Featured Issue: Border Security

The past decade has been marked by a dramatic buildup of border security and the expenditure of enormous resources on border personnel, border infrastructure and surveillance. Nonetheless, lawmakers continue to emphasize resource-heavy approaches that are premised on a strategy of making the border impenetrable, or nearly so. But, the border is more secure than ever before. Border apprehensions are at the lowest point in four decades, and the unauthorized population has fallen by eight percent since 2006.

This is the time to identify clear and reasonable border security goals that move beyond strategies focused solely on increasing spending at the Southern border. An effective border security plan must be based on performance metrics and measurable standards of border safety that are both achievable and fiscally responsible.

• Apprehension and Removal Information
• CRCL Complaint on CBP's Systemic Denial of Entry to Asylum Seekers
• CBP Body Worn Camera Feasibility Study
• Operation Streamline
• Border Security - AILA's Position and Pending Legislation
• Additional Resources

Apprehension and Removal Information

• AILA issued an Immigration Policy Update on the Major Shift in Migration to America’s Southern Border to provide information on ICE’s enforcement data that reflects a decreased of apprehensions in FY2016, roughly one-third of what they were 15 years ago, as well as context on the major factors that contribute to the shift – October 25, 2016
• AILA issued an Immigration Policy Update on “Catch and Release” to respond to increased attention in the media that arose after Donald Trump claimed that President Obama revived the practice of “catch and release.” AILA’s update examines the Obama administration’s border security, detention, and removal practices – September 8, 2016
• DHS released a statement by DHS Secretary Johnson on Southwest Border Security, which includes FY2016 statistics on southwest border apprehensions. Total apprehensions by the Border Patrol increased from FY2015 and Central Americans apprehended on the southern border outnumbered Mexicans – October 17, 2016
• AILA's Take On Immigration Enforcement provides information on ICE's enforcement data that reflects a decreased in removal numbers in FY2015 compared to last year's numbers, as well as context on the major factors that contribute to the shift - December 23, 2015
• DHS released its end of year statistics for FY2015. In FY2015, ICE removed or returned a total 235,413 individuals, and CBP made 337,117 apprehensions nationwide.

CRCL Complaint on CBP's Systemic Denial of Entry to Asylum Seekers

• Press Statement: Complaint Filed as Customs and Border Protection Turns Away Asylum Seekers - January 18, 2017
• CRCL Complaint on CBP's Systemic Denial of Entry to Asylum Seekers - January 18, 2017
• Sign-On Letter to IACHR Requesting Hearing on Access to Asylum in the U.S. - January 15, 2017

CBP Body Worn Camera Feasibility Study

• CBP Requests Quotes to Purchase Body-Worn and Vehicle-Mounted Cameras – September 14, 2016
• Sign-on Letter Urging CBP to Implement the Body-Worn Cameras Program - December 18, 2015
• AILA: CBP Drags its Heels on Body-Worn Cameras, Endangering Lives - November 12, 2015
• CBP Announces Decision to Expand Use of Cameras In and Around the Border Environment - November 12, 2015
• CBP Released Body-Worn Camera Feasibility Study Report - August 1, 2015
• CBP Completes Phase II of the Body-Worn Camera Feasibility Study - July 23, 2015
• CBP Statement on Phase II of Body Worn Camera Feasibility Study - February 20, 2015

Operation Streamline

On 2/10/15, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs passed a resolution that would reserve Operation Streamline (S. Res. 104). The resolution was introduced by Senator Flake (R-AZ) in March 2015.

• AILA's Take on Operation Streamline - June 19, 2015
• Sign-on Letter to Attorney General Opposing Criminal Prosecution of Asylum Seekers - July 28, 2015
• DHS OIG Report on CBP's Streamline and Its Effect on Illegal Border Crossing - May 15, 2015

Border Security - AILA's Position and Pending Legislation

• AILA’s Comment on Sentencing Guidelines for Illegal Entry and Smuggling – March 21, 2016
• Environmental Organizations Oppose S. 750
• National Sign-On Letter Opposing S. 750
• AILA’s Take on the 2015 Border Bills
• H.R. 399: Secure Our Borders First Act of 2015
• S.208 Secure the Border First Act of 2015
• AILA: H.R. 1153 Would Dramatically Alter U.S. Asylum and Humanitarian Protections
• AILA’s Summary of H.R. 1417 – Border Security Results Act of 2013
• AILA's Take on Border in S.744
• AILA Statement for House Judiciary Hearing on Asylum Fraud
• Senate Passes Vitally Important Compromise Immigration Reform Bill
• AILA Lauds Senate Negotiators' Compromise But Notes Concerns on Impact
• AILA Report: "Border Security: Moving Beyond Past Benchmarks"

Additional Resources

• GAO Testimony on Additional Actions Needed to Assess Resource Deployment and Progress on Southwest Border for the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security - March 1, 2016
• Politico Magazine: The Green Monster: How Border Patrol became America's most out-of-control Law Enforcement Agency - November 17, 2014
• Bordering on Criminal: The Routine Abuse of Migrants in the Removal System, a two-part series from the American Immigration Council. - December 10, 2013
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entitled "CRS Report on Understanding Threats at U.S. Borders" on potential border threats and summarizing what is known about their likelihood and potential consequences. - March 12, 2013