[Senate Hearing 112-260]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 112-260
IMPROVING SECURITY AND FACILITATING COMMERCE AT AMERICA'S NORTHERN
BORDER AND PORTS OF ENTRY
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HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION,
REFUGEES AND BORDER SECURITY
of the
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MAY 17, 2011
__________
Serial No. J-112-21
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
----------
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Washington, DC 20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
CHARLES SCHUMER, New York JON KYL, Arizona
DICK DURBIN, Illinois JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN CORNYN, Texas
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
Bruce A. Cohen, Chief Counsel and Staff Director
Kolan Davis, Republican Chief Counsel and Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
CHARLES SCHUMER, New York, Chairman
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont JOHN CORNYN, Texas
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa
DICK DURBIN, Illinois ORRIN HATCH, Utah
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota JON KYL, Arizona
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
Stephanie Marty, Democratic Chief Counsel
Matt Johnson, Republican Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Page
Cornyn, Hon. Jon, a U.S. Senator from the State of Texas......... 2
Grassley, Hon. Charles E., a U.S. Senator from the State of Iowa,
prepared statement............................................. 71
Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont. 5
Schumer, Hon. Charles, a U.S. Senator from the State of New York. 1
WITNESSES
Bersin, Alan, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC................ 7
Morton, John, Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC................ 8
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Responses of Alan Bersin to questions submitted by Senator Cornyn
and Sessions................................................... 24
Responses of John Morton to questions submitted by Senator Cornyn 48
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Bersin, Alan, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, statement..... 50
Border Trade Alliance (BTA), Nelson Balido, President, San
Antonio, Texas, May 17, 2011, letter........................... 62
Cortez, Richard, Mayor and Bridge Board Chair of McAllen,
McAllen, Texas, statement...................................... 68
Kelley, Colleen M., National President, National reasury
Employees Union (NTEU), Washington, DC, statement.............. 73
Morton, John, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC,
statement...................................................... 86
Russell, Addie J., Assemblywoman 118th River District, Albany,
New York, statement............................................ 103
Weisberg-Stewart, Monica, Texas Border Coalition, Austin, Texas,
statement...................................................... 106
Washington Post, December 6, 2010, article....................... 108
IMPROVING SECURITY AND FACILITATING COMMERCE AT AMERICA'S NORTHERN
BORDER AND PORTS OF ENTRY
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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011
U.S. Senate,
Commmittee on the Judiciary,
Subcommittee on Immigration,
Refugees and Border Security,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m., Room
226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Charles E. Schumer,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Leahy, Klobuchar, Grassley, and Cornyn.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES E. SCHUMER, A U.S. SENATOR
FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK, CHAIRMAN OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE
Senator Schumer. The hearing will come to order. Thank you
all for being here. I want to thank our Ranking Member, John
Cornyn, and my leader on this Committee and our great chair,
Senator Leahy, for being here.
Anyway, today's hearing is on improving security and
facilitating commerce at our northern border and ports of
entry. Last August, along with Senator Kyl, I passed a $600
million supplemental border bill that fortified the southern
border. But after we addressed the southern border, the
Government Accountability Office issued a report indicating
that, ``Only 32 of the nearly 400 northern border miles in
fiscal year 2010 had reached an acceptable level of security.''
Upon reading that report, I asked Commissioner Bersin and
Director Morton, the heads of the two major agencies who are
responsible for border security to testify here today on how we
can improve security at our northern border.
The Department of Homeland Security has good people who are
working very hard with limited resources, under incredibly
difficult circumstances, to identify, investigate, and
interdict terrorists, criminals and smugglers along the
northern border.
But more can and must be done. I have a few ideas to
enhance northern border security that I want to ask the
witnesses about today, including deploying technology to track
drug smuggling aircraft on the northern border, bringing an
integrated, multiagency law enforcement initiative to the
northern border, and funding state, local and tribal law
enforcement officials as force multipliers along the northern
border.
Although this hearing took several months to schedule, I am
thankful to finally have our witnesses here. Today's hearing
will also discuss our ports of entry. Senators Cornyn, Kyl,
Graham and Feinstein sent Chairman Leahy a letter asking to
hold a hearing on U.S. ports of entry and infrastructure on the
southern border.
Their letter stated many southern border ports of entry
need additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection and
infrastructure improvements. In some instances, southern border
ports of entry also require expansion to accommodate the high
value of traffic that passes through the ports on a daily
basis.
I could not agree more and I believe the same holds true
for the northern border. I was happy to expand the scope of
this hearing, with Senator Leahy's permission, to include
discussion on ports of entry, but I would be remiss if I did
not point out that H.R. 1, the House appropriations bill for
2011, actually cut $60 million in funding for our ports of
entry and also proposed cuts to the Border Patrol of nearly 900
agents.
I was very disturbed by these cuts and sent a letter to
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers and DHS Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt asking that these cuts be
reconsidered.
Although we successfully prevented the cuts to border
agents, the cuts to ports of entry remained in the continuing
resolution passed in the House, were insisted on by the House
in order to avoid a government shutdown, a result, of course,
that would have been far worse for commerce on the border.
Now, the House's proposed 2012 DHS appropriations bill cuts
an additional $26 million for ports of entry. If passed,
funding for our ports of entry would be cut by 27 percent when
compared to 2010.
We need to be very careful to use a scalpel to cut wasteful
spending as opposed to a meat ax which cuts critical
investments, like ports of entry, solely to achieve cuts for
their own sake rather than achieve iconic growth.
Our distinguished panel will move us closer to finding
solutions to securing the northern border and our ports of
entry, and I look forward to their testimony.
I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member, Senator
Cornyn, for a statement.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN CORNYN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF
TEXAS
Senator Cornyn. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks
to the witnesses. Chairman Leahy, thank you for allowing us to
schedule this hearing. It is very important.
Of course, if you can imagine having a Chairman of the
Subcommittee from New York and a Ranking Member from Texas, we
are going to cover both quarters today.
We know from experience at our ports, borders pose a
national security risk. Recently, the Government Accountability
Office confirmed that only 44 percent of the southern border is
secure. And despite the President's and Secretary Napolitano's
statements about border security and the number of resources
that have been devoted to the border, 44 percent is nothing to
celebrate nor should we declare that our work is done so we can
then move on to other things.
We hear stories all the time about smugglers and drug
cartels, much of which is true, working day and night to try to
enter the United States undetected. We also hear stories of
individuals who pose a national security threat attempting to
enter the United States illegally.
For example, just a few months ago, a Muslim cleric was
caught in California in the trunk of a car after being smuggled
across the southern border. He had previously been deported
from Canada to Tunisia, but arranged to be smuggled into the
United States through Central America, Belize, and Mexico.
Though he was arrested by Customs and Border Patrol,
thankfully, after being spotted by local firefighters, this
incident makes me wonder how many others have managed to do the
same thing he has, and rather than be apprehended, were
successful.
Every year, we see many other individuals from countries
other than Mexico. People other than folks who just want to
come here and work and provide for their families crossing our
borders, whether they be enterprising drug cartels, human
traffickers, people who traffic in illegal weapons, through our
ports of entry.
