protect the American people and our border
communities from violence--to assure public safety, and to
assure security on the border.
Second, the Committee wishes to hear about the status of
our efforts in support of the Government of Mexico. As the
Chairman noted, there has been a historic reversal of the past
in terms of President Calderon's efforts, and I will be pleased
this morning to report on efforts that CBP and DHS and the
other elements of the U.S. Government have provided to
President Calderon.
The third is to review the theory of action of our border
security to go back over what the original theory was with
regard to personnel and infrastructure and technology, with
specific reference to SBInet, its current status, and the
future prospects.
A year ago, actually beginning in the last quarter of 2008,
the American people became aware of something that had actually
started with the ascension to power of President Calderon in
2006. We discovered--and it hit our front pages--the kind of
violence that has now escalated to the point where--as Senator
McCain and the Chairman noted--an estimated 22,000 Mexicans
have died as cartel takes on cartel and as the Mexican
Government for the first time in its history takes on Mexican
organized crime.
In March 2009, Secretary Napolitano--no stranger to the
border--announced the Southwest Border Initiative that had
three basic goals:
One was to see that the violence that was occurring in
Mexico would not spill over in the same form and with the same
frequency and the same devastating impact that it was having in
northern Mexico.
The second goal was to reduce the movement of contraband
and illegal crossings across our border in the Southwest.
And the third was to support Mexico in its campaign to
crack down on cartels through technical assistance, through
intelligence sharing, and through support on our side of the
border of the operations that were taking place south of the
border.
Significant resources were deployed to the border in terms
of personnel, in terms of technology, non-intrusive inspection
technology and X-ray machines, in terms of intelligence
analysts, and in terms of redirected Stonegarden funds. As the
Chairman and Senator McCain noted, support and partnership with
our State, local, and tribal partners is absolutely essential
to the Federal strategy on border security.
The results of the Southwest Border Initiative: We saw
significant decreases in illegal crossings, and while this was
attributable in some material part to the economy and the
recession that we have experienced, both in North America and
worldwide, it also reflected a heightened enforcement posture
by the increase of Border Patrol agents that brought our total
level of agent strength to 20,000 Border Patrol agents, an
increase of 100 percent since 2004, and an increase, I should
say, of 7\1/2\ to eight times from what it was when I last
worked with the Border Patrol in the 1990s.
The statistics with regard to seizures of contraband, of
narcotics, are set forth in the written testimony, and I will
leave the staff in the Senate to refer to that testimony for
the specific statistics.
With regard to the violence situation, we have two
reports--one that is cautious in its optimism, but also in its
recognition that vigilance is required; and a second that is
not optimistic, but reflects the kind of tragedy that we saw in
the murder of Robert Krentz, a rancher in Arizona.
The kind of violence that we have seen in Mexico, the
shoot-outs in the plazas, the 200-day death toll in Ciudad
Juarez that has converted that city into the most dangerous
city in the Western Hemisphere, we have not seen in the United
States in terms of mass impact. We are geared to prevent and to
deter that impact from coming across our border. That is not to
say, Senators, that we have not seen significant and disturbing
trends of increased violence attributable to organized crime
activities based in Mexico. We have, and we do, and we take it
very seriously.
The murder of Mr. Krentz was the most recent incident in
which an American citizen on our side of the border was the
victim of organized criminal violence based in Mexico.
Secretary Napolitano took very direct action in responding to
that murder. Additional Border Patrol agents were deployed in
the Douglas Station area of the Tucson Sector. We saw an
immediate dispatch of air and marine assets to help track the
suspected murderers, and we have reason to believe they did
move back into Mexico. The investigation continues, not only
with Sheriff Dever in Cochise County, but also with Federal and
State investigators, and we are also working with our Mexican
colleagues. Secretary Napolitano wanted me to assure this
Committee that she is committed to seeing that this murderer is
apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
We also see--and it is disturbing--the killings of American
citizens and people connected to the Consulate in Juarez. The
Committee asks whether that or the use of an IED against the
Consulate in Nuevo Laredo represents a change in the cartels'
approach to targeting or challenging U.S. law enforcement and
U.S. personnel abroad. Senator, that inquiry continues, but we
take that threat very seriously, and it would constitute a
change in the way in which the cartels have operated with
respect to U.S. law enforcement officials or U.S. officials
stationed abroad.
Last, in terms of the relationship with Mexico, I can tell
you from having returned to the border that indeed the future
is not what it used to be with regard to our relationship with
Mexico. Whereas the border used to be a place where U.S. law
enforcement stopped and where sovereignty was still respected,
the fact of the matter is that cooperative relationships with
Mexico are at a level and at a depth that we have never seen
before. This stems both from President Calderon's recognition
of the extent to which organized crime has tainted Mexican
politics and society and from the recognition by President
Obama, Secretary Napolitano, and her colleagues in the Cabinet
that we share a co-responsibility for the situation on the
U.S.-Mexico Border, and that, in fact, the cycle of drugs
coming north and guns and cash going south are part of one
organized vicious cycle of crime and criminality that we have a
joint responsibility to confront. And I am pleased to report to
you, Mr. Chairman and Senators, that we have confronted that in
cooperative ways not seen before. Let me give you three
examples.
One is the extent to which we at CBP focus on the
southbound movement of cash and guns. We have created an
Outbound Programs Division in our Office of Field Operations.
We have dedicated the resources. We have instituted the checks
that look not only at people and things, cargo and goods coming
north, but people and things going south. The result of that in
concert with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been an
unprecedented level of seizure both of cash and also of
weapons.
We have also seen for the first time in the history of the
U.S.-Mexican Border the dispatch and the deployment of Federal
police in Mexico in the Sonora area at Nogales to coordinate
with the U.S. Border Patrol. This creation of a communication
north and south of the border holds out great promise and
indicates something that would have been unthinkable even 5
years ago.
On the prosecution front, we see our prosecutors--and Mr.
Burke will be able to describe this with greater specificity--
cooperating with the Attorney General of Mexico (PGR) to
actually share prosecution authorities or responsibilities to
see to it that law breakers are punished, whether in American
courts and now in certain cases in Mexican courts.
With regard to personnel, infrastructure, and technology,
we have increased Customs and Border Protection to where we
have now almost 58,000 employees. We have 20,000 Border Patrol
agents and 24,000 field officers. We also have built the
infrastructure that Congress asked us to do with regard to the
fencing across the U.S.-Mexican Border. On the advice of Border
Patrol and the professionals who live and work there, we have
met in all material respects the obligations placed on the
Department of Homeland Security with regard to the fence.
And last, Mr. Chairman and Senators, with regard to SBInet,
as you know, when Secretary Napolitano came into office,
because of her experience as the Governor of Arizona, she
understood that the promise of the virtual fence from
Brownsville to San Diego had not delivered and was not anywhere
near being able to deliver. As a result, as you know, she
ordered a midterm assessment and ordered some immediate steps
with regard to funds under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
What the Secretary ordered--and it has taken place--was a
reallocation of those funds under ARRA to see to it that we
would not continue to spend on the Block 1 technology but,
rather, use those funds to purchase and deploy technology at
the border that had been trusted and tried by our Border Patrol
agents and field officers, and that has been done with regard
to the $50 million, and I will be pleased to answer the
Committee's questions with regard to the specific allocation
among the variety of devices that have been long in use on the
U.S.-Mexican Border and have proven their value.
The Secretary also started a science-based assessment that
is underway that will look at sector by sector across the U.S.-
Mexican Border what mix of technology will best serve our
agents on the ground and our communities at the border. And I
would say that while the news regarding the wholesale
integration at a border-wide level has proven to be beyond the
capacity of the contractors and beyond the capacity of CBP to
date, there are elements in the Block 1 technology that we
would urge this Committee and its staff to work with us to see
whether it actually functions in a way that can be integrated
with a placement and a deployment of technology across the
border so that, in fact, SBInet technology, if not the SBInet
system as originally envisioned, would actually have a place as
we move forward.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you again for this opportunity and
look forward to responding to the Committee's questions.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks very much, Commissioner Bersin.
