Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Thursday, December 16, 2010
PREMEDITATED MERGER
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Obama Quietly Erasing Borders
Dem administration advancing
'North American Union' agenda
Posted: December 15, 2010
10:20 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
WorldNetDaily
Acting quietly, below the radar of U.S. public opinion and without congressional approval, the Obama administration is implementing a key policy objective of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, to erase the border with Mexico and Canada.
The administration is acting under a State Department-declared policy initiative described in a March 23 fact sheet titled "United States-Mexico Partnership: A New Border Vision."
"Mexico and the United States have a shared interest in creating a 21st century border that promotes the security and prosperity of both countries," the State Department declared. "The U.S. and Mexican governments have launched a range of initiatives that challenge the traditional view of 'hold the line' and are developing a framework for a new vision of 21st century border management."
At the same time, CTV News in Canada has obtained a draft copy of a declaration between the U.S. and Canada entitled "Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Competitiveness," to be implemented by a newly created Canadian-U.S. "Beyond the Border Working Group."
The two documents strongly suggest the Obama administration is pursuing a stealth bureaucratic methodology to establish a common North American border around the continent, encompassing the U.S., Canada and Mexico, while simultaneously moving to erase the borders between the U.S. and Mexico as well as between the U.S. and Canada.
Under the Bush administration's SPP, the U.S., Mexico and Canada organized some 20 different "shadow government" bureaucratic working groups composed of agency heads and undersecretaries in the three nations. The groups span a wide range of policy areas, from e-commerce, to aviation policy, to borders and immigration, trilateral travel, transportation, energy, environment, food and agriculture, health and financial services.
WND has reported since 2006 that a blueprint published in 2005 by the Council on Foreign Relations entitled "Building a North America Community" called for the establishment of a common security perimeter around North America by 2010 to facilitate the free movement of people, trade and capital between the three nations of North America.
In his 2001 book, "Toward a North American Community," American University professor Robert Pastor, a co-chair of the CFR blue ribbon committee that authored "Building a North American Community," called for the creation of a North American Commission, a North American Parliament, and a North American Court on Trade and Investment.
The language of the documents declaring "A New Border Vision" with Mexico and Canada could easily have been lifted directly from the CFR report or Pastor's book.
The 2005 CFR report "Building a North American Community" called on page xvii of the Foreword for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security perimeter, the boundaries of which would be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter."
CTV News reported that the language of the draft agreement specified that "A New Border Vision" for the U.S. and Canada would involve "a perimeter approach to security, working together within, at, and away from the borders of our two countries in a way that supports economic competitiveness, job creation and prosperity, and in a partnership to enhance our security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people and goods between our two countries."
Similarly, the U.S. State Department fact sheet calling for "A New Border Vision" with Mexico specified five areas of "joint border management, co-responsibility for cross-border crime, and shared commitment to the efficient flow of legal commerce and travel," namely: enhancing public safety, securing flows of people and goods, expediting legitimate commerce and travel, engaging border communities, and setting policy.
Under "setting policy," the State Department fact sheet with Mexico called for achieving rapid policy change through "an agile inter-agency process within each country as well as a means by which both governments can easily coordinate at a bi-national level."
This provides additional support for the conclusion that the bureaucratic "working groups" established under SPP in the Bush administration will continue to operate under Obama administration.
CTV News reported that the draft declaration of "A New Border Vision" with Canada similarly also specified a cross-border policy agenda, including:
- An integrated cargo security strategy;
- A joint approach to port and border security and screening;
- Cross-border sharing of information between law enforcement agencies;
- A closer working relationship between the two militaries in the event of emergencies;
- A new level of collaboration on preventing and recovering from counter attacks.
Affirming the continuance of the working group process, the draft declaration with Canada specifies the U.S. and Canada "intend to address threats at the earliest point possible, including outside the perimeter of our two countries."
The origin of the SPP can be traced to a trilateral summit meeting in Waco, Texas, March 23, 2005, between President George W. Bush, then-Mexican President Vicente Fox and then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
At the end of the Waco summit, the three leaders simply declared that the U.S., Mexico and Canada were now in the Security and Prosperity Partnership, without the signing of any international agreement between the three countries or the ratifying of any trilateral treaty by the U.S. Senate.
