By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON- Lawmakers of both parties told the U.S. homeland security chief Thursday they doubt that plans for more agents, improved sensors and other measures to tighten U.S. borders against illegal immigrants and terrorists will work.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff agreed that his department is unlikely to completely curb the immigration flow, particularly at the Mexican border. But he said a crackdown this year appears to have deterred immigrants from trying to sneak into the country.
“If we’re ever going to someday get to a comprehensive immigration policy, you have to succeed first at a border security plan,” Rep. John Sweeney, said at a House of Representatives’ Apropriations panel looking at immigration enforcement. “And no one that I know really has the confidence that you can do this, that we can do this.”
Added Rep. Marion Ber, “I don’t have any confidence in what you all are bringing to us, and I don’t like that.”
Chertoff pointed to charts showing the number of non-Mexican immigrants caught at the southwest border have dropped compared with last year. Illegal immigrants from Latin American countries besides Mexico had been spiking in recent years.
“I’m not saying we’re going to deter everybody, but for the first time we are really raising the cost of coming across the border,” Chertoff said.
The two-hour inquiry marked the latest congressional discussion of how to stem illegal immigration _ a top election-year priority.
House leaders have planned 19 hearings on immigration, spanning 12 states and eight separate committees, for next month alone. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said one possibility might be to set of goal of cutting off up to 85 percent or 90 percent of illegal border traffic before officials focus on other immigration priorities.
“The American people demand the borders to be secure,” Hastert said.
Congress last month approved a spending bill that included about $1.9 billion (euro1.4 billion) to tighten U.S. borders - including funds to put thousands of Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops along the Mexican border. The additional troops are part of a border crackdown strategy that will eventually include more motion sensors, surveillance flights and cameras.
The money will also pay for 40 miles (64 kilometers) of fencing and 140 miles (225 kilometers) of vehicle barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, Chertoff said.