We will have 7 minutes for each of the Senators on this round.
Let me begin my questioning, Commissioner, and I want you,
just as briefly as you can for the benefit of those in the room
and those who may be watching or listening, to contrast two
things you said that are of interest to the Committee. The
first is that, in your estimation--and you are fairly new at
CBP--the Federal Government has met all of its obligations, you
said, with regard to the fence along the border. Contrast that,
if you will, with what everyone, including you, I gather, views
as the failures of the SBInet virtual fence system.
Mr. Bersin. Mr. Chairman, the fence is an element of
infrastructure, and what we did, beginning actually back in the
Clinton Administration with regard to the old landing-mat
fence, and then carried forward with the resources provided by
Congress as the fence of approximately 700 miles--just about
675 miles to be more precise--was built, was very much more
governed by differential terrain and differential
circumstances. And the theory of the fence was to provide our
Border Patrol agents with an opportunity, depending on the
different terrain, to be able to respond to incursions.
Chairman Lieberman. And what areas is that generally
present in now?
Mr. Bersin. It has been effective with regard to the
different kinds of fences that have been built. So, for
example, around ports of entry, you will see pedestrian fences
of 15 feet or greater that will actually keep people from
scaling the fence and moving into a town or a city in which
they can then blend into the population and escape from
apprehension.
Out in the middle of the desert, different kinds of
infrastructures are required, largely to prevent the movement
of vehicles across a flat terrain.
So I think what we have seen is a successful implementation
of this differential application of infrastructure.
Chairman Lieberman. Now, contrast that with the SBInet.
That was intended as a back-up or to cover the whole border in
a kind of virtual fence?
Mr. Bersin. The SBInet is a system that was to give us
through a combination of video and radar an ability to both
detect incursions on a screen and to identify the kind of
incursion--the kind of person, the kind of car, and the number
of people. And, in fact, Block 1, while the assessment is still
going on, has shown some promise in being able to do precisely
that.
What has not worked is the total integration of technology
from each of the areas along the border into an overall system
that would permit central monitoring and control. That
technology integration at the very broadest level has been the
complete failure that the Committee describes.
Chairman Lieberman. So that is a helpful clarification. I
presume you would not say that the combination of the fence and
the virtual fence of SBInet, whatever parts of it are working,
are stopping the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the
United States today.
Mr. Bersin. No. It has not sealed the border such that
there is no illegal movement.
Chairman Lieberman. Right. So there continues to be illegal
movement in and out, as it were. Do you have any relevant
statistics, estimates--and this is a hard thing to do, I know,
because of all the vagaries of making judgments like this since
we are talking about essentially--of obviously illegal
behavior?
Mr. Bersin. In terms of the number of crossings?
Chairman Lieberman. Yes. Has the number gone up? Has it
gone down? There has been some theory that it may be going down
because the economy is worse here.
Mr. Bersin. The statistics, which are set forth in full,
Mr. Chairman, in the testimony, indicate that in fiscal year
2009, we saw and encountered at the ports of entry 224,000
inadmissible aliens at the port of entry, and we apprehended
more than 556,000 between the ports of entry, approximately in
total 580,000 illegal or attempted illegal crossings.
In fiscal year 2010 to date, we have seen 113,000 aliens at
the ports of entry and 245,000 between the ports of entry,
somewhat greater but basically the same level.
Chairman Lieberman. Still significant. Still about the same
as the year before.
Mr. Bersin. But compared to 2008 and 2007, we saw a decline
in the apprehensions between the ports of 23 percent, more than
167,000 apprehensions.
Chairman Lieberman. So let us go back to SBInet. You have a
reputation for being a tough law enforcer and manager. Did I
correctly infer, as I heard you talking about SBInet, that you
think as a total system it is never going to go into effect and
that the best we can do with it is to take pieces of the
technology and use them well?
Mr. Bersin. Mr. Chairman, that is one of the options on the
table. I was out speaking to our employees in the Office of
Information Technology today, and I remembered that the first
trial I had in Federal court in the 1970s was about the
Baltimore traffic control system in which there was an
integration of all the technology and the traffic lights in the
city of Baltimore. The expectation was that based on traffic
flow, you could direct all the cars in the city. It was a
horrible integration failure. That would be a piece of cake,
technically speaking, today.
So I do not want to say that theoretically at some point
you could not have the kind of sophisticated technological
integration that SBInet originally projected. But in the near
term, the Secretary has concluded, and I agree with her based
on the advice that we have received, that wholesale integration
is not a goal that is practicable or that would produce the
kind of productive results that we would want to see.
Chairman Lieberman. Let me ask you a final question, which
is--in some sense you gave a response, but I want to clarify
it, for myself anyway--whether the murders at the Consulate,
whether the killing of the rancher, Mr. Krentz, whether other
attacks on U.S. citizens indicate a change in tactics by the
Mexican drug cartels, which have generally in the past avoided
direct attacks on the United States. I would add to that the
use of the improvised explosive device, which is essentially a
bomb.
I think I heard you say that you are not sure. Should we
worry that CBP personnel, American citizens, and others on this
side of the border and American interests in locations in
Mexico will be subject to more violent attacks by the drug
cartels?
Mr. Bersin. Mr. Chairman, the answer to the second
question, should we be concerned, absolutely, and we need to
take the possibility very seriously. At the same time, in
response to the first question, we are not sure, and we
continue to investigate.
So, for example, while an operating premise might be that
Mr. Krentz had been killed by someone connected with a
smuggling outfit, we have yet--and the investigation
continues--to establish that in fact. But there are hypotheses,
and certainly we need to take seriously the threat that the
incidents you reference in Juarez and Nuevo Laredo represent a
change in policy. We have not seen the killing of an American
law enforcement person in Mexico since that of Enrique Camarena
in the 1980s.
Chairman Lieberman. Right.
Mr. Bersin. I hesitate to draw the same conclusion, and I
do not. We need to investigate that because the situation in
Mexico in terms of where the violence is coming from, the
street gangs coupled with the cartel wars that are going on,
make it unclear. But we need to take the possibility and the
threat very seriously, and we do.
Chairman Lieberman. I trust that our cooperative
relationship with Mexican Government and law enforcement
authorities includes sharing of intelligence so that they would
be one of the resources we would have in determining whether
the cartels had taken a turn and decided now to target
Americans on either side of the border.
Mr. Bersin. That is correct, Mr. Chairman. The information
sharing is at a level that we have never experienced before. At
the same time, given the weaknesses in Mexican law enforcement
and security apparatus, they understand, just as we do, it is
very much on a trust-but-verify basis. I suggest the Committee
may wish in a more confidential setting to receive the briefing
on exactly what we do know and do not yet know about that
threat.
Chairman Lieberman. Thank you, Commissioner. Senator
McCain.
Senator McCain. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bersin, I am not sure if Sheriff Dever of Cochise
County is here. I think he can provide you with information,
which at least circumstantially and evidence-wise, shows that
this murder of Robert Krentz was done by someone who had
entered this country illegally and very likely involves drug
trafficking. They have not reached a total conclusion, but
certainly there are signs that Sheriff Dever will inform us
about.
Do you believe that violence has increased or decreased on
our border in the last year?
Mr. Bersin. With regard to the so-called spillover from
Mexico of the mass violence, we have not seen that. We are
prepared for it, and we understand the risk. But we have this
anomaly of----
Senator McCain. Well, let me just interrupt you right
there. Sheriff Dever and our other law enforcement people will
tell you that there has been a significant change in the
behavior of the drug traffickers, and that is that they are
prone to violence, they are prone to trying to cause accidents
on the freeway so they can get away, and they have become much
more aggressive. The sophistication and types of their weaponry
have dramatically increased. Would you agree with all that?
Mr. Bersin. I acknowledge that. I do agree with that, and
that does not gainsay the fact that we have Juarez, the most
dangerous city in the Western Hemisphere, sitting next to El
Paso, which is one of the safest cities in America. That does
not deny everything that my old colleague in law enforcement
Sheriff Dever has said. We have significant violence that is
caused by organized crime based in Mexico, yes, sir.
