Border securityQuestions raised about “border security surge”

This week the Senate will decide whether to approve the immigration legislation drafted by a bi-partisan group of senators. A border provision in the bill calls for adding $30 billion for additional security measures along the southern border, including hiring 20,000 more border security agents.

Some lawmakers are not convinced the boost in funding will lead to significant decline  in illegal border crossers.

The L.A. Times reports that in the 2012 fiscal year, border agencies received a combined $18 billion in funding, which was more than the FBI, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives combined.

Increased border security funding over the past decade has contributed to decreasing the number of illegal border crossers, but some argue that rather than keep writing bigger checks, the federal government should do a better job  managing the staff and assets already in place.

“We don’t need more people, we need the proper employment of resources,” George Joyal, a retired U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer told the L.A. Times.

“I don’t see that as giving us more security” Joyal added. “It’s impossible to be 100% secure. Just how safe are you going to get and at what price?”

In Texas, people are more optimistic about the Senate plan.

“Boots on the ground and technology are always appreciated,” Susan Durham, executive director of the South Texans’ Property Rights Association told the Times. “Anything to improve border security in a smart way is good.”

Chris Cabrera, a border agent in McAllen, Texas, told the Times there has been an increase in crossers in his section in the last eight months, and that the added staff could be a good thing. As of 31 May, Cabrera’s sector has apprehended 93,923 people, while facing reductions in overtime.

“Down here we’re getting hit hard and they don’t want to throw anything at it,” Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 Union, which has more than 1,000 members told the Times. “You could never go wrong with more manpower — I guess you could over-saturate it, but we’re nowhere near that.”

Cabrera notes, however, that just adding agents is not enough. He said border agents have been unable to patrol due to fuel shortages and have suffered from cutbacks in training and replacement vehicles.

“We don’t have money for what we have now; I don’t know how we’re going to have it for more manpower,” Cabrera added.

Experts in border security say that, in the end, more money and more technology are not going to stop those determined to cross. Immigrants have always found ways to beat technology and get across the border.

“People invent new ways of entering — tunneling, cutting border fences, taking to the ocean,” Kelly Lytle Hernandez, an associate professor of history at UCLA, told the Times. “If you don’t understand how many times we’ve tried this and failed, it all sounds like a good idea — amnesty and border security. But we always find ourselves years later with the same problem.”

A few years ago, DHS secretary Janet Napolitano, who came to the office after being governor of Arizona, expressed a similar view when she said that “For every 10-foot fence, there is someone with 12-foot ladder.”