We also know that nearly half of the illegal population in
America is composed of persons who came here legally and simply
overstayed their visas, roughly 40 percent, last count I saw,
of our illegal immigration.
I think that is an important point, Mr. Chairman, that it
is not just a matter of border security. It is a matter of
having enforceable immigration laws and being able to detect
and apprehend people who overstay their visas, as well.
According to the General Accounting Office, Department of
Homeland Security has arrested about 8,100 people who have
overstayed. But there is a backlog of 1.6 million potential
overstays that the DHS has not yet even had the opportunity to
review.
So we do not know who these individuals are and many times
we cannot even locate them here in the United States. We also
do not know whether any of these visa overstays bear ill will
to the United States or are criminals.
With the recent changes in the Department of Homeland
Security's enforcement priorities and uneven enforcement of
immigration laws, across the country as a result of inadequate
resource, I am not confident that the DHS will ever be able to
make sure that we can identify who is here, why they are here,
and when they have left.
Secretary Napolitano last week testified before the Senate
Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee about visa
overstays. When asked if she would be increasing investigations
to locate such individuals, the Secretary stated that to do so
was a costly and labor-intensive endeavor.
I agree with that characterization, but it is no excuse not
to do your job, and this suggests to me that the Secretary does
not consider visa overstays to be a real priority.
I am quite sure that locating visa overstays would have
become an immediate priority for the Administration if Hosam
Maher Husein Smadi had succeeded in his mission to blow up a
skyscraper in Dallas in 2009.
We have made some progress on border and port security
working together through the past Administration and the
current Administration. That is good, but we still have a long
way to go.
I must say, Mr. Chairman, when you say that the $600
million we spent fortified the southern border, while we are
grateful for the additional help, we still need more help.
There is more work to be done.
Over the years, I have heard from my constituents, local
business owners and organizations, like the Texas Border
Coalition and the Border Trade Alliance, about the long lines
and extensive delays at southern ports of entry. This makes the
important point that it is not only about security, it is about
allowing legitimate trade and commerce to enter the country,
because that creates jobs here and there and is good for our
economy.
I might ask, Mr. Chairman, I have three letters, one from
the Border Trade Alliance, one from Hon. Richard Cortez, Mayor
of McAllen, and one from the Texas Border Coalition. I would
ask unanimous consent to make them part of the record.
Senator Schumer. Without objection, they will be made part
of the record, as will the entire statements.
[The letters appear as a submission for the record.]
Senator Cornyn. I have also heard about old ports of entry
that are crumbling and in need of repairs. I am sure that is
true on the northern border, as well.
So last week I asked the Border Trade Coalition and Border
Trade Alliance whether any of their concerns had been
addressed, and ultimately their concerns remain the same.
Every year, our southern ports of entry handle
approximately 352 million travelers and nearly 106 million
cars, trucks, buses, trains, vessels, and aircraft. Given this
volume, we should expect Homeland Security to make staffing and
security changes at ports of entry a priority. Of course, that
is going to take more resources, and I am not questioning the
good faith or the good efforts of the Department to do what it
can with what it has. I am just saying that Congress needs to
do more to enable these folks at Homeland Security to do their
job and to do it more thoroughly.
The calls for changes to ports of entry seem to have fallen
on deaf ears, though, which is another reason why I am glad we
are having this hearing today.
So Secretary Napolitano claims that the border is open for
business. But at what level? If we really want to highlight
legitimate trade and commerce, we should be doing everything we
can to improve our relationship with Mexico, our third largest
trading partner.
The Federal Government must do a better job of enabling
legitimate trade and commerce by expanding trusted traveler and
shipper programs, finding a better way to plan and finance our
ports of entry, and improving cooperation between state and
local officials.
We need to clamp down on the cartels who exploit every
avenue to transport guns, drugs, and people in and out of the
United States. Many people have left the southern border and
would gladly return to their communities if they felt secure. I
think if we can provide Mexico with $1.6 billion through the
Merida Initiative for enforcement, we can surely find enough
money to improve our ports of entry and provide necessary
resources to state and local law enforcement.
Last year, the President signed a supplemental
appropriation bill that allocated $176 million to fund 1,000
new Border Patrol agents. While it increased the size of the
Border Patrol, it barely touched the number of CBP officers
needed to staff our ports of entry.
I introduced an amendment that would have authorized $200
million to hire 500 new CBP officers to staff high volume ports
of entry and make infrastructure improvements. This amendment
would have provided resources for Federal, state and local law
enforcement officials who work on the front lines of the U.S.
border every day.
I also have a bill, the Emergency Port of Entry Personnel
and Infrastructure Funding Act of 2009, which would authorize
$6 billion over 6 years for additional CBP officers at our
ports of entry, modernization of our current land ports of
entry, and construction of new ports on the northern and
southern borders.
This bill would authorize a level of funding that would
truly make a difference at the southern border ports of entry
and I will continue to push for additional resources while we
continue to discuss appropriations with the Department of
Homeland Security.
Despite all of our challenges, I am glad to say that the
State of Texas remains a thriving center of economic growth and
investment. This growth will only continue with the
prioritization of port of entry construction, approval of trade
agreements, and increased targeting of illicit trade and
smuggling.
I look forward to hearing the testimony today, as well as
your recommendations for improving commerce and transit through
our southern ports of entry.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Schumer. Thank you, Senator Cornyn.
Our Chairman is here and he has asked to make a brief
statement before we get to our witnesses.
Chairman Leahy.
STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE
STATE OF VERMONT
Chairman Leahy. Thank you, Senator Schumer. I appreciate
you holding this hearing. Senator Cornyn and you both represent
states, large states, one on the northern border, one on the
southern border. And I appreciate you expanding the hearing to
address commerce at the points of entry.
I appreciate what the President said last week about
efforts to enact comprehensive immigration reform. I strongly
supported former President W. Bush's effort to do that. I wish
we could have, and I think that we want to be realistic. As
difficult as it may be politically for some, we are going to
have to have a comprehensive immigration policy.
Commissioner Bersin, I honored two Border Patrol agents who
died in the line of duty last week, Eduardo Rojas, Jr. And
Hector Clark. And I know that many talked about them when we
were at the, as Mr. Morton knows, law enforcement event on
Sunday.
I say this because nobody should take for granted or forget
the sacrifices made by the agents of the Border Patrol.
Now, in Vermont, we do have a border and in our little
state, we sometimes refer to Canada as the giant to the north.
But our Canadian neighbors are partners in trade and commerce.
They are joint stewards of our shared communities, and some of
our communities are half in Canada, half in Vermont. Both
nations try and make sure the border is secure.
It is a vital link in our National security chain. It is
very challenging to guard and protect the longest, non-
militarized border in the world, and those who want to do us
harm are going to look for openings and gaps, whether it is in
the mountain wilderness in New England, the Great Lakes, or the
rural plains of the Midwest.
Now, before September 11, 2001, the northern border had
been chronically understaffed and neglected. Since then,
Congress has allocated a great deal of money to upgrade the
equipment we have, the surveillance, vehicles, new stations,
technology and so on.