Senator McCain. Then would that not argue for increased
enforcement on the border?
Mr. Bersin. Yes, it does, and we have seen steadily
increased enforcement, Senator McCain, from March 2009 on.
Senator McCain. Actually, the budget proposal is a
reduction in Border Patrol.
Mr. Bersin. Sir, respectfully, with regard to this year
compared to next year, the level of Border Patrol agents will
remain level without a loss in Border Patrol force and
strength.
Senator McCain. So violence is increasing, and the Border
Patrol numbers remain level.
Mr. Bersin. This is not just about Border Patrol agents
alone. It is about infrastructure, technology, tactical
operations, and cooperation with law enforcement--local, State,
and across the border.
Senator McCain. And infrastructure that was supposed to
provide us with surveillance all across the U.S.-Mexico Border
has now turned out to be, at least in the assessment of the
Government Accountability Office (GAO), an abysmal failure. So
that is why Senator Kyl and I, in agreement with every law
enforcement agency in the State of Arizona, have done what
Secretary Napolitano asked for when she was Governor of the
State of Arizona, to send the National Guard to the border
until we are sure that we have some kind of control over the
border.
Look, if you have 241,000 people apprehended just in the
Tucson Sector of Arizona, if you have intercepted 1.3 million
pounds of marijuana--and you can cite the statistics as to how
many are apprehended versus how many get away--does that not
indicate that our border is not under control?
Mr. Bersin. Senator McCain, the threats that we face in all
areas are taken seriously. We have deployed in March 2009, and
we are preparing to deploy additional resources to the border.
Senator McCain. And those resources are?
Mr. Bersin. The threat is appreciated. The National Guard
is one option that is under consideration, and I suspect the
Secretary and the Administration will be making that decision
in the near future.
Senator McCain. Well, you just said that you are deploying
additional resources to the border. What are they?
Mr. Bersin. We have deployed, for example, in response to
the murder of Mr. Krentz, agents into the immediate area.
Senator McCain. On a temporary basis.
Mr. Bersin. On a deployed basis until the threat level has
resumed an acceptable place.
Senator McCain. I do not see how, frankly, a situation
where 241,000 people are apprehended in just one sector, in the
Tucson Sector, and 1.3 million pounds of marijuana are
intercepted does not argue for stronger measures to be taken,
and in the short term, for what Secretary Napolitano asked for
when she was Governor of Arizona, and that is, to get the
National Guard to the border.
By the way, I have often cited the Goldwater Range as an
example where the Marines and the Border Patrol got together.
We had a huge problem with illegals coming across and had to
shut down the missions over the Goldwater Range, and now
because of their cooperation, it has worked. And it was with
commercial off-the-shelf capability.
Let me get to fences for just a second. In San Diego, as
you are very well aware, there has been construction of triple
fences, and crime has gone down a great deal in San Diego. Is
that correct?
Mr. Bersin. That is correct, and the crossings in that
particular portion of the sector have decreased dramatically.
Yes, sir.
Senator McCain. Does that not argue for double and triple
fences in urban areas?
Mr. Bersin. The placement of infrastructure has always
depended, Senator McCain, on the professionals on the ground
making their recommendations. So as you know, in the Nogales
port of entry, you will have significant fences, and in other
places in El Paso, you will have duplicate fences.
This is always about a professional judgment about how best
to direct the traffic and to manage the flow. So I think as the
Secretary has implemented the intent of Congress, it has been
done strictly on the advice of our Border Patrol agents and
other professionals on the ground.
Senator McCain. Well, I do not want to get into too much
detail, but obviously the Yuma Sector of our border has
improved significantly, whereas the Tucson Sector has not.
Maybe there is a little bit too much autonomy there and not
enough attention to the lessons learned.
I see that my time has expired, but I just want to say, Mr.
Bersin, I wish you luck in your position. This is an issue of
utmost seriousness. Sheriff Dever and all of the sheriffs in
Arizona will tell you that there has been a sea change in the
last couple of years in the behavior of the drug and human
smugglers. They are more violent, they are more provocative,
and they fight back. They have little or no regard for the
people that are doing the human trafficking and carrying the
drugs. They are now using ultra lights to bring drugs across
our border. We need UAVs that would be airborne 24 hours a day,
rather than just during working hours. And people, the citizens
of our State, are seeing their fundamental rights violated,
their property being crossed, and their wildlife refuges being
destroyed. And all of this has been ratcheted up over the last
couple of years to a point where we are in a real conflict. And
there is very little doubt that the cartels are becoming more
brutal, more effective, and better armed and better equipped.
And so it cries out for action, and it seems to me in the
short term that action is sending the Guard to the border,
which has been effective in the past. It would not be the first
time. And, second of all, implement a package of efforts along
the lines of what Senator Kyl and I have recommended, which
includes interoperability of communications with local and
Federal authorities up to and including Operation Streamline,
which has been effective in reducing the motivation and numbers
of people crossing the border because they know that they are
going to be incarcerated for a period of time.
And let me just throw one more number at you that is
alarming, and that is, our law enforcement will tell you that
17 percent of the people they apprehend today illegally
crossing our border have committed crimes previously in the
United States of America. That alone is enough to concern us as
far as the safety and security of our citizens. I thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Lieberman. Thank you, Senator McCain, very much.
Senator McCain. By the way, do you have a response to that
diatribe? [Laughter.]
Mr. Bersin. Senator McCain, as somebody who has lived and
worked on the border for more than a quarter of a century, I
appreciate your sense of urgency, and I have lived and worked
to combat it for many years and look forward, with your support
and the support of this Committee, to continue to do so ever
more effectively.
Senator McCain. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Lieberman. Thank you. Senator Burris.
Senator Burris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BURRIS
Commissioner, I would just like to congratulate you and
welcome you aboard.
Mr. Bersin. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Burris. I recently had the opportunity to travel to
the Southwest Border and get a close-up look at the work that
DHS and its component agencies are doing down there. They have
been fighting a tough battle, and I am grateful for the men and
women who are working to protect our borders, and I want to
take my hat off to them and let the American people know that
it is not an easy position to be in, having visited there and
seen it firsthand.
Commissioner, I am deeply concerned about SBInet. I am
trying to get a clearer understanding of your testimony, which
states that it is an overall combination of the various
protections. But I want to know who actually authorized this
particular contract. And, by the way, if my Boeing people are
here--and I am not going to slam Boeing yet; they are
headquartered in my State--but I do not want Boeing or any
other company taking advantage of the taxpayers' dollars, and
if they have spent all of this money and we do not have a
system that works, I want to know why we are continuing to do
it. My notes say that we spent over $1.2 billion on a system
that is not working.
Can you clarify some of that for me, Commissioner?
Mr. Bersin. Senator Burris, not that this is good news, but
the expenditure is slightly over $700 million, not----
Senator Burris. It is not $1.2 billion?
Mr. Bersin. That is the only good news, that it is not $1.2
billion. The problem is that the original conception has not
been delivered. The requirements that had been set forth have
not been met with regard to an integrated system. And Secretary
Janet Napolitano, having recognized that, has taken the steps
that I described both in the written testimony and briefly in
response to the Chairman's questions to redeploy $50 million
that had been added to the SBInet coffers, if you will, to
other technologies, including thermal imaging devices and
mobile surveillance systems that actually have demonstrated
utility.
What the Secretary has also ordered and is in the process
of being accomplished is an assessment of what are the next
steps with regard to SBInet. And as I suggested, I think there
will be an assessment of the one portion on the border in
Tucson where the system has been in place----
Senator Burris. Well, pardon me, Commissioner, but this
SBInet is supposed to cover almost 2,000 miles. We have done 23
miles initially, and Ajo-1 is only going to do another 30
miles, and we spent $700 million. Are we planning to try to use
this on the other 1,900-plus miles that we have to go?
