[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 92 (Monday, July 17, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H6089]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ON THE NEED FOR MORE BORDER PATROL AGENTS ON AMERICA'S NORTHERN BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, I do not have to remind this House about 
the fine work of our border patrol officers. They put their lives at 
risk every day to slow the flow of illegal drugs into this country and 
to keep our border safe from dangerous aliens. Their work in helping to 
arrest a suspected terrorist near Port Angeles, Washington, last 
December was exemplary.
  Due to the current inept management of the INS, however, the jobs of 
these officers are made much, much more difficult. Over the past two 
fiscal years, Congress has appropriated funds for the INS to hire 2,000 
new Border Patrol Agents. The agency has failed to hire anywhere near 
that number, and the vast majority of the new agents they have hired 
have been assigned to the southern border.
  There is no reason why northern border staffing should not be greatly 
increased. Since 1996, I have sent numerous communications to President 
Clinton, Attorney General Reno, and INS Commissioner Doris Meissner 
demanding a permanent end to the transfers of Northwestern Border 
Patrol Agents and urging higher staffing levels on the northern border.
  Instead, Commissioner Meissner has recently ordered another 
reassignment of agents from the northern to the southern border. In 
addition, she has ordered every Border Patrol plane moved from the 
State of Washington. In a month's time, every plane along the entire 
northern border will be moved south.
  A few days ago, in protest to these moves, the entire delegation from 
the State of Washington wrote to Immigration and Naturalization Service 
Commissioner Doris Meissner protesting her recent decision to transfer 
Washington State Border Patrol Agents and equipment to the Mexican 
border.
  Ms. Meissner's latest raid on the northern border is unconscionable, 
especially because a July 8 story in the Seattle Times reports that 
``When Meissner made this decision, she possessed a confidential 
February report by the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector 
General which determined that `The 311 Border Patrol Agents along the 
northern border cannot adequately patrol the approximately 4,000 mile 
border with Canada.' ''
  The February report also notes that between 1993 and 1998, agents 
along the northern border were nine times more likely to encounter 
someone smuggling drugs and 14 times more likely to encounter someone 
smuggling weapons than agents along the southwest border.
  Despite this overwhelming discrepancy, more than 95 percent of INS's 
Border Patrol Agents are on the southern border. In addition, INS 
Commissioner Meissner's decision to move personnel was made knowing 
that last year's arrest of suspected terrorist Ahmed Ressam highlighted 
additional reasons to maintain maximum coverage on the northern border.
  I have also previously asked Commissioner Meissner to hire additional 
northern border agents, for which Congress has already appropriated the 
money. She has not only not hired additional agents, she has again 
relocated some of the few agents we have.

                              {time}  2000

  In addition, she removed all of the patrol planes from the Washington 
border. Most outrageous of all, it turns out she has made these 
relocations while refusing to release the contents of a Department of 
Justice report that specifically highlights the severe personnel 
shortages on the U.S.-Canadian border.
  Relocating agents and equipment while hiding details of the dangerous 
understaffing problem at the northern border is a dereliction of duty. 
It is risky. It is wrong. It is irresponsible. If Commissioner Meissner 
cannot do an adequate job on our northern border, then we must get 
someone in the position who can.

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