Border Security

By Editorial Team , 17 December 2006

Is the Department of Homeland Security “TECH Challenged?”

With all the reports of high-tech surveillance by the government, one would think that the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security (DOH), must be teeming with “tech geeks” that would make Bill Gates proud. Unfortunately, the reality may be the opposite: at least if we judge by DOH’s recent decision to throw up its hands and give up on even trying to track something as basic as who has entered and who has departed the U.S. through major land border crossings.

Border Security

Overview. Border security describes the screening, data and inspection systems that determine who physically reaches the United States and who is allowed in. For a traveler it has two faces. One is the apparatus that operates before arrival: passenger data sent ahead by carriers, watchlist and records checks, travel authorizations and enrollment programs. The other is the inspection at the port of entry, where a single officer decides whether admission occurs at all. The second is the one that decides a trip, and it is far less automatic than most travelers expect.

By Editorial Team , 27 October 2006

In signing Fence law, President Bush stressed need for new temporary worker plan to "reduce pressure on our border".

In signing the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (H.R. 6061), legislation, President Bush stressed that the fence with Mexico is at most only part of the solution to the illegal immigration problem, and that a temporary worker plan is needed to "reduce pressure on our border". President Bush stated:

By Editorial Team , 19 October 2006

Border 'passport cards' could cost $20

Under a new government proposal, U.S. citizens who frequently go back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico or Canada would pay $20 for a new credit card-sized travel document they could use instead of a passport.

» original article

Enforcement

Overview. Immigration enforcement is the set of powers the federal government uses to decide who may enter the United States, to police compliance once a person is here, and to compel departure when the law is not satisfied. Most of it is civil rather than criminal, and most of it is administered by executive agencies rather than by the ordinary federal courts.