DHS Ignores Detailed Border Analysis
A new investigative report from the Arizona Republic has found that the Department of Homeland Security has refused to consider academic analysis of the situation along the Southwest border with Mexico and has refused to move forward with proposed analysis that would provide the agency with much needed data. The report states, "DHS officials don't want to know, and don't want the public to know" what's really happening along the border.
"There is zero interest in that kind of analysis among DHS' leadership," economist Bryan Roberts, who served as the agency's assistant director of the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation until 2010, told the Arizona Republic. "There was no interest when I was there, and there still isn't any."
Through Freedom of Information requests, the Arizona Republic has found that up to and possibly more than three-quarters of migrants who try to cross the border make it into the United States eventually. Migrants will continue to try to cross the border even if they're caught and sent back to Mexico. It's also found evidence that the consequences for entering the country illegally, including the 5- to 10-year bars, have little impact on cutting down on repeat illegal crossings despite the costs. The investigation also found that fencing and the number of border agents have had little to no impact as well. Instead, it's driven migrants to more dangerous parts of the border that are less guarded by Border Patrol.
The Department of Homeland Security basis its success on apprehensions along the border. The Schumer-Obama amnesty bill, S.744, that passed through the Senate would require a 90% apprehension rate, but that only considers the illegal crossers that DHS knows about and omits the illegal crossers the agency doesn't know about.
A recent study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences found that three-quarters of illegal crossers made it into the United States over the time period studies while DHS reported an 85-90% apprehension rate over the same time period.
"Almost everybody who really tries eventually gets in," Jeffrey Passel, a member of the panel and a senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, told the Arizona Republic.
The National Academy of Science said DHS ignored the study even though it was the one that commissioned the study.
The report also found that there is little cooperation between the different immigration enforcement agencies within DHS to determine the true effectiveness of current border patrol efforts.
For more information, see the Arizona Republic.