The SPP in the administration of President Bush appeared designed to replicate the steps taken in Europe over a 50-year period following the end of World War II to transform an economic agreement under the European Common Market into a full-fledged regional government, operating as the European Union, with its own currency, the euro, functioning as the sole legitimate currency in what has become known as "the eurozone."
The concern was that under the SPP, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, could evolve into a regional government, the North American Union, with a regional currency, the Amero, designed to replace the U.S. dollar, the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar.
WND has reported analysts have believed the North American integration plan will proceed incrementally, largely below the radar, since the SPP was declared "dead" by one of its chief architects, American University Professor Robert A. Pastor, who for nearly 15 years has been a major proponent of building a "North American Community."
Re: Obama Quietly Erasing Borders
Companion Threads:
Construction Begins on Unmanned Checkpoint at Texas-Mexico Border
Published October 24, 2011
| The Wall Street Journal
Construction will begin Monday on an unmanned border checkpoint at Big Bend, a national park in a remote corner of southwest Texas, even as the federal government has been adding agents to patrol other parts of the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
U.S. officials say the crossing, the first of its kind on the southern border, is a concession to trade and tourism in an isolated stretch of hard country where visitors now have to travel a long distance to legally get across the Rio Grande and enter the U.S.
U.S. Customs agents stationed miles away will remotely scan travelers' documents, allowing visitors to pass easily between Big Bend and the Mexican village of Boquillas del Carmen, which has fallen on hard times as beefed-up border security has cut down on U.S. visitors.
Under the plan, surveillance cameras will monitor crossers at the entry point, which will be part of a visitors' center on the U.S. side. Park staff would be available to answer questions, and Border Patrol agents in the area would be on call to intervene if someone tries to skirt the system.
"It's one of the best things that's happened down here in the last several years," said Doug Lant of Terlingua, Texas, a small community just outside the national park. He said he was looking forward to frequenting Boquillas again to reconnect with a friend who ran the burro concession across the river.
Critics fear the absence of border agents will open the door to criminals—from visitors with fake IDs to drug traffickers moving illicit cargo.
"Crooks will find a hole in the defense and that's what an unmanned border point is," said Kent Lundgren, chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, a group that says its mission is to advocate for a safe and secure border.
The number of illegal immigrants apprehended by border agents in the sector that includes Big Bend and stretches all the way to Oklahoma has fallen in recent years from more than 12,000 in 2001 to about 5,300 last year. That was the lowest number of apprehensions in any sector of the Southern border, where almost 450,000 illegal crossers were intercepted in 2010, according to Border Patrol statistics.
The unmanned checkpoint is expected to open in the spring, although U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say plans are subject to change. It comes at a time when Republican presidential candidates are stressing the need for tougher border barriers. Rep. Michele Bachmann recently pledged to complete a fence to block northbound undocumented immigrants if elected president. Rival Herman Cain suggested an electrified wall, though he later said this was a joke.
Re: Obama Quietly Erasing Borders
Obama Administration's Closure of Border Patrol stations across four states triggers alarm
By Judson Berger
Published July 10, 2012
FoxNews.com
The Obama administration is moving to shut down nine Border Patrol stations across four states, triggering a backlash from local law enforcement, members of Congress and Border Patrol agents themselves.
Critics of the move warn the closures will undercut efforts to intercept drug and human traffickers in well-traveled corridors north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Though the affected stations are scattered throughout northern and central Texas, and three other states, the coverage areas still see plenty of illegal immigrant activity -- one soon-to-be-shuttered station in Amarillo, Texas, is right in the middle of the I-40 corridor; another in Riverside, Calif., is outside Los Angeles.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it's closing the stations in order to reassign agents to high-priority areas closer to the border.
"These deactivations are consistent with the strategic goal of securing America's borders, and our objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest of those trying to enter our country illegally," CBP spokesman Bill Brooks said in a statement. "By redeploying and reallocating resources at or near the border, CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission."
