This week the General Accounting Office released testimony by Richard M. Stana, the Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues. His remarks are included in the report “Challenges Facing the Department of Homeland Security in Balancing its Border Security and Trade Facilitation Missions.” The remarks were drawn from statements made before the House Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security. In his testimony, Stana commented on the ability of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP) to balance the nation’s security and commercial needs. This task falls to the BCBP because it consists of elements of the former U.S. Customs Service, the Border Patrol and Inspections, and the former Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, three services that work directly with commercial imports and border security.

Stana says BCBP faces many challenges as the workload of cargo containers begins to increase again after an economic slowdown, in addition to processing hundreds of millions of travelers at the nation’s 300 ports of entry and hundreds of thousands of aliens attempting to cross the border illegally. Stana said the BCBP has made some progress but will need to be diligent as it implements new measures such as the trade processing information system and the new entry-exit system (US VISIT). The transformation of the Department of Homeland Security has been designated as “high risk” because of three factors: the enormous size of the undertaking, the number of components which must be synchronized, and the seriousness of the consequences that could result if such measures fail.

Stana’s testimony can be viewed online at http://www.gao.gov/atext/d03902t.txt

***

Officials have identified the two remaining people who died last month during a smuggling incident in Victoria, Texas. Agents with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, said the two males are Chelve Benitez-Jaramillo and Rogelio Dominguez-Benitez of Mexico. The two men were among 19 immigrants who suffocated inside an abandoned tractor-trailer. There were fifty-five survivors.

***

Members of the San Juan Capistrano immigrant community in California are taking a stand following several arrests by Border Patrol officials. Over 400 people gathered Wednesday to meet with the Mexican consul, lawyers, and a U.S. immigration official about the situation. While arrests by the Border Patrol are a way of life in the city’s immigrant community, by far the largest in southern Orange County, recent stories of terror and fear have led to a community outcry. Last week’s arrest of a man whose children were in school at the time he was taken away seems to have caused the surge of fear and anger. Many undocumented immigrants in the community are remaining home and are finding ways to have other people perform daily tasks in order to avoid contact with the Border Patrol. Border Patrol officials say that the charges are overblown and that agents have not strayed from their usual enforcement activities.