A recent GAO report on northern border security assures
more can be done, especially in deploying technology and
developing partnerships with local and state law enforcement.
I had previously raised concerns with the Secretary of
Homeland Security because Customs and Border Protection
staffing in Vermont has dipped considerably in recent years, in
part, because resources were shifted to the southern border. I
worry that insufficient staffing will also cause excessive
delays at the ports of entry, for example, during our summer
tourism season.
The ties between Canada and Vermont run deeper than trade
and commerce and they are based on more than tourism. Many
Vermont families have members on both sides of the border. We
have a number of first generation Canadian-Americans in our
state, at least one of whom is married to this Senator. And
some towns, like Derby Line, spread across the international
line.
I think we have to prove that they are secure, but we have
to also make sure that people can move back and forth. It is a
major commercial factor and now with the Canadian dollar worth
slightly more than the U.S. dollar, which is a major change in
the last 20 years, it is even that more important.
I also appreciate the department's effort to help us
resolve the issue of the Morses Line crossing.
Last, I would like to discuss the restoration of Amtrak
rail service between Vermont and Montreal, Quebec. It is a
critical link that can be done provided we take care of the
border crossing.
Senator Schumer has two cross-border trains in New York
State. There is another one, I believe, operating in Washington
State. So let us look at these issues, because Canada is an
enormous trading partner. We have our security concerns, but we
also have major economic concerns.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Senator Leahy appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Schumer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Now, let me introduce our witnesses and thank them for
coming.
Alan Bersin is Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection. As Commissioner, he oversees the operation of CBP's
57,000 employee workforce, manages a budget of $11 billion. He
is responsible for fulfilling CBP's mission of protecting the
Nation's borders from all threats, while facilitating
legitimate trade and travel.
John Morton is the Director of Immigration and Customs,
ICE. ICE is the principal investigative arm of Homeland
Security and the second largest investigative agency in the
Federal Government. Created in 2003, it has a budget of $5.7
billion, 20,000 employees in offices in all 50 states and 47
countries.
The Agency's primary mission is to promote homeland
security and public safety through the criminal and civil
enforcement of Federal laws governing border patrol, customs,
trade, and immigration.
Gentlemen, your entire statements will be in the record. We
ask you to limit your testimony to 5 minutes each.
Mr. Bersin, you may start.
STATEMENT OF HON. ALAN BERSIN, COMMISSIONER, U.S. CUSTOMS AND
BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, WASHINGTON,
DC
Commissioner Bersin. Good morning and thank you, Chairman
Schumer, Ranking Member Cornyn, Chairman Leahy, and Senator
Grassley. It is an honor to be here in front of this
Subcommittee focusing on the northern border.
We all know that the southern border has been the primary
focus of activities of CBP and DHS, as well as DOJ, with regard
to border affairs, but never do we lose sight of the fact that
keeping dangerous people and dangerous things away from the
American homeland, which is the primary obligation of Customs
and Border Protection, involves a northern border every bit as
much as the southern border.
In fact, we have built up the resources, as the Chairman
has indicated, significantly over the past decade. We at CBP
have gone from 340 agents to 2,200 agents. We have gone to 279
air interdiction pilots and agents on the northern border. We
have gone to 3,800 CBPOs, CBP officers who staff 122 land ports
of entry that stretch from Washington State to Maine.
In every respect, we have seen a resourcing of the northern
border, although not as dramatically extensive as that which
has taken place on the southern border, actually represents a
huge increase.
In the case of Border Patrol agents, we have increased the
number 650 percent more than six times in the last decade.
So the question from the standpoint of, I believe,
Secretary Napolitano, as well as Mr. Morton and myself, as we
deploy these new resources, is to recognize that borders are
borders, but as every Canadian, every Mexican, every resident
of the northern and southern borders will remind us, the
northern border is different from the southern border; and, in
fact, we need to take those differences into account.
While measurements--metrics may, at end, have to be
responsive to both borders, in fact, they have to both reflect
a quality of security and a level of quality of life that is
important to both north and south.
So what are the major differences in terms of the north as
we think about moving forward in terms of northern border
security?
The first is while, as all of the Senators who have
commented have indicated, we have $1 billion a day of trade
going north and south over the Canadian-U.S. border. Building
up a competitive United States economy in concert with Canada
so that North America can compete with East Asia, with the
Indian subcontinent, and with Brazil and South America is a
critical dimension of our work in Customs and Border
Protection.
We recognize that security and economic competitiveness go
hand-in-hand; that, in fact, when you deal with the volume of
trade and traffic that comes across the northern border and the
southern border, that unless we do risk-managed handling of
that cargo and those persons, unless we separate out trusted
travelers and trusted shippers from those about which we either
have derogatory information or about whom we lack sufficient
information to make a judgment to expedite their movement, that
we can have both security and economic competitiveness and a
facilitated lawful traffic and trade.
Because we are dealing with a border that is three times
the size of the southern border, 5,400 miles of diverse
environments which vary in terrain, climate and population
density, we must look to deploying technology so that we can
detect threats in ways that are tailored and customized to the
northern border.
The second major dimension about our relationship with
Canada is that we must look at our security not only in terms
of the northern border and the Canadian southern border, but
also in terms of North American continental security. And
recognizing these jointly held objectives, president Obama and
Prime Minister Harper recently signed a very important accord
with regard to the Canadian-U.S. border. Entitled ``Beyond the
Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and
Competitiveness,'' it recognizes that we are most secure both
in Canada and the United States if we look at the job of
security as being a continental one.
So as we move forward, Senators, into this vision, we will
actually have to see security and commerce as contributing to
one another, not as competing.
I look forward to answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Commissioner Bersin appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Schumer. Thank you, Mr. Bersin. And your entire
statement will be read into the record. I know you had more
testimony.
And the same for you, Mr. Morton. Your entire statement
will be read in the record. You may proceed.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN MORTON, DIRECTOR, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND
CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,
WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Morton. Chairman Schumer, Ranking Member Cornyn,
Chairman Leahy, Senator Grassley, good morning to you, to
Commissioner Bersin, as we discuss security along the northern
and southern border.
As you noted, Mr. Chairman, ICE is the Department's
principal criminal investigative arm, and we have jurisdiction
over a broad range of crimes relating to border security,
including export and import controls, international child
exploitation, and the smuggling of drugs, people and money.
To this end, we have approximately 1,600 special agents and
40 intelligence personnel in our northern border offices. We,
along with our partners at CBP, are also charged with the civil
arrest, detention and removal of individuals illegally entering
the country in violation of the immigration laws. We have
roughly 1,500 enforcement and removal officers in our northern
border offices dedicated to this task.
Working with CBP, these special agents and officers have
produced strong results. Last fiscal year, our offices covering
the northern border seized a combined total of $38 million,
nearly 130,000 pounds of marijuana, one ton each of cocaine and
ecstasy, and significant amounts of heroin and methamphetamine.
Likewise, we removed about 47,000 illegal aliens from the
northern border region, roughly half of whom were criminal
offenders.
We are able to pursue our success in all of these areas due
to our partnerships and initiatives with other law enforcement
agencies. We maintain the largest law enforcement footprint of
any U.S. agency in Canada, with four attache and assistant
attache offices.