But at least one Border Patrol supervisor in Texas has called on local officers to "voice your concerns" to elected officials, warning that the "deactivation" will remove agents from the Texas Panhandle, among other places. Several members of Congress have asked Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher to reconsider the plan. And local officials are getting worried about what will happen once the Border Patrol leaves town, since they rely on those federal officials to assist in making immigration arrests.
"It could impact us tremendously since we've only got two agents up here now for 26 counties," Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas told FoxNews.com.
Potter County, in the Texas Panhandle, would be affected by the planned closure of the Amarillo station.
Thomas said that while his area is far from the border, it's still a major "corridor" for illegal immigrants -- and he said his office depends on Border Patrol to respond to their calls.
"I can't hold a carload of people out there on I-40 for eight hours while somebody comes from El Paso," he said. "I mean, that's just crazy."
Border Patrol's resident agent in charge in Amarillo expressed similar worries, in a recent memo to local law enforcement alerting them to the planned closure. The official, Robert Green, warned that the "entire complement" of two agents would be reassigned from Amarillo to somewhere closer to the border. He said "there is no active plan" right now for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fill the void on assisting local officials with stops.
- SUMMARY
The following Border Patrol stations are set for closure:
- Texas: Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio.
- Idaho: Twin Falls
- Montana: Billings
- California: Riverside
Empathizing with local officials, he wrote: "As a former deputy I found myself on the other end of the radio hoping to contact USBP to assist me with a vehicle full of undocumented foreign nationals on the side of the road."
And in an unusual plea, he urged the recipients of his memo to contact elected officials about the change. "I would encourage you, if you have found USBP assistance valuable in the past, to contact your political representatives and voice your concerns," Green wrote.
The letter was first posted online by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Thomas confirmed to FoxNews.com that he received it. Bob Dane, communications director with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, also said he's confirmed the letter's authenticity with ICE.
CBP later acknowledged the memo, but said in its statement that Green was expressing his "personal opinion."
Lawmakers have started to get involved. Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, who represents Amarillo, joined two other Texas lawmakers whose districts would be affected in asking the Border Patrol chief to "reconsider the proposal."
A letter sent Tuesday to Fisher warned the plan would "leave our area vulnerable." They noted that the Amarillo and Lubbock stations alone, two of those affected, accounted for 638 apprehensions of illegal immigrants just this year.
FAIR also blasted the Obama administration for the plans.
"It's part of the systematic dismantling of both border and interior enforcement," Dane told FoxNews.com. "It complements the non-enforcement policy of this administration."
He warned that local officials in those areas will have a hard time summoning far-away Border Patrol agents to assist, and said the tone of Green's memo was a "not-so-subtle shout-out" that the agency feels "outmanned, outgunned ... by their own government."
The stations set for closure in about six months include six in Texas. They are in: Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio. The other three are in Billings, Mont.; Twin Falls, Idaho; and Riverside, Calif.
Brooks said that the closures do not mean agents will be out of contact.
"Though Border Patrol agents would no longer be located in these areas, the Border Patrol intends to maintain strong and meaningful law enforcement partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies in these areas through continuing to actively share intelligence and information" and other avenues, he said.
Detractors, though, say the changes are part of a pattern. The administration recently announced it would stop deporting young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have not committed a serious crime. And after the Supreme Court upheld one plank of Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law last month, federal officials said ICE would be selective in responding to calls about immigration status - prioritizing cases that meet certain criteria, like whether the suspect is wanted for a felony.
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, who signed the Thornberry letter, also voiced concern about the latest announcement on station closings in a written statement.
"The Department of Homeland Security hasn't demonstrated that sending additional resources to the border will be a more efficient use of resources than maintaining a presence further north," Neugebauer said. "I'd like to see numbers that reassure me that this strategy change won't ultimately result in fewer arrests."
Re: Obama Quietly Erasing Borders
Napolitano defends ‘deferred' deportation policy
Tweet
By Cronkite NewsOriginally published: Jul 20, 2012 - 7:00 am
http://media.bonnint.net/az/27/2737/...r=mynw/300wide zoom
WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday defended the Obama administration's plan to suspend deportation for young, undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children.
