Lawmaker changes position on merger of DHS agencies

A senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee said Thursday he believes that coordination problems between two Homeland Security Department agencies that deal with customs and immigration are being resolved, and that they probably should not be merged.

The comments by House Homeland Security Management Subcommittee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., marked a change for a key lawmaker who last year leaned toward a merger of Customs and Border Protection with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and launched a series of hearings to explore this possibility.

During his third hearing on the issue, Rogers heard acting CBP Commissioner Deborah Spero and ICE Administrator Julie Myers, along with Stewart Baker, the department's assistant secretary for policy, argue that the agencies are working through their differences and making positive strides toward better coordination and integration.

CBP is responsible for enforcing laws along the borders. ICE is responsible for enforcing laws inside the country.

"Staying with this course of results-oriented coordination is a far better solution to securing the border and enforcing immigration law than imposing a massive reorganization through a merger of CBP and ICE," Baker said.

He added that trying to restructure the agencies would create six months to a year of "disruption, mission confusion and organizational churn."

Rogers seemed persuaded. "I have to admit that I kind of think that some of the things we've heard today were accurate [in that] they've gone through an evolutionary process and it's starting to work, and the facts bear that out," he said. "I'm inclined at this point to say a merger is probably not the best thing for us to do."

But some critics still believe that an overhaul is needed. T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told the subcommittee that an "artificial distinction" exists between border security and interior enforcement. He did not recommend a merger, but a reorganization that would create three distinct agencies: one in charge of customs, one in charge of immigration and border security and another in charge of agriculture inspections.

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that good things are not happening. But they are happening not because of the structure but in spite of the structure," Bonner said.