In these offices, we not only coordinate enforcement
efforts with Canadian law enforcement, we also run a visa
security program to add an additional layer of vetting to the
U.S. visas issued by the State Department.
Our interagency partnerships along the northern border are
principally the integrated border enforcement teams, the IBETs,
and the Border Enforcement Security Task Forces, or BESTs. We
now have 21 Border Enforcement Task forces and I thank Congress
for the tremendous support they have received to date.
The strength of the BEST task force model is that it
involves the permanently collocated investigative task forces
of Federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies.
We actually have cross-designated Canadian law enforcement
officers working on our side of the border. They are located
immediately on the border and specifically target cross-border
crime. And I want to note that CBP is our principal and
essential partner in every single one of them.
We have three BEST teams operating on the northern border,
one in Blaine, one in Detroit, and one in Buffalo; and, as you
know, we will be establishing a new BEST in Massena, New York.
And, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the significant support you
have given us on that score.
I just want to highlight why this works well, and there is
a particular example in my written remarks. But on December 15,
2010, a Canadian citizen tried to enter the United States via
the Detroit Ambassador Bridge. CBP officers working for the
Commissioner discovered suspected marijuana in the vehicle and
contacted ICE.
We responded with our BEST team. We quickly arranged for
the arrested driver to cooperate. We engaged in a controlled
delivery to Troy, Michigan. This included local law enforcement
officers from Troy, Trenton and Detroit, Michigan.
We ultimately delivered the narcotics or the marijuana in
question. We arrested the boyfriend. We turned right around
and, working with the Canadian members of the same BEST task
force, executed two search warrants in Canada, and the
Canadians arrested another two individuals. All four
individuals were prosecuted.
None of this would have been able to have occurred had we
not all been sitting together and able to move in very quick
time, and that is why BEST works.
ICE's great strength is that it has a strong presence on
the border, in the interior and overseas. This allows the
Agency to attack and penetrate organized cross-border crime at
all stages. And when you couple it with CBP's impressive powers
of inspection, surveillance and interdiction, the combination
proves to be a strong force in favor of border security and the
sound management of the flows of goods and people to and from
the United States.
Obviously, resources are a challenge, as Senator Cornyn has
noted. There are many and varied threats facing CBP and ICE
every day, but we have got a tremendous workforce out there
every day trying to do the right thing.
I would close, again, with my condolences to Commissioner
Bersin for the two Border Patrol agents lost in Gila Bend. We,
as the members of the Committee know, just lost a special agent
in Mexico to the cartels. And so we feel the pain that CBP is
going through.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Morton appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Schumer. Thank you, Mr. Morton.
My first question is for Mr. Bersin. As you know, we have
had a major problem on the northern border with the smuggling
of drugs, methamphetamines and ecstasy, as well as marijuana,
and these drugs are smuggled into the country using low-flying
planes.
On February 10, 2011, I, along with some of my colleagues,
sent Secretary Napolitano a letter asking that DHS deploy
sophisticated military radar technology along the northern
border to catch low-flying aircraft that would otherwise not be
caught with the current technology DHS uses.
At a hearing last month, Secretary Napolitano said she
intended to improve our ability to catch low-flying aircraft by
integrating the military radar feeds that Canada uses with our
own AMOC.
When do you think the integration of the Canadian radar
fees into the AMOC, the American center, will be up and
running?
Commissioner Bersin. Mr. Chairman, we expect that the 22
Canadian radar fees will be sent to the Air and Marine
Operations Center, the AMOC, by the third quarter, November
2011.
Senator Schumer. Great. That is very good news. Thank you.
I appreciate hearing that. I don't have to say anymore. You
have done very well on that question.
A positive aspect of the GAO's northern border report with
its statement that to address vulnerabilities related to
insufficient staff and resources, DHS issued 3-year grants to
tribal nations and state and local governments under Operation
Stonegarden to augment Border Patrol personnel and resources
for patrolling the land and border.
Now, despite the benefits that Operation Stonegarden has
had in improving security along the border, the Administration
did not request Stonegarden funds for the northern border and
limited its request to $50 million for the southern border.
It appears that the House appropriations bill calls for $55
million to be allocated for Stonegarden. If we indeed can
maintain the $5 million of extra funding in the appropriations
process, can you commit that that extra money, not taking away
from my friends on the southern border, will be used to keep
Stonegarden going on the northern border?
Commissioner Bersin. Absolutely. I thought when you
started, Senator, that I wouldn't be able to do so well on this
question. But as framed, there is no question but that
Operation Stonegarden has considerable benefits in terms of the
link between the Border Patrol and the state, local and tribal
law enforcement.
It works well in the south, it works well in the north, and
we will employ whatever resources are provided.
Senator Schumer. If the extra $5 million stays, it would go
to the northern border.
Commissioner Bersin. If it is on top of the money that has
been allocated, yes, sir.
Senator Schumer. All right. Batting two for two. Wish you
were playing for the Yankees against the Red Sox this weekend.
In early January, we were successful in passing the
Northern Border Counter-Narcotics Strategy Act. This law
requires, according to the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, to develop a comprehensive, integrated, counter-
narcotics strategy for all agencies along the border.
I can report that ONDCP has told my staff this strategy
will be done by July 4. An important part of that strategy will
be the operations integration center in Detroit.
The center will provide a centralized location to gather,
analyze and disseminate operational and strategic data from all
the Federal, state, local, tribal and Canadian law enforcement
in the Great Lakes region.
Would DHS benefit from opening a similar operations
integration center in the eastern part of the northern border,
preferably in New York? Now that the Chairman is gone, I can
certainly say that.
Commissioner Bersin. Senator, as you know, ONDCP is in the
process of completing the northern border counter-narcotics
strategy, and you are correct that the fusion center, the
operation integration center in Selfridge in Michigan is a
highlighted portion. It is a proven, tried and tested technique
of law enforcement, the kind of fusion that Secretary Morton
referred to in the context of the BESTs work whenever put
officers together.
So without prejudging where that center would be located,
we certainly endorse the notion of continuing integration along
those lines.
Senator Schumer. Great. That is good news, too. Thank you.
Finally, for you, I sent a letter on April 14 asking you to
take action addressing delays in train travel between the
Quebec-New York corridor, as incoming trains to the U.S. are
stopped at our border for up to 2 hours to complete the
clearance and screening process for passengers on board.
Can we count on you to speed up the trains between Quebec
and New York?
Commissioner Bersin. As you know, we have in place, between
Canada and the United States in the Pacific Northwest corridor,
pre-clearance both for air traffic, which we also have on the
east cost, but also with regard to rail traffic.
Senator, we are happy to continue to explore those options
in the Montreal-New York corridor. There is a major difference,
though, which is that there are interim stops between Montreal
and New York in a way that is not the case between Vancouver
and Seattle.
But we are committed to continuing to explore with you this
notion of expediting that local traffic.
Senator Schumer. And you are working with Amtrak to try--
knowing the differences between the west coast and us, to try
and work that out.
Commissioner Bersin. Yes, sir.
