The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Tighter security at border crossings with Canada following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has resulted in more arrests of criminals and illegal aliens, federal officials said.
Meant to prevent potential terrorists from crossing the border, the increased law enforcement presence is hauling in drug dealers and fugitives, The Detroit News reported Thursday.
Officials that monitor Michigan’s border crossings say the increase is in large part because they are more closely scrutinizing people and cargo. The U.S. Customs Service has recorded a 45 percent increase in overall arrests from the same period a year earlier.
Busts range from a man on a Greyhound bus crossing the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel with $1 million worth of heroin - half of it swallowed - to $21 million worth of pseudoephedrine, a drug used to make “speed,” inside a truck at Port Huron.
“It proved the theory that the more resources that you invest at the border, the consequences of that are certainly more enforcement activity,” said Kevin Weeks, director of field operations in Detroit for the Customs Service.
Federal agencies that patrol the border - Customs, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Border Patrol and Coast Guard - also have made adjustments so they are better situated to prevent terrorism. Staffing also is increasing.
Carol Jenifer, district director of the INS in Detroit, said the local office removed 530 people with improper documentation last year and this year is expected to exceed that by an unspecified number. She also said the INS has done a better job of making sure rejected immigrants actually leave the United States.
“Some people we physically escort back,” she said. “Others who voluntarily go must report to the embassy and the embassy is responsible for sending us a notice saying they have physically seen this person and they are back in their country.”
The agencies also are trying to get more citizens involved. The Coast Guard and Border Patrol have a joint effort known as River Watch that encourages boaters to call law enforcement if they see anything peculiar on waterways.
“What was clear from 9-11, is you had to be as vigilant as you could be,” Jenifer said. " Our offices always do a good job and we had the opportunity to do a better job.”