SENATE IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE HOLDS HEARINGS ON BORDER SECURITY

The Senate Immigration Subcommittee this week held a hearing on US border security focusing on the border with Canada.  This hearing follows the December 1999 arrests of several people attempting to cross the border who were linked to terrorist groups, and, as may have been expected, the tone of the hearing favored increasing the government’s forces along the border.

Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI), chairman of the committee, criticized the Clinton administration’s proposal to hire only 430 new Border Patrol agents during fiscal year 2001.  Abraham proposed hiring an addition 900 agents, as well as 900 new Customs Service agents.  Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), who wondered why so many agents are transferred from the Canadian border to the Mexican border, which is staffed by about 8,000 agents, echoed his concerns.  He also stated that the situation at the northern border is compromising the national security of the country.

According to statistics presented by Michael Pearson, executive associate commissioner of the INS, the concern about the northern border may be overstated.  While apprehensions at the northern border account for only one percent of all INS stops, about four percent of all Border Patrol agents are stationed there.