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The Homeland Security Department on Wednesday announced a strategy to stem illegal immigration and improve border security, but critics were quick to call the plan misguided and inadequate.

The Secure Border Initiative covers multiple aspects of border security and immigration reform, including deterrence, detection, response, apprehension, detention and removal. Many of the initiative's components have been in the works for years, including efforts to deploy more technology along the border and expand the use of expedited removal of captured illegal aliens.

Parts of the initiative already have been unveiled by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, such as a plan to remove from the United States all apprehended illegal immigrants who are from countries other than Mexico, and a temporary worker program that will allow undocumented workers to stay in the country as long as six years.

"Let me be frank, the problem of illegal migration has been years in the making, and the solution will not happen overnight," Chertoff said in prepared comments for a speech Wednesday in Houston. "But that is not a reason to delay action, for time is not on our side. We must act thoughtfully and systematically -- but also quickly -- to address this complex challenge."

"Simply stated, our goal is to gain control of our borders," Chertoff added. "I define control to mean that we will have an extremely high probability of detecting, responding to and interdicting illegal crossings of our borders. We cannot hermetically seal 7,000 miles of land borders."

Chertoff said the initiative includes a mix of increased staffing, strengthened interior enforcement, a greater investment in detection technology and infrastructure, and increased coordination at the federal, state, local and international levels.

He noted that the fiscal 2006 Homeland Security appropriations bill recently signed by President Bush provides funding for 1,000 new Border Patrol agents, 250 new criminal investigators, 400 new immigration enforcement agents, 100 new deportation officers and 2,000 more beds at detention centers.

Chertoff added that the department has created a task force and a Secure Border Initiative program office to provide "unity of command and unity of purpose" in looking systemically at the problems along the borders and in measuring progress toward solving them.

The initiative was immediately criticized, however, from both advocates of stronger border controls and proponents of immigrant rights.

"Incredibly, Chertoff is not proposing immediate action to secure the borders from infiltration by terrorists bent on committing mass murder of Americans by chemical, biological or nuclear weapons," said Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "Instead, he is trying to snow the public with blunt rhetoric backed with impotent proposals that place the interests of foreign governments and special interest groups over the security of the American people."

The Minuteman organization has formed citizen groups to voluntarily patrol U.S. borders and report illegal activity. The group wants National Guard troops to be placed along the border immediately, and to remain there until the Border Patrol is sufficiently staffed and funded to replace them.

Immigrant rights advocates, however, say DHS is too focused on border enforcement, and fault the Bush administration for a failure to address what they see as the intricate root causes of illegal immigration, such as trade imbalances.

"The crisis at the border could be ended just by issuing sufficient visas for legal immigration, thus providing people safe entry into the country," said Isabel García, chairwoman of Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a grassroots human rights group based in Tucson, Ariz. "More Border Patrol, more deportations and wall building will not solve anything. President Bush's enforcement spending does nothing new; it's only a recipe for an even bigger human rights disaster."

The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said that stepped-up border controls force migrants away from urban areas and into treacherous land, such as the mountains and deserts. The group estimates that at least 460 migrants died trying to sneak into the United States between October 2004 and September 2005.

"Trade and migration are intimately linked," said Catherine Tactaquin, the group's executive director. "Trade policy must include measures to improve the socioeconomic conditions so that people have options other than involuntary migration. Our policies must invest in development that reduces population displacement, [and] promotes sustainable communities and human security."

