[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 146 (Friday, September 28, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12330-S12331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AMERICA'S NORTHERN BORDER

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I rise today to shed light on a 
serious national security vulnerability facing our Nation, a dangerous 
gap in the United States-Canadian border. For the past 2 weeks, we have 
been debating the Department of Defense authorization bill, a bill that 
authorizes many of the programs that keep us safe from foreign 
terrorists on foreign soil.
  What we have not been focused on in these 2 weeks is the threat that 
comes when people cross our own borders without inspection. In fact, I 
would argue we haven't been focusing on this problem enough this year. 
We haven't taken the steps necessary to keep our borders, particularly 
the northern border, safe.
  That is simply unacceptable. It is no secret that today our 
immigration system is in shambles. To say our borders are not secure is 
an incredible understatement. Although most of my Republican colleagues 
would agree with me, they have failed to take comprehensive action. So 
our borders remain unsafe and insecure.
  Securing our borders is a catchy political phrase, a sound bite 
guaranteed to get on the evening news. And 99 percent of the time, it 
is used in reference to our southern borders. Stories run with pictures 
of immigrants crossing the United States-Mexico border as politicians 
lament about the dangers these immigrants pose, those who would be 
gardeners, nannies, busboys, and maids.
  It is as if no one remembers that this country has a northern border 
as well, a porous border that represents just as many problems and 
dangers. Today, I hope that will change. The Government Accountability 
Office has released a report detailing the vulnerabilities of our 
northern border, and people are starting to pay attention. MSNBC is 
even showing images of people carrying bags and boxes across the border 
without any inspection whatsoever.
  I hope my colleagues are as attentive as the media is on this issue. 
Let me take a moment to read some of the Government Accountability 
Office's report.
  It said:

       Our visits [referring to the GAO's investigations of the 
     Northern border] show that Customs and Border Protection 
     faces significant challenges in effectively monitoring the 
     border and preventing undetected entry into the United 
     States. Our work shows that a determined cross-border 
     violator would likely be able to bring radioactive materials 
     or other contraband undetected into the United States by 
     crossing the United States-Canadian border at any of the 
     locations we investigated.

  Think about that for a moment. The Government Accountability Office 
is saying that terrorists are currently able to smuggle radiological, 
biological, or chemical weapons into our country without much 
difficulty. If this were to happen, our worst nightmare scenario would 
become a reality.
  Millions could be killed from a single barbaric act. Right now, this 
very day, such an action is possible because of our lack of border 
security, our lack of northern border security.
  Now, this report may be a recent release, but the vulnerabilities it 
revealed are old news. In July, during the

[[Page S12331]]

debate over the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill, 
Senator Salazar and I introduced an amendment that was approved, 
compelling the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security to 
improve security at our northern border until they are able to certify 
that they have 100 percent operational control of the border.
  We introduced this amendment because the Bush administration was not 
living up to the requirements of existing law. The law requires, 
requires--does not suggest, does not allow, it requires--that 20 
percent of all new border agents be sent to the northern border. But 
the administration has flaunted that requirement. In fact, only 965 
agents out of a total of 13,488 agents are stationed in the North--only 
7 percent. And that is after the number of agents actually decreased by 
nearly 9 percent from fiscal year 2005 to 2006.
  Such numbers are ludicrous when you consider that our northern border 
spans over 5,525 miles and is almost three times as large as the 1,993-
mile southern border; almost three times as large, yet it is allocated 
an infinitesimal amount of our overall border security.
  Some of my Republican colleagues will argue that the risk of 
terrorism is much greater from our border with Mexico than our border 
with Canada. But they would be flat wrong. History has proven that 
today. Let me recite some of it.
  Over the last several years, nearly 69,000 individuals have been 
apprehended crossing the northern border. That is the tip of the 
iceberg as countless others have crossed the border illegally without 
apprehension because, notwithstanding the law, the administration has 
only got a handful of people up on the border that is almost three 
times as long as the southern border.
  So we have no idea what the magnitude of this vulnerability is or 
what consequences will result from the administration's dereliction of 
duty. We know terrorists seek to exploit vulnerabilities. I created the 
first task force on homeland security when I was in the House of 
Representatives. I sat on the select committee that created the 
Department of Homeland Security. I was the chief Democratic negotiator 
for the first element of the 9/11 bill. I have spent a lot of time on 
this issue. The one thing we can be assured of is that terrorists don't 
continuously operate in the same way. They study, and seek to exploit, 
vulnerabilities. We know they study how our Nation works and where the 
holes in our security are. We can be sure they will seek out the 
easiest path of entry to the United States, and right now that path is 
through the northern border where it can be easy to avoid the mere 965 
agents scattered along more than 5,500 miles.
  Those agents are not all on duty at one time. They go through a 
rotational system. They have 8-hour shifts. That means only a third of 
those people are covering the northern border at any given time of day.
  I remind my colleagues that in 1999, Ahmed Ressam, the millennium 
bomber, because he came at the time we were ready to turn to the year 
2000, snuck in through the northern border to kill as many American 
citizens in cold blood as possible. Although we were able to stop Ahmed 
Ressam from carrying out his deadly plans, we do not appear to have 
learned any lessons from this near catastrophe. That incident should 
have been a wake-up call illustrating the vulnerabilities of our 
northern border and the dire need to remedy them. But instead we remain 
complacent, focusing the Senate and the Nation on a more politically 
attractive issue, our southern border. If I am a terrorist seeking to 
commit an act against the United States, I am going to go to the course 
of least resistance. If I have nearly 12,500 border agents at one 
border and 900 some odd in another border, what are my chances? Where 
am I better off, especially when that border is three times the size of 
the southern border? Where am I better off to try to cross to the 
United States and do harm?
  We must never order our security priorities based on the political 
winds of the time. We must examine the evidence and analyze the risks 
and implement the strongest, most appropriate national defense strategy 
that ignores the unfounded, often bigoted fears that currently 
influence the debate. If you are concerned about terrorists, as we all 
should be, you should be concerned about the state of both of our 
borders.
  I urge my colleagues to join with us in pressuring the administration 
to take its border security responsibilities more seriously and to send 
our resources out where we need them. Trying to secure our Nation by 
focusing on only one of two borders is a recipe for disaster. You 
either protect the entire country or you have protected none of it.
  If my Republican colleagues do not join us soon to secure our 
northern border, then I question their motives in past debates on 
immigration. I wonder whether they are more concerned about the 
ethnicity of immigrants crossing the border than the threats they 
present. I hope this newly released GAO report will be a call to action 
for my colleagues from both sides of the aisle. I hope they will 
support efforts to secure our northern border and make our Nation more 
secure. This is too important an issue to allow partisan politics to 
play a role.
  I will continue to fight to secure the northern border, the southern 
border, and all other points of entry, including those by water and by 
aviation. I hope my colleagues will join me. The Nation cannot afford 
anything less.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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