Senator Schumer. Because it is a real impediment. Thank
you. I am confident that if you work with Amtrak, you can.
My final question. In Western New York, we have two
bridges. They are the Peace Bridge and the Lewiston Bridge and
the Queenstown Bridge, which are, respectively, the third and
fourth busiest commercial crossings in the Nation, handling $30
billion in commerce between the U.S. and Canada.
We have been getting a lot of complaints from our business
leaders about the amount of time it is taking for commercial
traffic to enter the U.S. from Canada. Is there something you
can do to expedite commercial traffic to the U.S. from Canada,
such as pre-screening commercial vehicles on the bridges?
Commissioner Bersin. Yes. We are working closely in the
wake of President Obama and Prime Minister Harper's Beyond the
Border statement. We have a very deep relationship of
cooperation with CBSA, Canadian Border Services Agency, and one
of the things we are exploring with them is the notion of pre-
inspection, the concept that we could separate out trusted
shippers and trusted shipments, even in advance of them coming
to the port of entry and, therefore, permitting them to be
released without having to go through the ordinary port of
entry process.
That is a matter that we are working on and hope to present
a pilot in the not too distant future.
Senator Schumer. Now, the high risk is a good step and I am
glad you are doing it, but that is only about 5 to 10 percent
of our commercial truck traffic on these bridges.
Will you commit to working your Canadian counterparts to
see that all commercial trucks bound for the U.S. get pre-
cleared in Canada? I know you cannot snap your fingers and do
that, but try and get that--is that a goal of the Department?
Commissioner Bersin. As far as practicable, the notion of
segmenting out trusted traffic is very critical to heightening
the security profile. I doubt and am certain we will never
reach 100 percent level, but we certainly can start down the
path of segmenting traffic based on high risk or low risk.
Senator Schumer. With the indulgence of my colleagues, I
will just ask one quick question of Mr. Morton.
One of the most effective things that ICE does is the
Border Enforcement Security Task Force teams it operates. They
consist of personnel from ICE, Customs and Border, and police
from local Indian tribes.
I was very pleased to see that last week that ICE is
forming one of these BEST teams in Massena. Given what is at
stake, I would like to see this team up and running as soon as
possible.
You know the problems we have had on the border. When do
you think the BEST team in Massena will be up and running?
Mr. Morton. Mr. Chairman, I think the BEST team will be up
and running by the end of this fiscal year, in October.
Senator Schumer. Great. That is good, good news.
Senator Cornyn.
Thank you both.
Senator Cornyn. Commissioner Bersin, this is not a zero sum
game, even though Senator Schumer and I are having some good-
natured competition in terms of the attention your agency gives
to the northern border versus the southern border.
This is all a Federal responsibility. I know you know that.
We know that. But I would just like to ask you, in terms of the
number of people that are detained coming illegally across the
northern border, how does that compare to the 445,000 that were
detained at the southern border, 59,000 of whom came from
countries other than Mexico last year?
Commissioner Bersin. It is a small, small fraction. We
detained and arrested 6,000 people on the northern border. But,
Senator, I know, because you referred to it in your opening
remarks, that does not mean that we do not face significant
threats.
In fact, in many ways, in terms of the terrorist threat, it
is commonly accepted that the more significant threat, because
of the population and because of certain relationships with
Canada, people who can enter Canada and then come across our
bridges into the United States, of course--and I know you know
this--we have to maintain a very high security profile.
Because of the fact that we do not share no-fly information
and the Canadians will not, we are, more than we would like,
confronted with the fact where a no-fly has entered Canada and
then is arrested coming across one of our bridges into the
United States.
So I take your point. The number is a very small fraction,
but it still remains the kind of threat that requires our
attention.
Senator Cornyn. I am sure that is true. But I know and you
know that the 59,000 people who come through Mexico into the
United States from all over the world, including some of those
countries that are state sponsors of terrorism--and you know,
as I know, that some organizations that finance organizations
in the Middle East that are committed to jihad exist in South
America.
So we are not in a zero sum game here. I am just trying to
document here the magnitude of the threat throughout the
country and why I am absolutely committed to working with our
colleagues to try to make sure you get the resources you need
in order to do your job, because it is impossible for you to do
your job given the current level of resources, in my view.
You appropriately noted the importance of infrastructure
and staffing at the border ports of entry. I have introduced a
bill called the Emergency Port of Entry Personnel and
Infrastructure Funding Act of 2009. As I have said the bill
would authorize $6 billion over 6 years for additional CBP
officers at our ports, modernization of our current land ports
of entry, and construction of new ports at the southern and
northern borders.
Are you familiar with that legislation?
Commissioner Bersin. Yes, sir.
Senator Cornyn. Will the Administration support the bill?
Commissioner Bersin. That, as you know, Senator, going
forward, is a determination not in the hands of CBP, but rather
in OMB. We have received support in terms of additional CBPOs,
but I do not think that anyone denies the fact that with regard
to staffing the ports of entry, that we need to increase CBPOs.
We opened up, as you know, three ports of entry for the
first time in 10 years on the southern border, two of them in
Texas, in Anzalduas and Donna, and we did receive 300
additional CBPOs on top of the 250 CBPOs in the southwest
supplemental.
So that helps, but I take your point.
Senator Cornyn. The GAO cites limited equipment, technology
and infrastructure as a major challenge to stopping money and
guns heading south. As we all know, the bulk cash that goes
south is an integral part of the illegal drug transaction. If
we can find a way to stop the money, then we can go a long way
in defeating the cartels.
For example, ATF officers at the U.S.-Mexico border have
indicated that one of their challenges in intercepting illegal
firearms heading south is the ability to provide vehicle
information to CBP officers on a timely basis.
According to the GAO, currently, license plate readers are
available for only 48 out of 118 outbound lanes on the
southwest border and none have been installed--none--in the 179
outbound lanes on the northern border.
When will CBP have all ports of entry equipped with license
plate readers?
Commissioner Bersin. Senator Cornyn, I cannot give you a
definite date on which we will have all lanes completed with
regard to LPRs. We accept the validity of the technology and we
have, as you have noted, expanded it dramatically from where it
was.
We have, again, as you know, particularly in the bridges in
Texas, difficulty in the traffic and the road infrastructures
leading into the ports of entry, which make it very difficult
to place the LPRs in a way that permit us to operate.
We are working very hard on the issue and, as you know,
southbound inspections are a critical dimension of our work in
ways that were not true in the past. We are cooperating very
much with ICE, as well as with state and local law enforcement
to do those inspections, but we have a lot more work to do, to
be sure.
Senator Cornyn. The Chairman has graciously allowed me to
ask one more question, even though my time is up, because I am
going to have to leave to go to another meeting.
But, Mr. Morton, when we asked about the policy of the DHS
with regard to dismissing cases against criminal aliens, is the
DHS aware that immigration courts are dismissing cases
involving criminals due to backlogs?
Mr. Morton. I am not aware of any DOJ policy dismissing
criminal aliens due to backlogs. No, sir.
Senator Cornyn. I'm sorry. DHS.