Napolitano, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, said the policy would help clear out the backlog of non-priority cases so that her department can focus on criminals, recent border crossers and repeat violators.
Republicans on the committee were not swayed, decrying the policy as "blanket amnesty under the guise of deferred action" that could apply to as many as 1 million people. Napolitano said repeatedly that there is no way of knowing how many people could be affected. "The administration's amnesty agenda is a win for illegal immigrants but a loss for Americans," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the committee chairman.
The policy grants "deferred action" on deportation to individuals under 30 who were brought to the United States under age 16, have been here five years, don't have a criminal record, and are in school, have graduated from high school or earned a GED. It would also give them the opportunity to apply for a two-year work visa.
Napolitano announced the policy June 15 and it was quickly endorsed by President Barack Obama.
Democrats on the committee rallied Thursday behind Napolitano, saying the policy gives young people the chance to "achieve the dream" of citizenship while keeping "high-priority removals" at an all-time high.
But Smith and other Republicans worried that by letting illegal immigrants receive temporary work permits, the policy could end up taking jobs away from Americans.
"With 23 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, this amnesty only makes their lives harder," Smith said.
Napolitano said she thought "deeply" about the issue while writing the memorandum laying out the policy.
"This was an issue I thought about deeply because jobs for Americans are very important," she said.
While there was no "real estimate" of the number of people who could be granted work permits, Napolitano said she ultimately came to the conclusion that the American economy should not be balanced on the backs of children who were brought here.
Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Phoenix, expressed concern that the policy could set a precedent for other agencies to disregard laws.
"What can we do as legislators to make sure that the laws that are passed are actually fully enforced by the executive branch?" he asked.
Napolitano insisted the department is enforcing the laws.
"We've removed more people from this country than any prior administration over a similar time period," she said.
The most heated exchange came when Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, questioned whether the new immigration policy violated the Constitution and congressional authority. He threatened to "take this to court" if the policy is not rescinded.
"There is a separation of power," King said. "The executive branch cannot legislate by executive order or memorandum."
Napolitano defended the policy, saying it fits "within our prosecutorial authorities."
"I will not rescind it," she said. "It is right under the law."
Democrats commended the department for "improving border security" after Napolitano said the administration was taking the most "serious and sustained action to secure the Southwest border in American history."
"For the first time ever, persons with criminal convictions made up more than half of those removals," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. "And more than 90 percent met the administration's enforcement priorities, which includes recent border crossers and repeat violators."
Committee Democrats also voiced support for the new immigration policy.
"I also applaud the administration's decision regarding the young people who are here under the ‘DREAM Act' category," said Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C.
He said the policy recognizes the fact that children who "have no connection to the country from which they were born and no responsibility for bringing themselves into this country" do not deserve to be treated like criminals.
Napolitano said more information about the policy will be released Aug. 1 and that individuals who believe they are eligible for deferred action can start applying on Aug. 15.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Obama to Shut Down Southern Air Defense Systems: “It Will Be Open Season for Terrorists Flying In With Nukes, Low Altitude Missiles, Or Even Full Scale Invasion of America
Mac Slavo
January 23rd, 2013
As the U.S. government continues to expand surveillance and monitoring systems to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars within the borders of the United States, a recent announcement regarding the country’s southern air defense systems is raising eyebrows.
Our southern border is, in part, protected by the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), which utilizes moored balloons hovering at about 15,000 feet to identify low flying aircraft and missiles that may penetrate the border and cross into U.S. airspace.
The system is utilized by the U.S. Air Force, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a number of missions including detection of drug smuggling and preservation of the air sovereignty of the continental United States.
According to Exelis Systems Corporation, the company that built and jointly maintains TARS with the U.S. Air Force, the government has ordered a complete shutdown of Aerostat flight operations:
Quote:
The government also indicated its intent that aerostat flight operations will cease on March 15, 2013, and that the remainder of the fiscal year will be used to deflate aerostats, disposition equipment, and prepare sites for permanent closure. We are currently reviewing all the details of the RfP and evaluating the possible impacts on the program and our workforce. We continue to communicate with the government on this matter, and we will have more information in the coming days and weeks.
