Border Patrol officials in Texas and Arizona have started a program to shuttle undocumented immigrants to El Paso and three other Texas border towns, to be sent back across the border to Mexico, every other day. The program is intended to save lives, officials said, keeping immigrants from the dangers of the Arizona desert.

El Paso Mayor Joe Wardy said those shuttled back will want to return to the United States. "They'll make all efforts to come back. I understand: It's their future."

The Lateral Repatriation Program was started last week and is expected to transport about 300 undocumented immigrants a day. On Monday, 153 undocumented immigrants were flown to El Paso International Airport and were put on buses headed for the Paso Del Norte Bridge, where they were turned over to Mexican consulate officials and released.

According to the El Paso Times, border patrol agents in the Tucson sector catch an average of 1,100 migrants a day.

Officials said they acknowledge that the repatriated immigrants may try to cross into the United States again, but say the program was designed primarily to save lives. In the past 12 months, 146 deaths occurred in the Tucson and Yuma sections of the Arizona border with Mexico, mostly from heat exposure and dehydration.

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The General Accounting Office has released two studies recently that are critical of the current state of homeland security. The first, titled “Efforts to Improve Information Sharing Need To Be Strengthened,” finds that the immigration services agencies are not yet working in concert by efficiently sharing information that could prevent terrorism. It is online at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-760. The second study, “Land Border Ports Of Entry: Vulnerabilities and Inefficiencies in the Inspections Process,” points out areas of weakness at the nation’s borders due to an inadequate inspections process, mostly due to lack of time and training, which raises the risk of unlawful entry. It is online at http: http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-1084R

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Texas business leaders are asking the government to explain how the entry-exit control system can lengthen visa time periods for Mexican Visitors. The McAllen Chamber of Commerce, McAllen Economic Development Corp. and Phoenix-based Border Trade Alliance hosted an information session Wednesday on the impact of homeland security on the Rio Grande Valley. The organizations voiced support for providing equality to traveling Canadian and Mexican residents, offering a better visa and inspection system for people working on the border and creating a visa program for retired workers. The US VISIT system, which covers all air, land and seaports of entry, is supposed to be in full operation by December 31, 2005.

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US Customs and Border Protection will soon issue a single uniform to all bridge inspectors for all sectors of the agency, and they have already been introduced at airports in Dallas and Washington D.C. Part of operation "One Face at the Border," the uniform policy will be followed by cross-training. The new training will "allow officers to perform all of the work that takes place in the passenger environment (both primary and secondary functions) and most of the work that takes place in the cargo environment." Department of Homeland Security officials expect trade and travel times to be expedited, since most travelers will interface with only one officer, rather than three.