Mr. Bersin. That will be the conclusion reached after the
assessment the Secretary is----
Senator Burris. Why could we not have made the assessment
up front? I understand Boeing is still working on it. Do you
not have competition? And then evidently there is an exclusive
contract here. We have not sought to get any competition to see
if some other company could even do this better and cheaper.
Why are we locked into Boeing so deeply in this process?
Mr. Bersin. The contractual situation and the contract
management are both matters that offer big lessons, and I hate
to avail myself of the Chairman's temporary pass. I was not
present at the creation of this. But I am accountable for it
now and responsible for it now.
Senator Burris. Can we cancel the contract with Boeing?
Mr. Bersin. I am not in a position to render that legal
judgment, but it is a fair question that you ask.
Senator Burris. How can you do a pilot program that costs
$700 million? The pilot evidently is not working, and we are
expanding now into doing more, and we are not sure that it is
going to work, but we are going to continue to pay. Taxpayers
do not have unlimited pockets for Boeing or any other company.
Mr. Bersin. I understand your frustration and anger,
Senator.
Senator Burris. So is that under your purview now, to
assess what is happening? Or is it the Secretary who has to
assess the program?
Mr. Bersin. On the front line, the buck stops with me with
regard to SBInet.
Senator Burris. Well, Commissioner, can you find out just
where the money has gone and where it is going to go in the
future? We do not have unlimited funds to pour into something
that is not going to work, regardless of who the corporation
is. I am trying to find out how they got a contract of that
magnitude. Mr. Chairman, there ought to be some type of
investigation into this particular contract. I am deeply
concerned about how a contract of this magnitude could be
awarded and no one had tested whether or not it would work.
There has to be some follow-up here. I do not know where the
GAO is in reporting on this, but we have to get into just how
this all took place and what deliverables were supposed to be
coming out of this contract because that is just a total abuse
of taxpayers' money.
Commissioner, is there actually triple fencing on the San
Diego, California Border?
Mr. Bersin. In a small portion of the border, you will find
double and triple fencing in terms of the infrastructure, yes.
Senator Burris. The single fencing that I saw on the border
was just a piece of tin metal stretched across the Mexican
side, and all the trash is dumped onto our side, which we have
to clean up. It is a garbage pit, and it all drains down toward
the ocean, which we spend millions of dollars trying to clean
up. And our Border Patrol says that is just what we have to do.
Has there been any talk with the Mexican Government about how
we can work this out?
Mr. Bersin. Actually, I know this because I am a resident
of San Diego County, not because I am the Commissioner of
Customs and Border Protection. The United States helped
construct a sewage plant in the Tijuana River Valley, and as
bad as it may have seemed to you, Senator Burris, on your
visit, it used to be 10 times worse.
Senator Burris. So we are getting cooperation?
Mr. Bersin. Yes, sir.
Senator Burris. We are doing the work, but we are getting
the cooperation of the Mexican Government. Are there any type
of penalties for using that as their garbage dump? That is what
it is. Any help from the Mexican Government?
Mr. Bersin. We are, Senator.
Senator Burris. My time has expired, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks, Senator Burris. We all share
your frustration and anger about the contract. The GAO has done
some work on SBInet, and I am glad to talk to you more about
what more we can do. But at this point, I think with
Commissioner Bersin coming on now, with his background, I think
we are counting on him really to give us a direct assessment
and take action to either terminate the contract or take from
it what will work. As Senator McCain indicated earlier, it may
be that the best answer here to this continuing crisis and the
continuing flow of illegal immigrants into the United States is
to go back to the old-style fences, double and triple layered--
unless that is topographically impossible in certain areas.
We are going to move on to the second panel, but I wanted
to thank you for your testimony today. Look, bottom line from
what we know and what you have testified today, the flow of
illegal immigrants across the Mexican Border into the United
States remains unacceptably high, hundreds of thousands per
year, even at the reduced rate that we see occurring now. We
know that the violence in Mexico is just stunning in its scope
and brutality. And we know and, as you said, have reason to be
concerned that Americans have been targeted more and that will
happen more in the future.
So as you come on, I hope you will make this your No. 1
concern, and you have the background to really make a
difference here. This whole operation, I am not saying it is
easy. If it were easy, we would have solved it long ago. But
this thing needs to be shaken up, and from your background, I
think you are somebody who can do it.
I would also say about my colleagues, Senator McCain and
Senator Kyl, in their program they put forward yesterday,
including the request for Federal troop support temporarily at
the border, I hope that you and the Administration will give
this request the respect that I would want you to give me if I
and my colleague from Connecticut were appealing for Federal
help for a natural disaster that had occurred in our State
because I do not think most of us in this country can
appreciate what people in Arizona are living with every day. It
is just not acceptable, and it is obvious that the State and
local governments cannot handle it themselves, and we, together
with our allies and partners in Mexico, have to do a better
job. So this is a big challenge, but you are a person with the
background and experience and record, if anybody can, to turn
it around. And I just urge you to be as tough and direct and
aggressive as you feel you need to be to get this done.
Mr. Bersin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Lieberman. Thank you, Commissioner.
Senator McCain, do you want to add anything?
Senator McCain. No, except to say that I hope you will
examine Senator Kyl's and my proposal and give us a response as
to your assessment of our recommendations. We would appreciate
that. Thank you very much.
Mr. Bersin. We will, Senator, and thank you.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks, Commissioner.
We have a vote that has just begun. We will go over, vote,
and come back quickly.
In the meantime, the hearing is in recess.
[Recess.]
Chairman Lieberman. I would ask the witnesses on the second
panel to come to the table, please, and we will go forward with
the hearing.
We are really honored to have here--and I know they came
some distance--the three participants on this panel: The Hon.
Dennis Burke, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona; the
Hon. Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel, Mayor of the City of Nogales--
did I get that more or less correct?
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. You did, Senator. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Chairman Lieberman. Thank you, Mayor. It is good to see you
again. And Larry Dever, Sheriff of the County of Cochise in
Arizona; great to see you again, Sheriff. I appreciate your
patience as we went to vote, and we will begin now with U.S.
Attorney Burke.
TESTIMONY OF HON. DENNIS K. BURKE,\1\ U.S. ATTORNEY, DISTRICT
OF ARIZONA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Mr. Burke. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I have my
lengthy comments I would like to submit for the record, and I
would like to focus my oral comments on what we are doing today
and how it differs from the past.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Burke appears in the Appendix on
page 67.
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Senator McCain, you referenced a few times already that in
the sector of Tucson, we have confiscated over 1.3 million
pounds of marijuana in the last year----
Senator McCain. Could I interrupt you for a second? In your
position as U.S. Attorney, maybe you could give us a few words
as to your assessment of the situation and then what you are
doing. Could you do that?
Mr. Burke. Sure.
Senator McCain. I would appreciate that. I think it would
be helpful for the record.
Mr. Burke. Yes, the assessment of the situation is, from
hearing the testimony of Commissioner Bersin and the questions
earlier, I think the Committee is right on point, that the
individuals who are involved in trafficking, drugs, and human
smuggling are more violent than we have seen in the past. We
deal with more firearms cases than we have in the past. We deal
with more smugglers carrying firearms and being willing to use
those firearms. It has an impact on the agents who work in the
sectors in Arizona, and it has an impact on our prosecutions.
We have seen an increased interest in smuggling weapons
from Arizona to Mexico. We have numerous ongoing investigations
working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives (ATF) and local law enforcement with regard to gun
trafficking headed to Mexico. We have seen an increase in bulk
cash smuggling. We have increased our cases with regard to
focusing on that. So you have the drugs and the humans heading
north, and we are focusing on that. But at the same time, we
have to focus on the money and the guns heading south. And we
have seen an increase in all those particular areas.
My district once had a 500-pound threshold for marijuana
trafficking. If you in the District of Arizona had 400 pounds,
those cases were being declined. Why? Because the Federal
prosecutors in my office were so overloaded with cases that
they literally were not able to get to those types of cases.