An Exelis employee close to the TARS project had this to say about the closure of the sites:
Quote:
“Not only will this closure mean hundreds of people will be out of jobs, but it also means our borders will not be safe, especially along the remote U.S. Mexico Border like in Texas.
These defense radars detect low flying aircraft infiltrating our borders.
Without these defense radars, low flying aircraft will go undetected.
It will be open season for any drug/gun/slave smugglers, terrorists flying in with nukes, low altitude missiles, or even a full scale low elevation invasion/attack against America.”
With China actively and openly deploying Russian-made low altitude strategic bombers, designing EMP weapons capable of disabling the country’s power grid infrastructure, and establishing economic zones within the United States, it’s difficult to imagine the motivation behind the move to further weaken U.S. air defenses on the southern border.
If September 11, 2001 was any indication of our air defense capabilities, and considering that any ground invasion of the United States would originate on our southern border, then wouldn’t we want as many early warning systems as possible to be actively protecting our country in these specific areas?
The U.S. government has chosen to shutdown this outward facing surveillance system, and has instead turned the surveillance inward, on the American people.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
I edited that last one to put in some spaces...
It looks like we want to allow an incoming attack now.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Yep, and thanks for keeping it tidy...tough to do while on the run. :)
I actually wanted to put it in it's own thread because it has so many implications.
Quote:
“Not only will this closure mean hundreds of people will be out of jobs, but it also means our borders will not be safe, especially along the remote U.S. Mexico Border like in Texas.
Quote:
The U.S. government has chosen to shutdown this outward facing surveillance system, and has instead
turned the surveillance inward, on the American people.
With all the things going on in Mexico now why would Obama forcibly takes down our southern cap defenses over border states like Texas and others balking at their new draconian agenda?
When the "event" happens they use the crisis to usher in the next draconian phases to the revolutionary communist plans.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Quote:
With all the things going on in Mexico now why would Obama forcibly takes down our southern cap defenses over border states like Texas and others balking at their new draconian agenda?
When the "event" happens they use the crisis to usher in the next draconian phases to the revolutionary communist plans.
Very good question, one which I can not answer
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Don't worry, it's just so Eric Holder can more effectively send guns to the cartels.
But seriously... :freak2: Wow, that's really all I can say.
ETA: Is this perhaps a move to help weaken Conservative leaning border states with more illegal immigration?
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
States like Texas have a strong conservative base although visibly weaker near it borders with Mexico.
http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img...p2012.main.jpg
For the Administration the Lone Star State of Texas is stronger financially and politically to subdue with just legislation, but what if....
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
THAT is the map I was looking for awhile back. LOOK AT THE RED!
Screw these asses that want our guns.
They are severely outnumbered
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
All the more reason they need more crisis to get their agenda nailed down and rammed through.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Quote:
Our southern border is, in part, protected by the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), which utilizes moored balloons hovering at about 15,000 feet to identify low flying aircraft and missiles that may penetrate the border and cross into U.S. airspace.
Maybe this is off the point, but, seriously? We use balloons as a radar net? Is this truly the best technology available?
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Yes, true.
There are a couple of similar systems in use. The reason being is you can't dedicate satellite technology to finding the planes, large radar systems are vastly more expensive and this is a kind of diversified radar system which, were one to go down, others would be there.
It's cheaper than all the alternatives.
I suspect they are "shutting it down to save money" or perhaps it's becoming obsolete or something - but I have my doubts. If that were truly the case then "Big Government" as lived well past it's prime.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Vector, I happen to know a tad about satellites.
We have plenty up there. Almost NONE of them are "geosynchronous" - which remain in fixed points above Earth looking down on the same spots all the time.
With 90% of our eyes in the sky, they orbit in polar orbits or some other non-synchronous orbit which lets them pass a particular spot only every so many hours (based on the height and type of orbits).