Mr. Morton. And I am not aware of a DHS policy with regard
to dismissing criminal aliens due to backlogs. The only policy
that I am aware of, Senator, is the policy to terminate those
cases in which someone is the likely recipient of a green card
in proceedings and, obviously, if they are going to be given a
benefit by the Department of Justice in the form of permanent
residence, we do not want to, at the same time, waste
government resources on those cases.
Senator Cornyn. So just to clarify, there is a DHS policy
distinguishing between which aliens that have been detained and
are at law enforcement facilities, which cases will be
dismissed, and which cases will not be dismissed.
Mr. Morton. Senator, I am not aware of any policy in terms
of dismissal. There is very much a policy with regard to
priorities and where we use our resources.
I will tell you, as the head of the Agency, however,
criminal offenders are our highest priority and this year I
think you will see for the first time in the Agency's history,
we will remove more criminal offenders than non-criminal
offenders.
So, again, if there is a specific concern you have, I would
ask that perhaps our staffs talk, because I would be concerned
by a policy that we are dismissing the case--immigration
removal cases of known criminal offenders.
Senator Cornyn. We will follow-up with you. Thank you very
much.
Senator Schumer. Thank you, Senator Cornyn.
Now, Chairman Leahy.
Chairman Leahy. Thank you. I do not want to sound
parochial, but I do have a few. We have talked about the border
crossing and talked about pre-screening.
With the question of Amtrak, having trains come down
through Vermont and from Canada or vice versa, the thing that
stops it now is the passenger screening issue.
Could you support the creation of a pre-clearance facility
at a train station, say, in Montreal, very similar to the kind
of pre-clearance facilities that you have in a lot of our
foreign airports?
Commissioner Bersin. Senator Leahy, as I indicated, we are
exploring with CBSA, the Canadian Border Services Agency, the
way in which we can expedite this pre-clearance.
The difficulty in the Montreal-Vermont-New York corridor is
that unlike Vancouver-Seattle, there are many stops along the
way, which complicates the notion of pre-clearance, because you
cannot then segment the traffic when it arrives in New York.
But we are certainly willing to explore the options and
will continue to work with you and your staff and with Amtrak
to see how we can manage the problem better.
Chairman Leahy. Well, I appreciate that. Next week, there
is a meeting, I believe. The Governor of Vermont, Amtrak, and
Canadian officials are meeting in Vermont, in Burlington, for a
cross-border conference and I would encourage your Agency to
send a representative to that conference.
Commissioner Bersin. I will look and be in touch with Mr.
Weeks, who heads up the CBPOs, and with Chief Fisher, who you
know well, to see if the chief will attend along with the DFO.
Chairman Leahy. That would be very helpful.
Let me ask you about another question which I have raised
with Secretary Napolitano. You have a checkpoint used
periodically on Interstate 91. It is about an hour and a half
drive from--by interstate, it is about an hour and a half or
more drive from the northwest crossings from Canada into
Vermont. It is about a 3-hour drive from the northeast crossing
from Canada by interstate into Vermont.
I cannot tell you the number of complaints I get by
Vermonters who get stopped there and have proof demanded of
them that they are American citizens. These are people that
probably have lived, as I have, in Vermont their whole life.
They are wondering why there is all this, the guns, the
uniforms, the flashing lights, everything, when there are half
a dozen parallel roads, if somebody was really inclined to do
something, they would just drive down one of the two-lane roads
where there are no stops, and especially something so far from
the border.
I get questions like, ``Do you guys have so much money you
have got to find a place to spend it? '' And in one case,
somebody showed her Vermont driver's license, and was driving a
Vermont registered car, was detained for some time, and told
she had to show her proof of citizenship.
In this case, we are a state probably 97 percent white and
she did not fit that profile, and it made my blood boil to hear
her story.
So are you starting to see whether this thing really makes
sense?
Commissioner Bersin. Senator Leahy, checkpoints have been a
standard feature of Border Patrol strategy and tactics and are
being applied on the northern border as we expand the presence
there.
The notion is----
Chairman Leahy. It is a long way from the border.
Commissioner Bersin. Well, the notion is layered security,
which is the theory of action of Border Patrol activity
throughout. But I understand that when it occurs, as it is
occurring now in the north from Washington to Maine, that
citizens are questioning it and wondering what is this presence
and why does it have to happen at a space and a time removed
from the border.
We need to have Chief Fisher actually hold forums
throughout Vermont, need to meet with the community, explain
what the theory of action is, reach out, listen to people's
complaints, and explain why they do what they do.
That has been the pattern that I trust will produce more
understanding, if not less opposition immediately on the part
of the citizens of Vermont.
Chairman Leahy. Well, I kind of know how they feel. A
number of years ago, and this was not something recent, but I
drive to Vermont once or twice a year. Normally, I would fly,
but during the August break, I drive. About halfway down the
state, there is a very old crossing that crosses over into New
York. I have crossed that way, I have come down through the
Adirondacks, which is a very pretty area.
Senator Schumer. You are always welcome, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Leahy. Thank you. And we got stopped at one of
these. There was a family from Montreal. They were on their way
actually to Florida, because I had asked them, and they were
having to take all their suitcases out and the man came up and
he said, ``Pull your car over there.''
I asked, ``Why?'' He said, ``We have to prove you are a
citizen.'' I said, ``Well, what is your authority?'' And he
pointed to his holstered weapon and said, ``That is all the
authority I need.''
Now, that struck me as not the best way to win friends and
influence people. I asked if he had a supervisor, who actually
came around the car at that point and looked at my license
plate. It is one, just the number one.
We are a small state. We do not have many cars.
[Laughter.]
Chairman Leahy. But they were looking at that and I could
still see him kind of--he came over, well, that is fine. And,
obviously, I could prove my citizenship, but I just thought
this was unfortunate.
Now, at that time, I understand this was some time ago,
long before you were there. Steps were taken, some re-training
was done of the people involved. But I want our borders to be
secure.
But we are such a wonderful country, I want us all to be
welcoming to people. I do not want, at a time, again, when we
are trying to attract people, businesses, tourists, everything
else to come from other parts of the world, I want them to feel
welcome here, just as other countries make us feel welcome.
Commissioner Bersin. We are completely in agreement with
that. And while that incident is unfortunate and regrettable,
it also is----
Chairman Leahy. A long time ago.
Commissioner Bersin. It also points out the need for us, as
you say, as we evolve into what I hope will become a premier
law enforcement agency, that customer satisfaction and
professionalism are required. We can be tough and fair and
welcoming all at the same time.
Chairman Leahy. I cross our borders all the time. I did a
few weeks ago coming through--I had been scuba diving down in
the Caribbean and came through Puerto Rico. The people could
not have been more professional and nicer.
I was in line with everybody else. They were being very
nice. They had no idea who I was or anything else. They just
were very, very nice, and I want to compliment them on that.
Commissioner Bersin. Senator, I hope you will consider
becoming a member of Global Entry. It is the trusted traveler
program, you bypass the line.
Chairman Leahy. I actually prefer just getting in line with
everybody else just to see how it goes. So thank you.
Commissioner Bersin. Thank you.
Senator Schumer. Thank you, and thanks for coming, Mr.
Chairman.
Senator Grassley's entire statement will be read into the
record, and he is on.