That threshold is now gone thanks to supplemental funding from
Congress. We now have over 160 Federal prosecutors working for
me. That is a 50-percent increase in prosecutors in just over
the last 3 years. Because of Justice Department funding, I have
just finished hiring six additional border security prosecutors
for my Tucson office, very seasoned attorneys, and I am going
to be receiving authority from the Justice Department in the
near future to hire additional border security prosecutors.
So the prosecutors are there. They are on the ground. They
are experienced, and they are incredibly focused and diligently
working on these cases. So when it comes to resources, the
Department has been backing the district. They do so because we
produce, and we are making a difference. We filed over 3,200
felony immigration cases in fiscal year 2009. We filed 22,000
misdemeanor cases in the immigration area. We have increased
our drug prosecutions by over 100 percent from fiscal year 2008
to fiscal year 2009. And these prosecution statistics in the
District of Arizona are also consistent with recent trends
across the entire Southwest Border.
From 2007 to 2009, the five Southwest Border districts
increased their felony caseloads by 42 percent. Indeed, the
Southwest Border districts file 41 percent of all the Federal
felony cases in the entire Nation. I speak weekly with my
counterparts in the other Southwest Border districts. We are
constantly sharing intelligence, prosecution tips, and trends.
Indeed, two of the border security prosecutors that I mentioned
earlier I am hiring from our Texas districts, and they are two
of the best in the country.
Aside from the reactive border-related caseloads we handle
on a daily basis, we are also very involved in a significant
number of complex, long-term investigations involving
transnational organized criminal activity, including, as I
mentioned earlier, drug and firearm trafficking, human
smuggling, and currency exportation. This reflects the
Department of Justice's cartel-targeted strategy, and as I
said, as much as we need to stop the drugs and humans heading
north, we are focusing more and more than we have in the past
on stopping the guns and the money heading south. It was
reflected in Commissioner Bersin's testimony. There is more
attention in our district devoted to southbound smuggling than
there has ever been before.
Our investigative tools are more advanced than just a few
years back. We are doing 50 percent more wiretap cases than we
did a year ago. This is in conjunction with the Drug
Enforcement Administration's (DEA) state-of-the-art wire room
as part of their multi-agency strike force.
I mentioned our bulk cash commitment, and we are working
with ATF, and I would also like to mention that just last week
in the district we unveiled the indictments in Operation In
Plain Sight. It was an investigation that was 2 years in the
making, in which 49 arrests were made, 30 search warrants were
executed, and 50 vehicles were seized. We targeted a cross-
border human smuggling organization. We removed the entire
infrastructure of their network. We had Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), CBP, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
DEA, the Marshals Service, ATF; Arizona Department of Public
Safety was involved, Phoenix and Tucson Police Departments, and
the Pima County Sheriff's Office all worked in conjunction on
that investigation.
I think that case also highlights the strengthening ties
that we have been building with Mexican Federal law enforcement
agencies. The Mexican Federal Police (SSP) arrested one of the
main targets in that case and executed search and arrest
warrants simultaneously with our operation in Arizona.
This level of cooperation and coordination with Mexico is
unprecedented, and, in fact, for the first time ever, we refer
port of entry drug-trafficking cases back to Mexico for
prosecution. So we have drug traffickers who are being
prosecuted in their own country under their own laws, and the
sentences are severe: 10 years each in the cases we have so far
referred.
Let me finally mention with regard to our contacts and
relationships and cooperation with Mexico, a few weeks back,
Attorney General Holder convened a meeting in Arizona with his
counterpart, the Mexican Attorney General, Auturo Chavez
Chavez, and the Attorney General included Southwest Border U.S.
Attorneys and other U.S. Attorneys with drug-trafficking
organization connections in their districts to work on joint
cross-border prosecution strategies. So we are making more and
more advancements than we have ever in the past with Mexico.
The work of President Calderon, his courageous effort, is being
reflected in his prosecutors, and it has developed
relationships and work that we have not ever had in the past.
In fact, indeed Mexico has been assisting us at the Federal
level with our efforts to track the horrendous murder of Robert
Krentz in the Cochise County area.
So, Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to give a
general overview of my comments, and I appreciate the
opportunity to be here today.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks, Mr. Burke. That is a good
beginning in giving the Committee a sense of the impact of this
homeland security crisis on the ground in Arizona.
Mayor, thanks for coming. Again, it is good to see you.
Your testimony was very important to us last year, and we look
forward to hearing from you now.
TESTIMONY OF HON. OCTAVIO GARCIA-VON BORSTEL,\1\ MAYOR, CITY OF
NOGALES, ARIZONA
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. Very well, thank you. Chairman
Lieberman, good morning. Senator McCain, good morning. As you
mentioned, I am the proud mayor of the City of Nogales,
Arizona. Before I start with the key issues that I will raise
with you here today, I want to thank you for this rare
occurrence, an opportunity to participate in this hearing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia-von Borstel appears in the
Appendix on page 79.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
With that being said, allow me to get to the heart of the
matter. Gentlemen, Nogales needs your help. Nogales is a
community that is extremely dependent on the border and our
neighbors to the south. The ability to cross the border
effectively, efficiently, and in a secure and safe environment
is vital.
Since September 11, 2001, we have all recognized that our
world is different. We now must look at security at the same
time that we look at commerce, trade, and tourism. But that is
also the key point that I would like to make today, that we
must not lose sight that we are working to secure the homeland
so that we can conduct our normal lives.
We have all seen or have experienced an increase in
violence on border communities. I was deeply saddened recently
when I heard the news of the deaths of our very own people,
Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Ciudad Juarez who became
victims of the drug cartel violence. In fact, I was just at
that embassy last week, and I met with the sub-Consulate and
discussed the horror of the situation affecting American
citizens.
The assassination of the local rancher in Cochise County is
evidence that the violence is, in fact, spilling over to the
United States. Perhaps part of the solution we identified is to
involve all governments--local, State, and Federal. Although I
respect and understand it is a Federal issue, the local
governments have to be able to form part of the strategy
because, after all, we are the ones who are directly impacted
the most. I, for one, would like better communication in order
to better support and address the violence and border
initiatives.
To give you an idea, our community has three land ports of
entry: Morley Gate, which is a pedestrian-only crossing;
DeConcini, which is a pedestrian, private vehicles, train, and
bus crossing; and Mariposa, which is our commercial crossing,
but we also cross pedestrians and private vehicles. Our three
border stations currently process in excess of 15 million
people, over 300,000 trucks, and well over 3 million cars each
year--in a northbound direction. Two-way traffic is
approximately 30 million people, 600,000 trucks, and over 6
million cars.
I want to thank our congressional delegation--in
particular, Senator McCain, who is with us today, and Senator
Jon Kyl as well--for their active and continued support for the
issues that we face in Nogales. And, yes, we are making great
headway on some very important border issues. For instance, the
Mariposa port of entry is currently undergoing a major
reconfiguration, a project funded to the tune of $200 million
under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This project
will double, if not triple, our throughput for inspection of
both commercial and non-commercial traffic at Mariposa. This
project, which started in September of last year, should be
completed by 2013. We are currently working with the Arizona
Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway
Administration to improve the connectivity from the port of
entry to the Federal highway system. Additionally, we are
working with our Mexican counterparts to ensure that necessary
improvements are made to the Mexican side of Mariposa.
In recent years, we have seen a clear focus at securing the
border between the ports of entry. But there has been little
attention to the ports of entry themselves. I truly believe
that in order to have a safe and efficient border, you must
have an effective border. Customs and Border Protection has
identified some $5 to $6 billion worth of projects on the U.S.-
Mexico Border, yet the budget proposed for fiscal year 2011
shows only $93 million for one project. Our ports of entry are
a national asset. However, the budget does not reflect that.
The violence between drug cartels has certainly created a
paranoia across both countries and has had a direct impact on
border communities. Tourists going both south to north and
north to south have lost confidence and are now afraid for
their safety when traveling through Nogales. We continue to see
human trafficking and drug trafficking, I believe, as a result
of a lack of resources for our border communities.
