Fellow Security Debrief blogger David Olive wrote recently about the conflicting messages and mandates that flow from the 86 conflicting and contending homeland security committees in Congress. The latest example of this Hamlet-like system of self-contradiction comes from the House Appropriations Committee, which complains that US Immigration and Enforcement spends too much time on … well, immigration enforcement.

ImmigrationProf Blog: GAO on Border Security
The U.S. General Accountability Office has issued a report on border security, which RA boogged about earlier today, which cautions that: “The potential elimination or suspension of the Visa Waiver Program could cause dramatic increases in the demand for nonimmigrant visas that could overwhelm visa operations in the near term. [...]

The DHS announcement today awarding REAL ID grants seems to be a positive step in meeting the recommendation of the 9-11 Commission to make identification documents more secure. With the adoption of a “verification hub” approach, where states work with other states to verify identities, DHS is letting the folks who issue driver licenses control their own processes – previously a source of irritation for many Governors.

The ongoing bipolar inconsistency of the U.S. Congress — that institution responsible for drafting our laws on immigration, among other things — was once again on display this past week. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey kicked it off with a harangue in which he accused federal immigration agents of everything from racism to general rudeness. Why? For enforcing the laws that Congress passed.

Much has been written and discussed in the past few weeks regarding the medical care of detainees held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. I don’t know how to avoid coming off as an insensitive, cold and heartless human being in coming to the defense of ICE and the management of its detainee health care program but I’ll give it a try.

Folks in Washington think that they not only have all the answers, they think they don’t have to leave town to get them. They’re wrong - Washington does not have all the answers. There is no issue that that truism is truer for than understanding the challenge of securing the nation’s broken borders. And, there is no place to understand border problems better than Nogales, Arizona.

I’m surprised not to have seen reporting in the mainstream or at least security-oriented media about a significant leadership change at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The long-time No. 2 man at ICE, John Clark, recently retired and was succeeded by John Torres, a very respected agent who has held a number of leadership positions at ICE. The change is more important than individuals only; it represents a significant evolution for ICE as a cohesive and maturing law enforcement agency.

On Wednesday (May 28, 2008), ABC Television announced that it will be broadcasting a series that will “focus on the efforts of border protection agencies to halt illegal smuggling and immigration.” Entitled “Border Security USA,” the series will cover operations around the US with Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) Officers, US Coast Guard, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other parts of the Department of Homeland Security that work to safeguard the nation. Working with DHS, the show’s cameras will be given unprecedented access to take viewers along for the ride to see what these people do, how they do it and what difference they make.

Cato-at-liberty » E-Verify Debunking Exposes Debunking Errors
Congratulations are due once again to the Department of Homeland Security for engaging in open dialogue about its programs, even controversial ones like “E-Verify” — a system that Congress may require all U.S. employers to use for running federal background checks on every single new employee.
Openness is healthy, and [...]

Spencer Hsu has a good article in the Washington Post that highlights the political schizophrenia that exists among the political class in this country with regard to illegal immigration. In the abstract, the majority of Americans demand that government crackdown on illegal immigration. In the concrete reality of such crackdowns, American communities and local economies can be gravely disrupted, producing inevitable outcries from local politicians.

From DHS Leadership Journal:
Baker: “E-Verify is simple, free, and highly effective in preventing illegal work. It works, and maybe that’s what the interests arrayed against E-Verify don’t like. Whatever the reason, opponents of E-Verify have resorted to charges that just don’t hold up. In this series, I debunk the myths.”

Recently, I came across an editorial titled “Vigilantes at ICE” that was critical of ICE worksite enforcement initiatives, indicating that the agency was operating outside its intended mission - national security - and specifically, was failing in its goal to protect the U.S. from the next terrorist attack. The editorial was personally insulting to me and greatly mis-represented reality. Although resources are limited, no one has forgotten the “core mission” of national security that is the number one priority for ICE and the Department as a whole.

Despite the stereotypes in the media, not every terrorist is going to look like he or she comes from Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. They don’t have official “Member of the International Brotherhood of Terrorism” identification cards. They will say things like, “I just need to get a job to feed my family” rather than “Will you help sneak me across the border so that I can blow up the Pentagon?” They will look like Middle Eastern in some cases, yes, but they will also look German or French or Canadian or American or Mexican in others. They will look like me and you.

Harris writes: “Increased airport security and scrutiny of foreign visitors are not the primary causes of America’s global image problem. The excesses of Abu Ghraib, the existence of the Guantanamo prison (which all the presidential candidates say they want to shutter) and our controversial and passionately debated interrogation practices have done more to diminish our global standing than some gruff Customs officials or aggressive airport security personnel.”

Seven years after the horror of September 11th, these cultural sophisticates exude a kind of national-security ennui, bored with the hassles of visa paperwork and ready to go back to the way it was on September 10th. For them, even common-sense security measures are viewed with resentment and are held up as evidence that America is no longer that shining city on a hill but one turned inward with in fear and loathing.

Law.com - Posner Blasts Immigration Courts as ‘Inadequate’ and Ill-Trained
Posner, who sits on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said administrative law judges who serve in the immigration courts are ill-trained and insufficient in number. He also said the bar that represents applicants doesn’t have enough qualified lawyers, and that the Board of Immigration [...]

To listen to the paranoid debate now taking place over the REAL ID Act in Congress, some state legislatures and the blogosphere, one might think that this legislation was some Bush administration plot to create a national identity card and spy on innocent Americans. The reality is much more serious and mundane. In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombings and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there is a need to set some kind of minimum standards to ensure that driver’s licenses and other forms of government-issued identification cannot be tampered with and used by terrorists.

What is it with some American politicians and their fawning over terrorists? Has 9/11 become blasé? Jimmy Carter goes on a highly publicized Terror Tourism trip to sit at the feet of Hamas. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley pronounces Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers a “distinguished” and “valued” member of the Chicago community.

Headlines around the world have reported on the growing crisis over food shortages and the spiraling costs of everyday staples that are putting hunger on the plates of people who have never experienced it. Rice shortages in the Philippines and this past weekend’s food riots in Haiti are just two stories in what is quickly becoming a very dangerous situation – in the short term and most certainly the long term.

As we look toward November, this will be the first Presidential election in recent times where one of the key issues debated will be immigration reform and the most effective way to secure the border – in particular the southern border. Right now some Members of Congress and allied interest groups are busy framing border security in the political terms most advantageous to their own partisan interests. Specifically, activists who oppose NAFTA and immigration reform have a vested interest in undercutting DHS’s policies and programs that will reduce chaos, enhance security and support increased legal trade.