Last week Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the government would speed up the deployment of biometric security measures at the nation's borders, expected to be in place by the end of the year. The Enhanced Border Security Act, enacted last year, requires passports, visas and other travel documents to include biometric information and equipment to read them at port of entry by 2005. In a recent story by the Baltimore Sun, some experts warned that biometric systems are not capable of handling the large scale of activity at the nation's borders. James L. Wayman, a math and biometrics professor at San Jose State University, said he doubts such systems could process the workload at all points of entry. He noted that there are roughly 1 billion border crossings, requiring six times the number of annual searches conducted by the FBI's current fingerprint system, which is the nation's largest existing biometric database. Biometric technology being considered includes iris scanners, facial recognition devices, and even motion analysis and odor sensors. A report by the Government Accounting Office estimates the cost of implementing such technologies at $1.2 billion.
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Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson testified before a Senate subcommittee this week that the Department Of Homeland Security will need a 33% budget increase for the department's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP). Hutchinson told the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that such programs as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the Container Security Initiative (CSI) required funding that would raise the bureau's budget to $6.7 billion in fiscal year 2004.
Hutchinson said the funds will "provide a greater accountability through an integrated border and transportation security organization, create smart borders that are more secure and increase the security of international shipping containers."
In addition to the BCBP, Hutchinson heads the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). These three bureaus are set to receive a total of $18.1 billion in the next fiscal year.
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The families of 14 migrants who died crossing the into the Arizona desert have filed a $42 million lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior. The suit claims federal policy forced the immigrants to enter through a treacherous area known to have little water, and that Humane Borders was refused permission to place a water station "in the exact area" where the crossers died. According to The Arizona Daily Star, the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness Area placed seven Humane Borders flags marking wildlife water stations migrants could use, the day after the bodies were found. Robin Hoover, president of Human Borders, said a request to set up a water station in the area was initially rejected because of concerns for the endangered Sonoran pronghorn antelope. In a letter to Human Borders, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge Manager Donald Tiller said the water station "has been determined to be non-compatible with the goals, objectives and purposes of the refuge."
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Border authorities say they have found a safe and effective solution to stopping "kamikaze smugglers," cars packed with illegal immigrants and drugs that speed across the U.S.-Mexican border. Next week, testing will begin on a new device called the Vehicle Stopping System (VSS), which snares smugglers in high-tech nets. The device is said to stop vehicles so smoothly that the occupant of a car traveling at 50 mph isn't pitched forward. The net also prevents suspects from fleeing because it wraps around the doors of the vehicle, trapping them inside. Officials found that road spikes were not a good solution because they caused vehicles to lose control, injuring innocent people, and because smugglers learned how to drive over the spikes by filling their tires with silicon.