Our current wait times in Nogales are well in excess of an
hour, easily 2 hours or more during peak hours every day. Due
to long waits, we have seen a dramatic transition from people
crossing the border in their cars to crossing on foot. But we
were not ready for this transition, and the increase of
pedestrian traffic means that there are now wait times to cross
on foot in excess of an hour. I have brought a copy of a recent
article that was published in our local newspaper which shows
the long pedestrian line at the border, and I believe you do
have a picture of that, Mr. Chairman.\1\
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\1\ The photograph referenced by Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel appears in
the Appendix on page 56.
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Chairman Lieberman. Yes, I am going to enter that in the
record. Thank you.
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. Very well. Thank you, sir.
At the same time, Secretary Napolitano recently issued a
press release commemorating the first anniversary of the
Southwest Border Initiative and touted the great results from
an enforcement perspective. Yes, the program has seized many
weapons and stopped many millions of dollars that were being
laundered and shipped back to Mexico, but at what cost to
Nogales and all the other border communities? The DHS
initiative is centered on conducting inspections of trains,
trucks, and vehicles leaving the United States. The unintended
consequence and one of the key points that I want to make
before you today, gentlemen, was not a consideration when this
initiative was planned and deployed.
None of the ports of entry at Nogales is equipped to handle
southbound inspections. CBP lays down a few cones on the road,
perhaps some jersey barriers, and simply stops every vehicle
departing from the United States to Mexico. And although
everyone talks about the random efforts at Nogales, Customs and
Border Protection has notified us that they are inspecting
every truck leaving the United States through that port of
entry. The traffic back-ups on a southbound basis reach well
over an hour or more during the peak hours.
The end result, and thus the unanticipated consequence, is
that people are now crossing less frequently as they have to
wait 1 or 2 hours coming in and out from our ports of entry.
Chairman Lieberman. Excuse me for interrupting. To the
extent that you can, if you can summarize the rest of your
statement.
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. Very well. I will move over to
perhaps, respectfully, the recommendations that I would have
presented before you.
Chairman Lieberman. Good.
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. If that would be OK, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Lieberman. Excellent.
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. Thank you.
First of all, I would respectfully recommend to staff our
ports of entry to the capacity that is required.
Second, provide additional funding in an expedited and
confirmed manner to our ports of entry.
Third, DHS needs to come up with a plan to address the
congestion, safety, and other unintended consequences of the
southbound inspection program.
Fourth, find ways to deploy trusted traveler programs for
southbound traffic. For instance, the Secure Electronic Network
for Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) program that is working
so well for northbound travelers should be considered for
southbound traffic as well.
Finally, there needs to be better coordination and sharing
of information and intelligence with Mexico to help reduce the
duplication of efforts and to ensure that we maximize the
return of investment. Include all governments--local, State,
and Federal--in these efforts to increase the success of
tackling the drug wars at the border.
Mr. Chairman, Senators, Senator McCain, again let me thank
you for the opportunity to be here to communicate our issues
and needs. Please be assured that for me and Nogales, security
and facilitation are our top priorities, as that is essentially
our livelihood.
I thank you for your attention, and I look forward to your
questions and comments.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks, Mayor. That was an excellent
statement, and we appreciate your recommendations also.
The last person on the panel, Sheriff Larry Dever, thanks
for making the trip. We remember your testimony very well from
last year, and we look forward to an update this morning.
Obviously, we would be particularly interested in, though
it is an open investigation, what you can tell us about the
murder of Robert Krentz.
TESTIMONY OF LARRY A. DEVER,\1\ SHERIFF, COUNTY OF COCHISE,
ARIZONA
Mr. Dever. Thank you, Senator Lieberman, and Senator
McCain. It is a privilege and a pleasure to be here. We did
meet a year ago to discuss border violence in Phoenix, Arizona.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Dever appears in the Appendix on
page 86.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know, I have heard a lot of numbers here today, and I
have a hard time wrapping my mind around all those numbers. But
I can tell you all of them added together came up with a great
big fat zero for Robert Krentz. And it comes up with a big fat
zero for the people living out in the eastern part of Cochise
County right now who suffer daily burglaries, thefts, home
invasions, and for the couple that was tied up in their home
and left forever had it not been fortunate enough for somebody
to come by, all their stuff stolen. The guy who gave aid to a
couple of illegals and was tied up, duct-taped in his own home,
managed to get his tongue free from the duct tape around his
mouth and dial 911 on his cell phone with his tongue. I can
tell you stories about people who have lived out there for 3 or
4 years, one who has been burglarized 18 times. And it is a
vast, large area.
The murder of Robert Krentz was particularly senseless. My
lead detective on the case, who has seen some gruesome murders,
while this one was not unnecessarily gruesome, just the
circumstances, and she has dealt with all kinds of horrible
things, brought her to tears because of the senseless nature of
the whole thing.
So I cannot tell you a lot specifically about the
investigation, although we have made great progress beyond what
I had initially hoped we would. I can tell you that with
surety--I have been challenged on this. How do you know he was
an illegal alien or a drug smuggler? Mr. Chairman, Mr. McCain,
it is a 35,000-acre remote cattle ranch. There are jackrabbits,
rattlesnakes, and a few cattle grazing on that barren pasture.
Illegal aliens and drug smugglers are out there, and that is
it. This was not somebody walking to Walmart to shoplift
something.
So that said, we do know and have reason to believe that
this man was a scout for a drug-smuggling organization, and
that is about the extent that I can talk to you about what we
know about who this individual is.
It was said earlier--there was a term used about people
flowing across the border. I can tell you there was a time that
was the case. But today the people who are crossing the border
illegally are led, and they are led by very ruthless, armed,
and well-equipped individuals who are prepared to do whatever
is necessary to protect their financial interests in that
smuggling operation.
A few years ago, we would jump loads of dope on the fence.
People would just give it up and run. The people who entered
the country illegally were coming on their own and then looking
for rides. Today everything is much more organized, much more
dangerous, and much more dire.
I mentioned the scouts. The scouts sit on mountaintops,
high places with radio communications, and they are armed, and
they set up little camps, and they simply relay via radio the
location of the Border Patrol or ICE or sheriff's deputies who
are working in the area, and that is how they defeat the law
enforcement presence. And they are very good at it. And
speaking of communications, they are better equipped than we
are, certainly, in many cases using encrypted radio
transmissions.
After September 11, 2001, all the language that came out in
grant funding and this talk about the need to partner with
State and local agencies, the Federal Government's need to
partner in order to better protect our homeland, included
language about the need for interoperability, referring to
radio communications and hard land-line communications. In our
pursuit of the shooter of Robert Krentz, we had State
Department of Corrections dog-tracking teams, ICE agents,
sheriff's deputies, and two Border Patrol sector
representatives who could not talk to each other. And none of
us could talk with each other. That is inexcusable. And until
that problem is resolved, all of our law enforcement efforts,
no matter how well coordinated, are going to have a soft under
belly, and the bad guys are going to continue to win.
Senator McCain mentioned that 17 percent of the people
captured crossing the border are criminal aliens, people who
have previously committed crimes in this country. That number
comes from the Douglas Station of the Tucson Sector of the
Border Patrol. I confirmed that before I came here. That means
that of all those millions of people, the hundreds of thousands
of people that enter here, the bad guys keep coming, no matter
whether the apprehension rates rise or fall, the numbers of
criminal aliens rise.
That, gentlemen, is the threat to our homeland security in
this country. Catastrophic events are of great concern, and the
vulnerability at the border for crossing materials and people
with that intent, but the daily crossing of criminal minds
arriving in communities throughout this country, throughout
this entire Nation, is the real threat to our peace and
harmony.
There are a thousand other things I would like to talk
about. My time is up, and I will yield to questions.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks very much, Sheriff. Thanks for
trying to describe the impact of this crisis on people who live
in the area because as I said earlier, I do not think people
around the rest of the country appreciate it--people on your
property, people burglarizing, and then, of course, worse. And
what you describe as a change is significant, which is it is
not largely what it has been before, as you see it, which is a
movement of illegal immigrants. This is now a movement which is
being led by armed individuals who are protecting a business,
basically, and human smuggling.