COMMENTS

• I will agree that INS was dysfunctional, but I'd like to point out that the dysfunction came mainly from investigations and adjudications. As a seasoned inspector, I was demoralized to see the agency hiring SAs off the street with no immigration background whatsoever instead of promoting from within the ranks. I met many SAs, in NYC who asked us lowly IIs for help entering lookouts, doing computer checks and research since they lacked the ability or the know how to do it themselves. As an inspector I've placed many criminal aliens in removal proceedings who were previously encountered by our SAs but who chose to let the alien go by placing a standard form on their alien file, which read "lack of resources" as a reason for justifying their inaction. Inspections contrary to investigations never turn down a case. If we got 20 cases on any given day from the day's flights, then 20 cases were done. Since the merger I have been pleasantly surprised to find L-INS agents assume a renewed law enforcement stance, which came with the merger to include ridding their ranks from those agents who only joined investigations to get an easy GS-12, Monday thru Friday, 9-5 gig plus leap without ever putting more than 8 hours a day. I'm also glad that most administrative work is being handed down to DRO, which has accepted their new added duties. I'm still let down by CBP, which still calls ICE whenever they have a Section 237 case just as Inspection used to do before the merger. With the creation of DHS, the CBP Port Director has the authority to sign off on Section 237 NTAs and thus no need to call ICE for an administrative case. This mentality also comes from the immigration side of ICE who erroneously assumes Section 237 cases under their exclusive jurisdiction. CBP is still under the misconception that if during the inspection process they encounter an immigration violator outside of the FIS area they must contact ICE even though CBP has the authority and ability to take these aliens into custody and issue the NTA and remand these violators to DRO custody. Needless to say, many of these violators are simply let go. The more DRO and CBP take on administrative cases, the more "investigations" can be done by ICE. Secure Border Initiative starts at the port of entry. GovExec.com reader Posted November 10, 2005 2:37 PM
• I couldn't agree more with my legacy Customs brethren, and the soon to retire legacy INS supervisor who has the courage to tell it like it is. While I have nothing against legacy INS agents, who had a very thankless job, I never signed on to be an INS agent. If I had wanted to do immigration work, I would have joined that agency. Like my colleagues, I had no say in being drafted into ICE after over 20 years in Customs, an agency with a 214 year history of tradition, service and honor that actually worked pretty well. While it wasn't always perfect, it was professional, and vastly better to this abortion called ICE. Don't expect those of us with training, education, and experience in sophisticated criminal investigations to just forget where we came from, and embrace this mismanaged, dysfunctional mess of an agency. Customs should have come over intact to Homeland Security, just as the Secret Service and the Coast Guard did. Instead, it was split and then artificially combined with the INS and other agencies into something resembling the hideous, mutant creature that resulted from a lab accident in the movie "The Fly." DHS and ICE will always be known for what they are: a panicked, knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 which hasn’t done a whole lot to make this nation safer, despite the expenditure of billions of taxpayer dollars. Remember that ICE has no real role in the so-called war on terror, because the FBI jealously controls that turf, leaving ICE to deal with the immigration violators whom the FBI no longer has any interest in. And as far as other career options, I chose to serve my country as a Customs agent, which is what I know, and am good at. If you youngsters feel that ICE is so great, well, you don't know anything else. And for those with a few years on the job, who have embraced this mess, enjoy your Kool-Aid. For the rest of us, retirement can't come fast enough. This agency has become the laughingstock of law enforcement, due to a lack of mission, the failure to stand up to other agencies seeking to infringe on legacy Customs authority, mismanagement, failed administrative systems, perpetual budget problems, constantly changing standards for promotions, rock-bottom morale, and other problems too numerous to mention here. And you wonder why we feel the way we do? GovExec.com reader Posted November 10, 2005 12:44 PM
• This is the "previous poster". Very telling that a legacy INS supe with 61 days to go agrees with me and hits the nail right on the head, agreeing with every point I made. If I wanted to be a legacy INS Special Agent, IEA, DO, etc. I would have applied for the job. I didn’t; I applied to be a Customs Special Agent. I busted my behind for 19-1/2 weeks at FLETC, leaving behind my wife and two kids because I wanted to do criminal investigations. There are many legacy INS Special Agents who got the job without ever going to anything except IOBTC. By the way, been there, done that for 11 weeks as an INS Inspector, along with being a Customs Inspector (did another 11 weeks for that, too). As for "being too good" to write up NTAs and detainers, you're absolutely right. After a 4-year college degree (which many legacy Customs agents have at a minimum) and preparing for graduate school, along with a total of 45 weeks at FLETC (to include my 3 weeks at Senior Inspector training for legacy Customs), I need to think of my marketability in the current and future job markets; I'm note sure writing up NTAs and detainers all day is going to do wonders for my resume when I seek alternate and post-retirement employment. Don't worry, buddy; already looking for the greener pastures. As for the NTAs and detainers, they’re all yours! Have at it, if that's what floats your boat. Pathetic, shameful and disgraceful. GovExec.com reader Posted November 9, 2005 7:22 PM