[The prepared statement of Senator Grassley appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Grassley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Director Bersin, on April 13, you responded to two letters
that I sent you. You responded by citing Privacy Act
considerations and failed to provide basic answers to
questions.
I realize that this is a cut-and-paste response that we get
from too many administration bureaucracies when they do not
want to answer inquiries from Congress.
However, with a Border Patrol agent dead, this kind of
response is unacceptable. There are serious questions that need
to be answered, especially in light of the fact that two of the
guns which were recovered at the crime scene at Border Patrol
Agent Brian Terry's death were part of an operation conducted
by ATF called Operation Fast and Furious.
So, Mr. Bersin, did Customs and Border Protection agents
ever stop any suspects with weapons near the border, but were
instructed by ATF or the U.S. Attorney's Office to let them go?
Commissioner Bersin. Senator, no. I have never heard of
that allegation. I have not received any report from within CBP
in which that request was made, let alone granted. And as you
know, with regard to that letter, the two questions that you
focused on, there were very straightforward answers, which is,
one, Brian Terry, our agent who died in the canyons west of
Nogales on that December night, as all of his colleagues were
fully armed and prepared to use force; and, second, that there
is no requirement in CBP that less than lethal weapons be used
in advance of defending yourself.
When someone points a gun at you, under our rules of force,
you are entitled to kill that person, and they were so
authorized and prepared to act.
With regard to the Fast and Furious, I am not the agency
who is conducting that investigation. But with regard to your
specific question, I have no information nor have I ever
received any report to that effect, sir.
Senator Grassley. Could you tell me how you feel about the
fact that another agency's decision to put hundreds of guns
into the hands of criminals on both sides of the border may
have contributed to the death of Brian Terry?
Commissioner Bersin. Senator, I am not going to condemn ATF
on the basis of that generalized statement. I do not believe
that it accurately depicts what has been investigated.
So, no, sir, I cannot subscribe to that statement as
framed.
Senator Grassley. Well, let me tell you, you may not feel
comfortable in answering the question, but there is enough
evidence out there that I have in documents that have come to
me clandestinely to prove that this is not something that is
hypothetical, that this is a real sad situation.
But I will go on and ask another question. The inability to
secure our northern border leaves our country at a distinct
disadvantage. Criminals can enjoy the freedom to transport
illegal narcotics into the United States and, also, to
transport--well, in the process, terrorists can even gain entry
to our country.
The U.S. GAO report describes an inadequate response by the
Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Interior,
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture toward coordinating
efforts at securing the border.
So, Mr. Bersin, Border Patrol has indicated that they are
only able to secure within acceptable levels, and those are the
words of the report, 69 of the nearly 4,000 northern border
miles between Washington and Maine.
Do you believe that securing less than 2 percent of the
northern border is acceptable?
Commissioner Bersin. Senator, that mischaracterizes,
respectfully, what the GAO concluded and how we define border
security.
The notion of operational control is a concept that was
utilized, for the most part, on the southern border. It had to
do with the tactical deployment of Border Patrol agents during
a period in which we doubled the size of the Border Patrol from
2004-2010, and this was used on a sector-by-sector basis to
determine mile-by- mile along the border how to deploy those
agents.
We discussed that with Mr. Stana and the GAO and are
working to correct the notion that operational control as
utilized there is what is being used to measure border security
across the northern or southern border.
With regard to the USDA and the DOI, actually, that is a
good news story, Senator.
Senator Grassley. Before you answer that, let me ask a
specific question, because I think you are starting to answer
it, but let me ask.
The GAO report consistently describes a failure to share
intelligence and develop joint budget requests or strategies to
address these threats. Can you describe why it is so difficult
for agencies to effectively communicate and coordinate and
intelligence, along with whatever else you were going to say?
Commissioner Bersin. Well, with regard to intelligence-
sharing, actually, we are considerably further ahead--in fact,
leagues ahead of where we were when I left Federal service at
the end of the 1990s.
Senator Grassley. So you are saying that GAO is wrong on
that point.
Commissioner Bersin. I am saying the GAO had pointed out
specifically, if I am following your reference, that there were
issues between the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents on the northern border.
I have actually--when I saw that report, Director Morton
and I have discussed it and we agreed that we have not gotten
the specifics and have asked that the GAO be very specific
about the offices in which that lack of communication has taken
place.
The BESTs, as Director Morton indicated in his opening
remarks, and the IBETs, which are another form of
communication-sharing and coalition-building involving
Canadians, as well as American law enforcement, actually
provides for better information-sharing than we have had.
It is not to say that we cannot improve it. We always can
strive to do that, Senator.
Senator Grassley. Let me ask Mr. Morton a question. In June
of 2010, the union representing ICE agents released a letter
announcing a unanimous, ``vote of no confidence'' for ICE
leadership. The union's letter accused Assistant Secretary
Morton and his command staff of, ``misleading the American
public.''
Agents claimed that the ICE leadership spent more time
campaigning for immigration reform as opposed to enforcing the
Agency's, ``core mission of enforcing U.S. immigration laws and
providing for public safety.''
The letter also stated that, ``ICE has virtually no
consistent national policy. As a result, the Agency's lack of
adequate direction and material infrastructure.'' ICE agents
also described how criminal aliens, ``bragged to ICE officers
that they are taking advantage of the broken immigration system
and will be back in the United States within days to commit
crimes.'
It is unfortunate that agents responsible for carrying out
our immigration laws feel that the Agency is politicizing the
issue and abandoning the Agency's core responsibility to the
American people.
So, Mr. Morton, how have you addressed the complaints of
your agents since issuing a no confidence letter last June?
Mr. Morton. Well, a few things, Senator. First, as you may
know, I was a career Federal prosecutor, before I came to this
job, and spent my entire professional career in law
enforcement.
Second, we have demonstrated quite, I think, clearly that
the enforcement activities of the Agency when it comes to
immigration enforcement, and that is half of what we do, is at
an all-time high. There has never been a director of the Agency
that has presided over a larger number of removals from the
United States.
When it comes to criminal offenders, there is no question
that our record is, I think, a solid one for the first time in
the Agency's history.
We, this year, will pass 50 percent of the removals from
the United States will be of people with a crime.
Just to give you some sense of it, the last fiscal year of
the last Administration, the number of criminal offenders was
at about 35 percent of our overall removals. That is now at 50
percent under my leadership and the number of removals from the
country, again, has never been higher.
So I reject any suggestion that the Agency's enforcement
efforts when it comes to immigration enforcement have been
reduced and, obviously, we work within the appropriations and
the resources that we have.
I issued the first civil enforcement priorities memo the
Agency has had, directing us to focus first and foremost on
criminal offenders, second on border security.
Our coordination with CBP has never been stronger and, in
fact, the Commissioner and I are discussing further ways to
latch CBP and ICE at the hip to ensure that border security is
high as it possibly can be.
And, finally, we spend a lot of time on people who game the
system. The number of criminal prosecutions for illegal reentry
is, again, an all-time high. We have never prosecuted more
people for illegal reentry.
The Commissioner and I are both a firm believer in making
sure that there are consequences for people who violate the law
along the border, and the results sort of speak for themselves.
