Half-Assed! New Technology Suggests Less Than 50% of Border Crossers Are Caught

Big Mamma, Director of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano said recently, "We are confident that the border is as secure as it has ever been, but there is no one number that captures that."  Thanks to the LA Times we have a much better idea of what she means.  If Napolitano is correct an the border is as secure as it has ever been, then the border has never been very secure.

According to the LA Times the number of "gotaways," as the Border Patrol calls those who escape apprehension, is both more precise and higher than Big Mamma admits.

Thanks to technology, we know have a much better idea of the border situation. DHS is using a sophisticated airborne radar system originally developed to track Taliban fighters planting roadside bombs in Afghanistan to reveal gaps in security.

Operated from a Predator surveillance drone, the radar system has collected evidence that Border Patrol agents apprehended fewer than half of the foreign migrants and smugglers who had illegally crossed into a 150-square-mile stretch of southern Arizona.

According to internal reports, Border Patrol agents used the airborne radar to help find and detain 1,874 people in the Sonora Desert between Oct. 1 and Jan. 17. But the radar system spotted an additional 1,962 people in the same area who evaded arrest and disappeared into the United States.

In contrast to the 49% success rate reported by the radar system, the Government Accountability Office estimated in January that the Border Patrol had caught 64% of those who illegally that same stretch of border in 2011.

The radar is sharp enough to detect and track individuals on foot from a Predator five miles overhead. It uses a synthetic aperture radar to collect high-contrast black-and-white images and to follow scores of moving targets in real time. The processed signals are transmitted from the drone to a ground station, where the figures are displayed as moving dots on a detailed map.

"It's a match made in heaven for border security," said a former U.S. law enforcement official.

The head of the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Union Chris Crane agrees that the borders are not secure. He recently blasted the "Gang of Eight Immigration Plan."

The plan of the Gang of Eight appears to be legalization or amnesty first, and then enforcement," Crane said. "That's a big problem for us."

Crane warned that the current framework appears to do nothing to enhance interior enforcement, which is the charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "If we don't take care of the enforcement part of this first, it will never happen. The only thing that will happen will be that 11 million illegal aliens will be legalized, and 10 to 20 years from now the nation will again be facing the influx of another 10 to 20 million illegal aliens," he said.

Crane said the government needs to stop picking and choosing which immigration laws to enforce. "Until this behavior has been addressed, until it's been stopped, the American public should not have any confidence in or support any legislation put forth by the president or anyone in Congress," he said.

Crane and his union recently asked to be included in negotiations toward an immigration overhaul bill but so far have not been invited. Crane voiced concern in a recent letter to the senators that "the last four years have been a roller-coaster of ever-changing arrest authorities" that often force officers to violate the law.

It is clearer than every the reasons the Democrats want to ram through the immigration bill as soon as its ready...they are afraid the truths such as those above will be exposed to the public.  It is just as clear that no immigration bill, good or bad, should be voted upon until there is a full hearing in each house of Congress.  Anything less than a full and transparent hearing has the very real potential of being harmful to the future of this nation.