On October 26, 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act in the latest effort aimed at securing the US?s 7,500-mile land and air border. This act authorizes funding for:
? Hundreds of miles of fencing, physical and ?virtual,? along southern borders
? Additional checkpoints, vehicular barriers, and lighting apparatuses
? Increased use of advanced technologies, including integrated camera systems, satellite coverage, and UAV surveillance overflights.
In addition to security concerns, maintaining the efficient flow of commercial goods represents a tantamount, yet inversely correlated, interest. Attempts to mitigate this quandary have been enacted, as evidenced by the US Customs and Border Protection?s (CBP) Container Security Initiative (CSI), Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), and Megaport Initiative. Further efforts in this arena are sure to be forthcoming.
Immigration Issues
The construction of the border-fencing apparatus and CBP?s increased force mobilizations both come with lengthy implementation timetables. Consequently, illegal crossings will likely continue unabated, at least in the near-term, as the gradual buildup affords immigrants time to devise alternative methods of entry. Two alternative entry vehicles (ie light-aircraft and/or tunneling operations) may be increasingly exploited. However, neither of these options offers a method of entry as successful as those that the barrier has been designed to, and once fully operational should, prevent.
Halting the influx of illegal aliens and illicit materials represents only a portion of the problem; removing those that have already entered the country illegally represents the remainder of the issue. Several measures that are likely to be implemented to address this issue include:
? Increased immigration enforcement sweeps at worksites.
? Expansion of both detention and removal capabilities, thereby eliminating, or at minimum reducing, the use of ?catch and release? measures.
? Continued improvement of fraudulent document recognition capabilities. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, in effect since January 23, 2007, requires that all persons possess a valid passport to gain entrance into the US. Further passport advancements that incorporate biometric identifiers and RFID tracking-chips will be investigated.
Border Security Issues
Fencing: The Democratic-controlled 110th Congress is expected to approve the annual budget increases DHS has received since its inception. However, the 109th Congress? hurriedly-conceived border-fencing plan will face noticeable scrutiny. The act, that called for several hundreds of miles of fencing, will be thoroughly overhauled in order to erect a more effective barrier. The Secure Fence Act incorporates a range of technologies into the actual and virtual fencing barriers. Additional measures may integrate the same technologies utilized in the GWOT?sensors, heat detectors, and underground seismic activity trackers–to further enhance the proposed systems.
Shipping: Many of the technologies in place at intermodal container shipping hubs (ie radiation portals, hand-held radiation detectors, and gamma- and x-ray scanners) will be allocated to, and more widely employed within, border-crossing locations. These advanced screening capabilities provide an effective, although not impenetrable, deterrent to those seeking to ship illegal items into the US via such transport routes.
Coyotes, Human Smuggling, and Possible Terrorist Links: Terrorist groups are unlikely to entrust the movement of high-value operatives and WMDs to shipping methods that pass through established inspection systems. Rather, there is a much greater probability that human smuggling rings will be sought out and utilized. The existence of such links, though both highly probable and widely suspected, has yet to have been positively confirmed. However, with the increased border security measures looming, any previously established time-frames for such partnerships and smuggling operations may be accelerated in order to circumvent future measures.
