II. Building on Progress
Over the last two years, the Obama Administration has dedicated unprecedented resources to secure the border, taken important steps to make the enforcement of our interior and worksite immigration laws smarter and more effective, and made improvements to the legal immigration system. Our efforts have been enormously successful, but we need comprehensive reform that demands responsibility and accountability from the government, businesses, and immigrants themselves. We cannot solve this problem through enforcement alone; in fact, many important improvements to our immigration system can only be accomplished through legislative action.
Dedicating Unprecedented Resources to Secure the Border
The Obama Administration has dedicated unprecedented resources to securing our borders, which is important for the safety and security of our nation as well as legitimate trade and tourism.
••Putting more “boots on the ground”: Today, the Border Patrol is better staffed than at any time in its 87-year history, having doubled the number of agents from approximately 10,000 in 2004 to more than 20,700 in 2010.
••Increasing investigative resources: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) investigative arm, has increased the number of federal agents deployed on the Southwest border. Currently a quarter of all ICE personnel are in the Southwest border region—the most ever. These additional personnel are working alongside the Department of Justice (DOJ) to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations, to facilitate cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement authorities on investigations and enforcement operations, and to track and prevent cartel violence.
••Stepping up surveillance: For the first time, DHS unmanned aerial capabilities now cover the Southwest border all the way from California to Texas providing critical aerial surveillance assistance to personnel on the ground. DHS has also completed 649 miles of fencing out of nearly 652 miles planned, including 299 miles of vehicle barriers and 350 miles of pedestrian fence, with the remaining 3 miles scheduled to be completed.
••Working with Mexico: The Administration is working with the Government of Mexico to disrupt the transnational criminal organizations that traffic illicit drugs, weapons, and bulk cash, and the interdiction of illicit weapons. These unparalleled efforts have yielded real results. Over the past two and a half years, DHS seized 75 percent more currency, 31 percent more drugs, and 64 percent more weapons along the Southwest border compared to two and a half years of the previous administration.
••Working with Canada: The Administration is working with Canada to enhance joint law enforcement efforts and bolster cross-border security operations. Through the Shiprider Agreement the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, CBP, and ICE are able to cross-train, share resources and personnel, and utilize each others’ vessels in the waters of both countries. These organizations and other federal partners have also continued to collaborate through Integrated Border Enforcement Teams, which work to identify, investigate, and interdict individuals and organizations that may pose a threat to national security or are engaged in organized criminal activity along the Northern border.
••Improvements to the Northern Border: Over the past two years, we have invested in additional Border Patrol agents, technology, and infrastructure. More than 2,200 Border Patrol agents man the Northern border, a 700 percent increase since 9/11. Nearly 3,800 CBP Officers manage the flow of people and goods across Northern ports of entry and crossings. We are modernizing more than 35 land ports of entry to meet our security and operational needs. We have also deployed new technology, including thermal camera systems, mobile surveillance systems, and remote video surveillance systems.
••Promoting economic prosperity along the border: The Obama Administration has made great strides in ensuring that legal trade and travel flows across our borders as quickly as possible by updating infrastructure, reducing wait times, and increasing security. The Administration has expanded the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) trusted shipper program to speed up trade while and ensuring national security. These efforts have proven effective: in FY 10 U.S. exports of goods to Mexico totaled $163.3 billion, an increase of 27 percent over FY 09.
Increasing community outreach: CBP is implementing a national Border Community Liaison Program in each of the 20 Border Patrol Sectors and the Border Patrol Academy. These liaisons will focus primarily on outreach with community groups and will help law enforcement understand the views and concerns of individuals living in border towns.
••Fewer people attempt to illegally cross our borders: Apprehensions of illegal aliens decreased from nearly 724,000 in FY 08 to approximately 463,000 in FY 10, a 36 percent reduction, indicating fewer people are attempting to illegally cross the border. We must continue our efforts to secure the border and protect communities in the Southwest so that these trends continue.
Making Interior and Worksite Enforcement Smarter and More Effective
The Obama Administration has taken critical steps to make interior and worksite enforcement smarter, more effective, and more consistent with our country’s best values by prioritizing the removal of immigrants convicted of crimes and penalizing employers who abuse or exploit workers.
••Setting immigration enforcement priorities: Under the Obama Administration, ICE has developed for the first time since its establishment priorities for immigration enforcement in the interior. In August 2010, ICE issued clear guidance on its civil enforcement priorities, which reflect a focus on the removal of individuals who pose a danger to national security or public safety, with a particular focus on convicted criminals, as well as the removal of recent border violators, those who have been previously deported, and fugitives. As a result, the deportation of aliens with criminal records increased by more than 70 percent in 2010 as compared to 2008.
Creating a more humane detention system: DHS has also invested in implementing critical reforms to the detention system that enhance security and efficiency while prioritizing the health and safety of detainees. A concrete example is the Online Detainee Locator System, a public, Internet-based tool designed to assist family members, attorneys, and other interested parties in locating individuals in DHS custody.
••Victims of crimes: DHS is working to ensure that victims of trafficking and other crimes have access to immigration relief in the form of T and U visas. These visas are available to victims who aid federal, state, and local law enforcement officials in criminal investigations. In FY 10, DHS approved 796 T visas for trafficking victims and their family members—the highest number to date and a 36 percent increase over the prior fiscal year. In FY 10, the 10,000 statutory cap on U visas was reached for the first time- in part because of DHS’s work actively promoting awareness and appropriate use of these visas. The Department of Labor will also be using the U visa program for immigrants who assist in their investigations of abusive employers.
••New worksite enforcement strategy: In April 2009, DHS launched a new worksite enforcement strategy designed to penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal workers and who are involved in related crimes such as trafficking, smuggling, harboring, document fraud, and money laundering. DHS has implemented this strategy through robust use of audits of employment verification records, civil fines and debarment, and by promoting compliance tools. Since January 2009, ICE has audited more than 4,600 employers suspected of hiring illegal labor, debarred 317 companies and individuals, and imposed approximately $61 million in financial sanctions—more than the total amount of audits and debarments than during the entire previous administration.
Making compliance clearer: The Obama Administration has taken steps to make the employment eligibility program clearer and make it simpler for employers to comply with the law. For example, the Administration has made it quicker and easier for employers to confirm a document’s authenticity by issuing final guidance on which documents employers can accept to verify employment eligibility. DHS has also issued a new handbook that walks employers through the I-9 employment verification system and provides clear guidance to ensure they comply with the law and protect their employee’s civil rights.
••Piloting programs for workers to correct their records: The Administration has piloted a new voluntary, free, fast, and secure E-Verify Self Check Program which allows individuals in the United States to access their employment eligibility status and make corrections to their records, if necessary, before applying for jobs.
••Proactively protecting workers and their civil rights: DHS has produced training videos to help inform employees of their rights and responsibilities and established a hotline for employees to file complaints about E-Verify misuse or discrimination, which is accessible in 34 languages. In addition, to address potential concerns, DHS has entered into a new agreement with DOJ to streamline the process for addressing potential cases of discrimination and misuse of the E-Verify program.