Let me ask each of you whether I am correct in concluding
that--and let us take a year ago when we happen to have been in
Arizona holding the hearing--this situation along the border
and the spillover of violence is worse today than it was a year
ago. Would you agree with that, Sheriff?
Mr. Dever. Absolutely. And there is reference after
incident after case to verify and prove that, and we could talk
about them all day. I would just like to emphasize that it is
worse, and it is getting worse. And I hope you understand, I
hope Congress can wrap their minds around the idea and the
concept, and the President and this Administration, if we do
not get this right this time, when are we and how will we?
You know, 1997 was my first testimony before Congress about
border violence. Ten years prior to that, the Tucson Sector
Chief of the Border Patrol was quoted as saying, ``Congress has
mandated we get control of our border, whether it is illegal
aliens, narcotics, terrorists, whatever. And that is what we
are going to do.''
So here we are 23 years later, and how many chances, when
is momentum ever going to gather again? What event will it take
to cause us to finally take action and bring this to a stop?
Chairman Lieberman. Well, those words should echo in our
minds because whatever we have done is obviously not working,
and the problem, which you live with every day, is continuing.
Mayor, is it worse today than a year ago?
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. I would certainly echo the
sheriff's comments, and I would confirm that, yes, sir.
Previously, Senator McCain mentioned there has been 22,000
killings in Mexico. It is a full-blown war, and we need to do
all the diligence we can to make sure that we prevent that
violence from continuing to spill over the border.
Chairman Lieberman. Mr. Burke.
Mr. Burke. Mr. Chairman, I would agree, although I would
also add that in some respects some of the steps that have been
taken on the border have led to increased violence. These are
criminal organizations competing over turf and routes and so
forth. And as the sheriff mentioned, in the past there might
have been a flow of people who would come back and forth across
the border. Now those routes are much more limited, and they
are controlled by particular organizations. And they are much
more violent organizations, and they are taking it out on each
other. And they are also taking the opportunity because of the
tightening in certain spots to actually steal another
organization's drugs or humans. But what we see a lot of in the
Phoenix area are drug rip-offs or human rip-offs where an
organization, instead of having a connection to Mexico to bring
up drugs or humans, will just get a sense of some other
organization having a drop house of drugs and humans and will
go do a violent rip-off of that other organization.
So that is a new phenomenon in the last couple years. You
did not see that 5 to 10 years ago. Now we have an epidemic
amount of that in the Phoenix area.
Chairman Lieberman. Let me ask you this question from a law
enforcement point of view. Obviously, we all admire President
Calderon of Mexico for taking on the drug cartels, and I infer
from your answer that part of what is happening now is that the
violence in Mexico is partially the cartels turning on people
in government, local or regional or higher, but also the
cartels fighting each other because the turf has been
constricted by the government. Does that continue to be a
reality?
Mr. Burke. I believe that is correct, Mr. Chairman. We have
seen that in Arizona with regard to how the cartels battle over
their routes. It is evident in our conversations with the PGR.
The PGR is the Attorney General of Mexico. It is reflected in
our conversations with them as to what they are dealing with.
But I will say--and as I said with regard to President
Calderon--that the PGR, the people we are dealing with, are
unbelievably courageous for what they are taking on.
Chairman Lieberman. Yes. I agree, it is a real tribute to
them. You just made a point that, again, I want to emphasize.
Part of the way in which the violence does come over the border
from Mexico is with the cartels competing for the pathways
north.
Mr. Burke. That is correct.
Chairman Lieberman. And you see it there.
Incidentally, just to state for the record, at an earlier
hearing, we had a representative from the FBI, and he told the
Committee that the Mexican drug cartels are the No. 1 organized
crime threat in America today, obviously not just at the
border, but in cities from Anchorage, Alaska, to Hartford,
Connecticut, and pretty much everywhere in between.
Again, from a law enforcement point of view, you would
think at some point, as the government in Mexico is steadfast
and really courageous in continuing this battle not to yield
control of much of the country to criminal elements, that we
would turn a corner and the violence would begin to recede. But
that has not happened yet. So I would ask you and the sheriff
about that because you are from law enforcement. Can we hope
for such a turning point, Mr. Burke, that the good guys will
win here?
Mr. Burke. I do not know at this stage and this juncture,
Mr. Chairman. I can say that the steps we are taking and the
cooperation, the partnerships we have with Mexico are the best
we have ever had. I think the concern by a lot of officials in
law enforcement is this is a window of opportunity that we only
have with President Calderon.
Chairman Lieberman. Yes. Sheriff, what would you say?
Mr. Dever. Well, there are so many unknowns. What we do
know is that the population in Mexico is growing very rapidly,
and, therefore, the financial pressures and temptations
increase in conjunction with that. All of that produces a
future threat to this country as well. I do not know, if we
cannot get our arms wrapped around the violence in our own
country, why we would expect Mexico should be able to do it
before we do.
So I think we do need to continue to work together. Mr.
Burke is correct. Cooperation is better than ever before. It is
still lacking in some areas, but improvement is always on the
horizon, and we will continue to work to that end.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks. My time is up. Senator McCain.
Senator McCain. Following up on the Chairman's line of
questioning, do you believe that we can secure the border?
Mr. Dever. Absolutely, sir. It can be done. You know, when
the Minutemen were in Cochise County in April 2005, they were
there for 30 days. It was a bunch of guys with gray hair and
most were old fat guys like me, but in the section of the
border where they deployed 24/7 for 30 days, not a single
crossing occurred. It can be done. It takes political will, and
it takes the proper strategy and a proper mix, as has been
discussed here today, of people and technology to include some
serious aerial assets to bring that under control.
Senator McCain. Mr. Burke.
Mr. Burke. Yes, sir, I do believe so. It is a tough
challenge. I think the Chairman had said it is not a simple
problem, so it is not going to be a simple solution. And we
have seen where we have tightened in certain areas, where there
has been effective fencing, they have gone to other steps. I
think you made a reference earlier to the ultra lights. That is
a new method that they are using to bring drugs over. We have
never seen that before. We have seen an emergence of tunneling.
So their only limitation is their own creativity. They are
sophisticated criminal organizations, and they are going to
continue to operate as long as they can make money doing this.
Senator McCain. Mayor, what percentage of the City of
Nogales, Arizona, is Hispanic?
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. Ninety-eight percent.
Senator McCain. How do the citizens of Nogales, Arizona,
feel about this issue?
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. Senator McCain, I think we all
recognize there is a desperate need to secure the border. It
has been very frustrating, and to be quite frank with you, it
has been very scary to live on the border.
We need your support, and let me just lay it on the table.
We are willing to do our part and work diligently with our
Federal and State governments to make sure that the border is
secure and build confidence back to our constituents and our
tourists.
Senator McCain. Mr. Burke, this Operation Streamline seems
to have had a beneficial effect. For the record, that is
illegal border crossers are incarcerated for 15 to 60 to 90
days after apprehension. How important do you think that
methodology is in discouraging illegal immigration?
Mr. Burke. Senator, I think it has been an effective
program. In our Tucson office, we process about 70 individuals
a day. In Yuma, we process about 40. According to CBP, their
records on recidivism are effective with regard to Streamline.
That said, for all the programs and all the activity that goes
on, it is one small element of an overall program. On any given
day, 700 to 1,100 people are arrested in the Tucson Sector by
the Border Patrol, and Streamline processes 70 of them. So it
is still just a small percentage of the overall amount of
people that are crossing any day, but it has been effective.
Senator McCain. How do you decide?
Mr. Burke. It is a geographic determination made by the
Border Patrol, and they target a particular geographic area,
and those individuals are brought in by that determination, and
then we give, obviously, priority for people with records, and
that is a determination that is made every day by the Border
Patrol and working with our prosecutors.
