The federal government aims to slow illegal immigration dramatically by hiring more Border Patrol agents, building more fences and ending a policy that has allowed thousands of captured illegal immigrants to be released within the USA, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says.
Warning that "time is not on our side" in the push to make the nation safer from potential attacks by foreign terrorists, he told business leaders here Wednesday that his plan reflects a "legal and civic obligation ... to secure our borders."
Chertoff, who toured the border with agents in El Paso on Tuesday, said his plan calls for:
� Adding 1,500 Border Patrol agents to the current force of 11,000.
� Building more fences. Chertoff has authorized completion of a 14-mile wall near San Diego � a project that had been stalled for a decade by lawsuits from environmentalists. A law passed by Congress allowed him to waive environmental-protection laws. "We are not talking about building a giant wall across our borders," he said. "But in areas where it makes sense to do so, we will look at ... improvements."
� Ending the "catch and release" policy that allows tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico to stay in the USA.
In fiscal 2005, Chertoff said, the Border Patrol caught 160,000 non-Mexican illegal immigrants. Because there wasn't enough detention space to hold them until their cases could be heard in immigration courts, 120,000 were released. Most of those didn't show up for court. Chertoff plans to add 2,000 detention beds in 2006 � bringing the total to 21,000 � and he has ordered faster removal of illegal immigrants.
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