Please find below an example of UPI's continuing coverage of Homeland Security and related issues. I hope you find it interesting. You may link to it on the web here:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20050510-073806-8158r If you have any comments or questions about this piece, need any more information about UPI products and services, or want to stop receiving these alerts, please get in touch. Thank you, Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 202 898 8081 Lawmakers, officials seek debate on border volunteers By Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Lawmakers and former senior homeland security officials are beginning a debate on how law-enforcement agencies might harness the energy of volunteers -- such as those who took part in the recent Minuteman protests in Arizona -- to help secure the nation's borders. "My personal view of these kinds of events, when you have law-abiding, sincere patriotic folks who want to make a difference and there's apparent value-added, then we should put it on the table and look at it very carefully," former Homeland Security Undersecretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Frank Libutti told United Press International Tuesday. But Libutti's former boss, recently-departed Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, was dismissive of the Minutemen, who recently held a month long protest in Arizona with volunteers patrolling the border and reporting suspected illegal crossers to authorities. "If they want to volunteer, they should go into offices and do the paperwork and let the professionals do the work at the border," he told UPI. "Vigilantes weren't a good idea in the 18th, 19th or 20th century, and they're not a good idea in the 21st century either." Department officials echoed the former secretary's views. "The Border Patrol are the professionals. They have the training, the resources, the equipment to secure the border," said Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Border and Transportation Security Directorate. He added that many border sectors operated a hotline for members of the public to report illegal crossings. But in a memo sent to members of the House Government Reform Committee, Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., states, "Despite (the department's) work in this area, the fact remains that we do not have operational control of our borders." The organizers of the Minutemen group say it was frustration at that inability to prevent a daily flood of illegal crossings that led them to organize their protest, which they say deployed 857 volunteers along the Arizona border and resulted in the apprehension by the Border Patrol of 335 people illegally crossing into the country. Some officials' dire predictions that volunteers would be attacked by the violent criminal gangs that smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants into the country or might interfere with Border Patrol activities failed to materialize, and congressmen and women lauded their efforts at a recent news conference. "You are good citizens who ask only that our laws be enforced," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, told the Minutemen at a Washington news conference. "When did that become such a radical idea?" Other members congratulated the group for drawing attention to the problem. But their supporters in Congress have in general shied away from advocating the use of volunteers on the borders as a solution rather than a protest. But now it seems a head of steam may be building up behind that idea. Later this week the powerful House Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing to review the results of the Minutemen's protest. Chris Simcox, the group's leader, will outline its future plans -- said to involve similar protests on the California and Northern borders -- to the committee, which will also hear from Robert Bonner, commissioner of customs and border protection at the Department for Homeland Security. "Is it possible to have a neighborhood-watch-style effort at our borders?" asked David Marin, the committee's deputy staff director. He said members didn't know the answer, "But that's why we're having the hearing, to address questions like that." "Clearly their rise," said Marin of the Minutemen, "is an indicator of growing public frustration and fear about the state of the nation's border security." Nonetheless, Ridge was adamant that "we're not in a situation where we need civilians to do the job" of securing the border. Rather than volunteers, Ridge said, the solution was better technology, and -- crucially -- more cooperation from the Mexican government. "Their indifference to the challenge we face at the border creates a huge political problem" for the supporters of President Bush's immigration-reform ideas "as well as a security problem," Ridge said. Ridge said there was "a real concern" on the part of the Mexican government "that they be treated equally (with Canada in border-security policy), and that's legitimate." "But," he added, "that has to be reciprocal," pointing out that the Canadians were much more cooperative in terms of patrolling and securing their side of the border and sharing law enforcement and intelligence information about threats. Libutti, a retired Marine general, was careful to say he had not studied the issue closely enough to come to a conclusion. "This is capital 'T' tentative," he stressed. But he said the question of whether volunteers could add value to border enforcement ought to be studied as part of a broad dialogue on how to improve border security and harness the talents and manpower of a range of stakeholders. "I would encourage an open dialogue," Libutti told UPI. "I don't mean at this point a public dialogue, but an open dialogue with leaders at the local, state and federal level to truly dissect the pros and cons, the resource investment and what I call the value added" of using state and local law enforcement and possibly volunteers to help secure the borders. "I don't know whether that's a smart idea or not," he said. "There are probably liabilities." Nonetheless, he added that it was worth discussing and urged the nation's leaders to "check their emotions and bureaucratic considerations at the door" and ensure that "everything should be on the table." The sharply differing comments from former administration officials illustrate the divided nature of opinion -- even within the GOP -- on the politically sensitive issue of immigration and border control. These deep divisions were also evident Tuesday in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill due to be voted on by the Senate. The bill, drawn up by the administration to provide funding for U.S. forces in Iraq and for Tsunami relief efforts, had a number of immigration and border-security measures tacked on by lawmakers during its passage. Some measures included in a package promoted by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., tighten the requirements for those claiming asylum, while others put forward by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., raise the caps on the number of seasonal workers allowed to come and work in the country. A third set of provisions mandates additional cash and personnel for the Border Patrol. -- (Please send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Copyright (c) 2001-2005 United Press International ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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