Border securitySen. Rubio proposes that Congress, not DHS, devise border security plan

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), a member of the bipartisan group which drafted the immigration bill which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and which will be brought to the floor of the Senate next week, is working on a proposal which will dramatically change the approach to assessing border security in the bill.

The immigration reform bill stipulates that the illegal immigrants currently in the United States would embark on the path to citizenship once the U.S.-Mexico border has been secured. The stipulation aims to prevent the promise of a path to citizenship from serving as a magnet to new waves of illegal immigrants. The bill posits that those arriving in the country illegally after 31 December 2011 would not be entitled to the bill’s benefits, but critics of the bill say political pressures would likely see this cut-off date replaced by rolling deadlines.

Making the border secure, so it will be nearly impossible for people illegally to cross into the United States, is thus a preconditions for allowing illegal immigrants already in the United States to start on the path to citizenship.

One of the major issues has thus been how will border security be measured, and who will make a determination as to whether border security has reached a point which would allow the immigration reform bill to kick in.

The bill now has DHS entrusted with the responsibility of devising a border security plan and determining whether the plan has been adequately implemented.

Rubio proposes that Congress would assume these responsibilities, saying that the current plan for borer security is not robust enough to convince many Republican lawmakers to support the immigration bill.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the bill would provide $4.5 billion for more drones, Border Patrol agents, fencing, and other security measures along the southern border. The bill also requires DHS to develop a border security plan leading to an effective control of 90% of the southern border..

“The problem is people do not trust this administration and the federal government in general to do the law,” Rubio said during a recent interview on Fox News. “Maybe the solution is to actually have Congress write that plan for them.”

Rubio has taken heat from some Republicans for his role in immigration reform, and one way for him to address such criticism has been to push for more border security. Thus, he was successful in expanding the requirement for effective border control to all sections of the border, from the original version of the bill, which called for such control only in the border areas with the heaviest volume of illegal crossing.

There is no reason to believe that Rubio’s efforts to tweak the bill so it appeals to more Republicans will not succeed. The Times notes that Democratic and Republican lawmakers have already successfully negotiated border-related agreements. Thus, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) reached a compromise to limit the use of Border Patrol drones to a strip of several miles from the border. This agreement meets Feinstein’s concern for drone violations of privacy in populated areas along the border, such as San Diego, and satisfies Cornyn’s preferences for broader drone surveillance zone in Texas.

“If we can figure out a way to write a bill that ensures the border will be secure, I believe immigration reform will happen,” Rubio told Fox News. “If we cannot do that, or fail to do that, I do not believe immigration reform can — or should — happen.”