Senator McCain. My understanding from a letter from Judge
John Roll is that we, in Arizona, would like to see an
additional magistrate and also an increase in physical
infrastructure that could handle an increase in the number of
people who would be subject to incarceration. Is that correct?
Mr. Burke. I am not aware of Judge Roll's letter. I am
aware of Judge Roll's concerns about his physical
infrastructure capacity to take on a larger Streamline program.
That is a major concern of his.
I do know that in the Tucson district court, the increased
magistrates have helped considerably with regard to our ability
to prosecute cases.
Senator McCain. I was struck by what you mentioned, the
previous rules where anything under 500 pounds of marijuana was
not prosecuted?
Mr. Burke. That is correct.
Senator McCain. Under 500 pounds.
Mr. Burke. That is correct.
Senator McCain. Sheriff Dever, you have been sheriff since
1996.
Mr. Dever. Yes, sir.
Senator McCain. Maybe you could give us a little
perspective. We all know about the terrible tragedy of the
Krentz family. What are people being subjected to that,
frankly, citizens in the rest of the country are not? Has that
deteriorated over time? And, clearly, the U.S. Government has
an obligation to protect people's lives and property. Is that
obligation being fulfilled down in Cochise County?
Mr. Dever. From a criminal activities standpoint, I think
most disturbing has been the number of home invasions versus a
burglary, when people are actually at home watching television
or in bed or whatever and somebody breaks into their home,
which obviously, predictably, will lead ultimately to some kind
of conflict, physical confrontation and one side loses. Those
home invasions have been increasing very rapidly.
With the burglary problem, there is an ebb and flow. Most
of the home burglaries we have in the eastern part of the
county actually are southbound traffic, smugglers who have
hauled their contraband north, dropped it off to the
transportation, and are headed back south and steal guns,
jewelry, and cash and then just hop back across the border.
So you get a picture in your mind. These are people who
successfully crossed the border carrying backpacks, defeated
the enforcement effort, hauled it many miles north, and then
are going back south and committing additional crimes.
So I have said for a long time that the situation at the
border today is if you want to cross the border, you will
ultimately succeed. And until that changes, we are going to
continue to face the kinds of conflict and confrontation and
death and carnage that comes with it.
Senator McCain. I understand recently there was a crackdown
and coordination of different enforcement agencies of a
transportation network where illegals were in vans and being
transported up to Phoenix and from Phoenix to all parts of the
country. Can you tell us the extent of that network, how far-
reaching they were, how many people they were transporting, and
how sophisticated an operation it was?
Mr. Burke. Senator, they were transporting thousands of
individuals, and what would happen is that the crossers would
go past a port of entry somewhere on the Arizona-Mexico Border
and have information that they received from Mexico, which was
part of the criminal organization, to either go to a spot in
Nogales or to work their way up to Tucson where they would be
picked up by shuttle vans that were part of the criminal
organization and transported up to the Phoenix area, which
serves as a hub for the network for the entire country. And so
this spread out into the east. The investigation led us to
North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, and throughout the
country. And as I referenced in my testimony earlier, we ended
up arresting 49 individuals who were involved in this
organization, seized over 50 of their vehicles, and had
tremendous cooperation from Mexico with regard to targeting and
arresting the individuals who were involved in Mexico. They
would assist the individuals in getting them lined up as to
where they would go in Arizona to find their shuttles.
Senator McCain. Were they transporting drugs as well?
Mr. Burke. No, there was no evidence of that. Based on that
question, Senator, let me indicate also that the plazas--the
areas of just the northernmost part of Mexico on the Arizona
Border are referred to as ``plazas.'' Those are controlled by
the drug-trafficking organizations. They determine who can come
back and forth through that area. And so when human smuggling
operations that are distinct from the drug trafficking
organizations come through there, they are usually paying some
kind of tax to the drug traffickers. So these organizations
were human smuggling organizations. They were not drug
trafficking organizations. But at some point or another, they
probably had some connection to a drug-trafficking organization
because they had to pay a tax to get in.
Senator McCain. It seems that we have a lot of work to do.
Could I just finally ask your opinion, do we need the National
Guard on the border?
Mr. Burke. As Commissioner Bersin said, I know the
Administration is evaluating that. There was success with
Operation Jump Start in Arizona in the past, but I know from
where I was at that time when those decisions were made, they
were pretty complex. They involved a lot of input from the
Department of Defense and Customs and Border Protection with
regard to defining the missions and so forth. So I know it is
under evaluation. I know there was a lot of success with
Operation Jump Start, and I saw the impact specifically,
directly in Arizona.
Senator McCain. You would agree we need more personnel on
the border?
Mr. Burke. I always support more personnel on the border,
Senator.
Senator McCain. Mr. Dever.
Mr. Dever. The National Guard has been on the top of my
list for a long time, clear back in 1998 when this first really
took off, and I asked our governor to deploy the Guard. She did
not. I asked Governor Napolitano to deploy the Guard when she
was governor of Arizona. She did not. Just a year ago, I had a
face-to-face meeting with Secretary Napolitano and asked her if
deploying the Guard on the border was still on the DHS table. I
was informed that it was, and it was a matter of deciding a
specific mission and number of resources. That was a year ago.
Senator McCain. And the fact is you informed me, and others
have informed me, that a person in uniform on the border has a
strong psychological impact on the criminal elements in Mexico.
Is that correct?
Mr. Dever. That is correct, and it is true in much of Latin
America. I lived for 2 years in Central America, and the local
law enforcement has very little effect, if it exists. But
people have a very deep respect and often a fear of the
military in those countries. And so the military presence
creates a whole new level of deterrent just by being visible in
the culture and the mind-set of the people coming north.
Senator McCain. Mayor Garcia-Von Borstel.
Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel. Yes, Senator, I would favor the
Guard at the border. However, I would ask for them not to
disturb the quality of life of our community. But probably even
more so I would support allocating more funds to CBP to have
more agents at the facilities as well, for them to be more
efficient with legal crossings.
Senator McCain. Well, I thank the witnesses, and I thank
you, Mr. Chairman, for your patience and for holding this
hearing, for coming to Arizona as you did a year ago, and for
your commitment and concern for the people of my State, but
also for the people of this Nation. As Dennis Burke just
pointed out, there was a network that reached all over America
that they were recently involved in cracking down on, and so
this is not just an Arizona issue. I think it is a national
issue and a homeland security issue, and I appreciate your
involvement and commitment on the issue. Thank you.
Chairman Lieberman. Thanks, Senator McCain. Obviously, you
have helped to motivate the Committee, but it really is our
responsibility. This is a homeland security problem, and it is
as critical as any we have at this moment in terms of its
impact day to day on people's lives.
We are going to stay involved in this, and we will do
periodic hearings as they are productive and they make sense.
But I do not want to come back again a year from now and have
witnesses I really respect and trust tell me that things have
gotten worse. That is why I think the request for the National
Guard that my two colleagues from Arizona have made makes
sense, just to try it, because I think it is common sense that
the more people you have, the less likely it is going to be
that this kind of bad behavior, unacceptable, societally
destructive, sometimes deadly behavior, is going to go on.
Incidentally, a very small point, but we have focused in
one of our interim hearings on what we could do with southbound
traffic inspections, and at the advocacy of this Committee, the
appropriators increased the number of CBP personnel at the
ports of entry southbound. For some reason, the fiscal year
2011 budget submission proposes cutting funding for 50
positions that are now involved in southbound inspections. And
I just want to assure you that the Committee is going to be
communicating with both the Administration and the
Appropriations Committee to say that would be a very serious
mistake.
But, my thanks to you for coming up here. You make it real,
and thank you for doing everything you can to uphold the rule
of law, really, and trying to provide a decent environment in
which the people of the State and the community and the county
can live, which is no more than anybody in the rest of the
country wants.
So, with that, we will leave the record of the hearing open
for 15 days for additional statements or questions. I am very
grateful for what you have done. I pray for your success as you
go back home, and, again, I thank Senator McCain for his
persistent leadership on this critical issue.
The hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 1:13 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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