This means that vast swaths of land are NOT being "spied upon" all the time. Not even the CIA can check every place, all the time. They too are limited in using satellite time schedules.
Thus, old or not, the technology meets the needs of the purpose for which it was designed.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
With Malicious Intent – Obama’s Homeland Security Shuts Down Aerial Surveillance of Southern Border…
Posted on November 18, 2016 by sundance
http://thefederalistpapers.integrate...15/07/evil.jpg
In what appears to be a transparent effort to allow unchecked border crossing in the final two month of his presidency, President Obama’s DHS has shut down the aerial surveillance program. Texas Governor Greg Abott goes one step further saying President Obama is doing everything he can to “open the border” for illegals…
https://theconservativetreehouse.fil...trol.jpg?w=640
(Via Watchdog) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security quietly shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that intercepts drugs and illegal crossings along the Mexican border.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, vows to challenge DHS’s move, saying Congress provided “full funding” for 2017. Cuellar, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Homeland Security Subcommittee, is drafting a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson protesting the shutdown.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Cuellar challenged Johnson last February when DHS reduced Phalanx’s flight operations.
This time, Cuellar is seeking reinforcements from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Reps. Mike McCaul, R-San Antonio, and John Carter, R-Round Rock. (read more)
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https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images...E-A_bigger.jpgGreg Abbott
✔@GregAbbott_TX
Obama is doing everything he can to open the border. January 20th can't come soon enough. National Guard remains. http://watchdog.org/282195/border-surveillance-shut-down/ …
1:20 PM - 18 Nov 2016
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DHS shuts down aerial surveillance on border - Watchdog.org
DHS quietly shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that intercepts drugs and illegal crossings along the Mexican border.
watchdog.org
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security quietly shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that intercepts drugs and illegal crossings along the Mexican border.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, vows to challenge DHS’s move, saying Congress provided “full funding” for 2017.
Cuellar, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Homeland Security Subcommittee, is drafting a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson protesting the shutdown.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Cuellar challenged Johnson last February when DHS reduced Phalanx’s flight operations.
This time, Cuellar is seeking reinforcements from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Reps. Mike McCaul, R-San Antonio, and John Carter, R-Round Rock.
Cornyn sits on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security and the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security panel. McCaul chairs the Homeland Security Committee in the House and Carter chairs the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
Abbott’s office declined to comment; Cornyn and Carter did not respond to requests for comment.
McCaul, who referred questions to the Homeland Security Committee, previously called on DHS to “develop a strategy to gain operational control” of the border.
“Over the last several years, Congress has provided billions of dollars to secure the borders, but without an end goal in mind,” McCaul said in a statement.
McCaul has authored legislation “to require the [DHS] secretary to gain situational awareness through the use of sophisticated technologies and other means, giving our border agents the ability to predict changes in illegal activity. “
DHS, which did not respond to Watchdog’s request for comment by deadline, asserts that illegal crossings have declined along the Texas-Mexico border.
But U.S. Border Patrol reports show that apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley rose 27 percent in fiscal 2016 versus fiscal 2015.
In the smaller Laredo sector, Operation Phalanx accounted for 10,559 apprehensions and 4,007 “turnbacks” from March 2012 to December 2015. Phalanx was credited with seizing 12,851 pounds of narcotics during the period.
President Barack Obama established Operation Phalanx in July 2010 via executive order. The Army National Guard was authorized to provide up to 1,200 soldiers and airmen along the 1,933-mile southwest border to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a DHS agency.
Using advanced UH-72 helicopters, Phalanx flight crews generally consist of three National Guardsmen — two pilots and a sensor operator — and one Border Patrol agent.
Southwest border states of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico provided the bulk of Phalanx personnel from their local Guard units.
In addition to Texas National Guard manpower and resources dedicated to Operation Phalanx, the Lone Star State has committed nearly $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to border enforcement since 2005.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to appoint more robust leadership at DHS, so Operation Phalanx could be back in business by January.
Re: Obama Administration is Quietly Erasing US Borders
Just like an enemy saboteur, he's doing as much damage as he can before he's driven out.
