Winning the War on Terror

Port Security

The possibility that terrorists could use the nation’s maritime port system to smuggle weapons, biological or chemical agents or illegal aliens into the country was a threat that needs to be minimized.

Over 9.6 million maritime cargo containers entered the United States in fiscal year 2004;  roughly 26,000 every day. (“Container Security Initiative Fact Sheet,” U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, March 2006).  The Port is a critical part of the economic infrastructure of the First Congressional District and our port security needs to be maintained and protected.
 
The responsibility for ensuring the nation’s ports remain safe is primarily that of the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Coast Guard’s mission is to support national security interest in the nation’s ports, waterways, and coastline and its jurisdiction extends into international waters. The Coast Guard is the federal agency fundamentally responsible for maritime security.

The Coast Guard’s homeland security mission includes:
• Ports, waterways, and coastal security
• Drug interdiction
• Migrant interdiction
• Defense readiness
• Other law enforcement.

The Coast Guard is also tasked with several non-homeland security related responsibilities.  Those non-homeland security missions include marine safety, search and rescue, aids to navigation, living marine resources (fisheries law enforcement), marine environmental protection, and ice operations. (Homeland Security: Coast Guard Operations, CRS, 6/30/05)

Since Sept. 11, 2001, overall port security funding has increased by over 700 percent, up from $259 million in fiscal year 2001 to $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2005.

9/11 Commission Report

The Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2003 (P.L. 107-306) called for the creation of an independent commission to review events and information relating to the September 11 attacks and recommend changes to the organization and operations of the U.S. intelligence community.  Few aspects of the government were immune to its criticism:

• Unsuccessful diplomacy
• Lack of military options
• Problems with intelligence community
• Problems in the Federal Bureau of Investigations
• Permeable Borders and Immigration Controls
• Permeable Aviation Security
• Financing
• An improvised homeland defense
• Emergency response
• Congress

Per its Congressional mandate, the Commission made 37 recommendations to improve the nation’s protection against future terrorist attacks. The recommendations support three primary goals:

• Attack terrorists and their organizations.
• Prevent the continued growth of Islamist terrorism.
• Protect against and prepare for terrorist attacks.

The Commission also proposed a five-part plan to implement these goals:

• Closing the foreign-domestic divide by linking intelligence and operational planning in a new National Counterterrorism Center
  
• Bringing the intelligence community together under a National Intelligence Director and national intelligence centers
  
• Encouraging information sharing through government through decentralized networks
  
• Centralizing and strengthening congressional oversight of intelligence and homeland
  security issues
  
• Strengthening the national security workforce within the FBI and clarifying the missions of the departments of Defense and Homeland Security

IMMIGRATION REFORM

 The Need for Reform

• The total number of illegal immigrants in the United States at any one time is unknown, however the Pew Hispanic Center puts the number of illegal immigrants in the United States in March 2006 between 11.5 and 12 million, up from 11.1 million one year prior. (Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S., Pew Hispanic Center, 3/7/06).
  
• In FY2005, immigration courts processed only 368,848 cases. While that number is up 31 percent since FY2001, it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people in the country without proper authorization. (FY2005 Statistical Yearbook,Department of Justice, Executive Office of Immigration Review, February 2006)
  
• The number of non-Mexicans attempting to enter the United States without the appropriate authorization and intercepted by Border Patrol increased 219 percent between FY2004 and FY2005. In 2005, 165,175 non-Mexicans were detained at the border. (CBP Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Security and Safety of U.S. Citizens Living Along the U.S./Mexican Border,” 11/17/05)
  
• In 2005 alone, 36 percent of illegal aliens (non-citizens in the United States without authoization) released with instructions to return at a later date for deportations proceedings did not show up. (FY2005 Statistical Yearbook, Department of Justice, Executive Office of Immigration Review, February 2006)
  
• There were 3.2 million immigrant petitions pending before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in 2005. (Application for Immigration Benefits, USCIS, 10/31/2005)
  
• There is a five-year backlog of applications for work visas for unskilled workers. (Visa Bulletin for April 2006, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, 3/8/06)
  
• By May 2006, the cap on unskilled worker visas was reached. No additional unskilled workers will be legally authorized to enter the country for the remainder of fiscal year 2006. (Visa Bulletin for June 2006, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, 5/10/06)
  
• In 2005, the number of immigrants in the country illegally exceeded the number of legal immigrants by 600,000. (Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S., Pew Hispanic Center, 3/7/06).
  
• Sixty-five percent of illegal immigrants (7.2 million) were employed in 2005, comprising 4.9 percent of the civilian workforce. (Ibid.)
  
• In 2002 and 2003, approximately 151,000 criminal aliens were incarcerated in state prisons and 285,000 in local jails in the United States. (Information on Criminal Aliens Incarcerated in Federal and State Prisons and Local Jails, GAO-05-337R, Government Accountability Office, 4/7/05)
  
• The cost to the federal government of incarcerating criminal aliens between 2001 and 2004 was $5.8 billion. (Ibid.)
  
• The USCIS rejected 20,000 immigration applications in 2005 due to the use of document or identity fraud. (Immigration Benefits: Additional Controls and a Sanctions Strategy Could Enhance DHS’s Ability to Control Benefit Fraud, GAO, March 2006)
  
• Between the early 1990s and 2004, two-thirds of the foreign-born terrorists operating in the United States committed immigration fraud, including six of the September 11 hijackers. (Ibid.)
  
• One-third of all religious worker immigration applications in 2005 were potentially fraudulent. (Ibid.)

The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act would:

• Require every employer to ensure their employees are legal residents
  
• Strengthen and coordinate border security operations in order to prevent would-be terrorists from sneaking into the United States
  
• Boost penalties for individuals found guilty of smuggling illegal immigrants across the border
  
• Subject illegal immigrants to criminal penalties
  
• Protect against detained illegal aliens from being released back into American Communities.