Senator Grassley. Madam Chairman, since I used 1 minute
longer than Senator Leahy did, I will--because we have all gone
well over the 5 minutes, I will put just a statement in the
record in response that basically the Washington Post editorial
saying that as far as this recordkeeping is concerned, that the
Agency has cooked the books on the numbers.
Senator Klobuchar [presiding.] Very good. That will be
included.
[The article appears as a submission for the record.]
Senator Klobuchar. I had some questions on some different
topics here, but I want to just start with a general question.
I head up the Senate side of the U.S.-Canadian Inter
parliamentarian Group and am on the Canadian border, and we
have a lot of work and economic activity with positive tourism
with Canada from Minnesota.
And I wanted to hear more about the work that you do with
the Canada, the joint programs to combat terrorism, smuggling,
fraud, and other crimes against the border.
I have been at a number of our border crossings and have
seen some of the good work going on there, and, also, some of
the work that has been done to try to at least get at some of
the problems with delays at the border crossings.
I just wonder if you could address some of the joint
efforts that are being made.
Commissioner Bersin. Thank you, Senator. There are three
major dimensions to the work that we do with both the Canadian
Border Services Agency, which handles their side of the 122
ports of entry, but also with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
between the ports of entry.
The three areas are information-sharing--we have created,
for the first time, a series of port committees in which the
management of the Canadian side of the border and the U.S. side
of the border meet regularly to work on common problems of
expediting flow, as well as securing that flow from north to
south and south to north.
The second is, as I mentioned in response to a question
from Senator Schumer is the notion of pre-inspection, which is
the concept of actually pre-inspecting cargo before it gets to
the United States so that we can expedite its movement after
doing the proper checks. We see that as a major way of
segmenting traffic.
Also connected is the harmonization of the Partners in
Progress, which is the Canadian trusted shipper program,
together with our Customs and Trade Partnership Against
Terrorism, that will permit companies to be jointly validated.
We are also working with the Canadians to create a unified
approach to trusted travelers. So that, as you know, we have
the NEXUS program that permits expedited crossing of trusted
travelers from north to south and south to north. We, in the
last quarter, extended the privilege of Global Entry, which
makes that possible in airports to all members of NEXUS.
And lastly, we cooperate considerably in terms of
intelligence-sharing and data-sharing. So I expect that
President Portelance, who is the head of the CBSA, will be
coming to Washington after the Canadian cabinet is announced
this week or next to pick up where we left off before the
election, and one of the first items of business will be the
signing of an agreement that sends a Canadian official to our
National targeting center in Herndon on cargo and passengers,
and we will be sending a CBP officer to the National Risk
Assessment Center in Canada.
So in those three ways, but there are other illustrations,
we are seeing cooperation as never before in keeping with the
border vision issued by Prime Minister Harper and President
Obama.
Senator Klobuchar. Very good. And I am head of the
Subcommittee that includes tourism. So my take on this is a
little different than some people as we try to figure out how
to make those crossings secure, but also simple for people. I
think it is really important.
We actually have a couple hundred people in Minnesota, I do
not know if you know this, that have to go through Canada to
get to their homes and, in fact, only when the ice is frozen
over is that not true. Then they can snowmobile across the
border.
So anything that you can keep doing in that vein, as we
look at tourism as our No. 1 export out of this country, to
make that simpler would be helpful.
I also just wanted to mention, I think you are aware of
this, Senator Franken and I have written letters about this
project, but there is a city that is applying to be one of the
ports of entry, and it is Hallock, and they are looking to have
the Border Patrol facility.
I just wanted to give, again, a good word for that city.
They have a good police and sheriff's department. They have an
airport that is less than two miles away. They are prepared to
work to ensure that the land is affordable.
And I think one of the most important things, as you have
seen the flooding across this country and especially in that
part of Minnesota and North Dakota, they are actually 20 feet
higher than some of the other sites that are looked at and
while the other sites have been closed off by flooding for part
of the year, they have not been. And so I hope that is
something that you will consider as you look at the border
facility. And I know Senator Franken feels strongly, as well.
So I wanted to put in that pitch as you look at facilities.
Another issue I wanted to mention is honey laundering, and
I know your agencies have been involved in that. At first when
you say this, people somewhat laugh. Senator Schumer has been
involved in this, as well, but in Minnesota, it is real jobs.
We are sixth in the country for honey.
What we find is that producers have been hurt by some
activity going on in China where they have been mislabeling or
trans-shipping honey under the guise of sweetener to avoid
paying duties. They also have been sending low quality, other
countries have been doing this. They have been producing honey
and then it goes from foreign countries that do not have to pay
as high of tariffs, and that is why they have been unfairly
competing.
Suddenly, there is a huge boost in honey from a country
that does not even make it. You know that that is a problem.
And I know that there is some work being done in terms of
the FDA looking at establishing a national standard of identity
for honey, but if you could talk about what progress--I know
there have been some prosecutions for honey laundering, but
what has been going on and is there more work that we can do?
Commissioner Bersin. The mislabeling in the source
countries is a large problem and in the area of honey,
actually, we have been able to make more progress in concert
with Homeland Security Investigations and with the FDA than we
have had in other areas, notably textiles, although we are
working on that, as well.
But this is a--there was some very highly publicized
investigations and then prosecutions having to do with that,
and I think we have identified the problem, developed the law
enforcement coalitions able to address them, and are on the
lookout for honey laundering, as you describe it.
Senator Klobuchar. Good. Do you want to add anything, Mr.
Morton?
Mr. Morton. The Commissioner has really summed it up right.
We have a very close relationship with CBP and we investigater
all of the honey that they identify as mislabeled. And as the
Commissioner noted, we have had some very good successes
lately.
The one thing I would add is not only do we approach it
from the perspective of trying to evade customs, duties and
unlawfully compete with domestic producers, a number of our
cases have also involved adulterated honey. And so there is a
real health and safety issue to it, as well, and we are very
concerned about that across the board.
But I know, obviously, of your concerns here and we do
actually have quite an aggressive effort to investigate honey
laundering and I expect you will see more of the same in the
future.
Senator Klobuchar. That is good, because I am going to see
all the honey people at the Minnesota State Fair in August. So
we will then track our progress from the last state fair. But
we are trying to push for this honey standard, which I do not
think we have yet from the FDA, and then also just increase
prosecutions.
So I appreciate both of your work in this area. As you
know, it is a safety concern, but also a job issue for the
United States.
With that, I do not think there are going to be other
Senators coming today. I want to thank both of you for being
here. You had to answer a broad range of questions from
counterterrorism to honey. So I appreciate that, and I want to
thank both of you for being here.
The record will remain open until Monday, May 23 for
further testimony and questions. I would like to thank the
following individuals and groups for submitting testimony for
the record: the National Treasury Employees Union, that is NTEU
and New York State Assemblywoman Addy Russell.
I ask unanimous consent that these statements be inserted
into the record of this hearing. Without objection, so ordered.
[The statements appear as a submission for the record.]
Senator Klobuchar. And the hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:22 a.m. the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[Questions and answers and submissions follow.]
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