• CPB’s translation assistance to other agencies questioned

    An alliance of immigration advocacy groups says that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has an agenda of its own when it provides translation assistance to other law enforcement agencies and participate in 911 dispatch activities along the U.S.-Canada border: to question individuals about their immigration status and, in many cases, initiate removal proceedings

  • New approach to U.S. border security

    CBP has unveiled a new approach to securing the U.S.-Mexico border; the new strategy puts less emphasis on technology, and more on risk analysis; the Border Patrol believes it now knows enough about those who try to cross the border to begin imposing more serious consequences on almost everyone the agency catches; in January the Border Patrol expanded its Consequence Delivery System to the entire border, dividing border crossers into seven categories, ranging from first-time offenders to people with criminal records

  • Increasing effectiveness of border patrols by making them random

    A new study finds that combining historical data on illegal border crossings with unpredictability and randomness of patrols would be the most effective approach to increase interdiction of illegal border crossers

  • New app cuts travelers wait times at U.S. border crossings

    Nearly 340,000 people travel every day through the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, and Tecate border crossings linking California and Mexico’s Baja California;  more than eight million trips across the border are lost because travelers are unwilling to deal with the congestion and an average wait time of forty-five minutes; a new app addresses the problem

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  • SFO launches program to battle human traffickers

    San Francisco International Airport is now home to the first program in the nation that trains airport personnel in identifying and stopping human traffickers

  • DHS to propose visa exit tracking system

    DHS is in the midst of completing its plan to establish a biometric exit system for immigrants when they leave the United States; the plan has been devised amid growing concerns about terrorists who entered the country legally, but continue to stay long after their visas had expired

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  • U.K. police learning to battle cartels in El Paso

    This week law enforcement officers from the United Kingdom are in El Paso, Texas to train with DHS; the special agents from the U.K.’s Serious Organized Crime Agency are in town specifically to learn how to combat the growing threat of trafficking

  • Religious affiliation of international migrants

    An estimated 214 million people — about 3 percent of the world’s population — have migrated across international borders as of 2010; the percentage may seem small, if the migrants were counted as one nation, they would constitute the fifth most populous country in the world, just behind Indonesia and ahead of Brazil

  • Verifying passengers’ identity

    The cruise industry has been expanding at a rate of more than 7 percent annually in the past few years, resulting in bigger ships, more destinations, more on-board/on-shore activities, and more passengers – making it more difficult to keep track of passengers

  • CBP considers expanding unmanned checkpoints along southern border

    Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials are considering introducing more unmanned checkpoints at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border

  • A Monumental diversion: put money into border ports of entry

    While the new 650 mile wall between Mexico and the United States draws much media and public attention, border Ports of Entry (POE) are the real problem; we might feel safer believing that the border wall has been constructed, but fundamental challenges remain that call into question the viability of our communities throughout the nation; in many ways the monumental border wall is a monumental diversion

  • Border Patrol begins construction on outpost in remote corner of N.M.

    In New Mexico’s remote Bootheel region, drug smugglers and illegal border crossers will no longer be able to slip through undetected by Border Patrol agents; U.S. Border Patrol recently announced that it was building a new outpost in one of the last unguarded regions along the southwestern border

  • Invaders wreak havoc on U.S. ecosystems

    In the decade since the 9/11 attacks, DHS’ focus on combatting terrorism has left some of its core agencies ill-equipped to perform its other missions, namely the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) ability to prevent invasive plants and insects from entering the United States and wreaking havoc on crops

  • Battling smugglers along Canadian border

    To help stem the flow of drugs across the porous northern border, federal authorities are working closely with tribal law enforcement agencies on Native American lands near Canada, providing equipment and training

  • Was/is border National Guard really worth it?

    Since 2006, National Guard troops have been deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border under the assumption that they would help bolster security; with little training, Congressional oversight, or analysis, it is difficult to say how effective the National Guard Troops were; $1.35 billion later, was it really worth it?; as Congress authorizes another $60 million to keep troops stationed along the border, we must ask once more, was it really worth it?