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No. 56 September 20, 2006
H.R. 6061 – Secure Fence Act of 2006
Calendar No. 615
H.R. 6061 was read the second time, and placed
on the Senate Calendar on September 15, 2006.
Noteworthy
• Cloture
was invoked on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6061 by a vote of
94 to 0.
• The
bill would authorize approximately 700 miles of double-layered
fencing at specified
locations along
the almost 2,000-mile southwest U.S. international border with
Mexico
(see map on page 4).
• The
bill also would require the Secretary of Homeland Security,
within 18 months of
enactment, to take all appropriate actions to
achieve operational control over all U.S.
international land and maritime borders.
• On
August 2, during Senate consideration of H.R. 5631, the
Department of Defense
appropriations bill, Senators Sessions and Kyl
offered an amendment (#4775) providing
$1.829 billion in emergency funding for the
National Guard to construct 370 miles of
triple- and double-layered border fencing and
461 miles of vehicle barriers (at unspecified
locations) within two years. The
amendment passed 94-3.
(See recorded vote No. 220).
That bill is currently pending in a
House-Senate conference.
• Another
amendment, passed by a vote of 83-16, was made to S. 2611, the
Comprehensive
Immigration Reform Act of 2006, to authorize
construction of 370 miles of fencing and
500 miles of physical barriers along the
southwest border . (See
recorded vote No. 126).
• The
House of Representatives passed H.R. 6061 on September 14, by
a vote of 283-138
(1 present).
Background
Current Barriers on the Land Borders
The land border with Mexico is almost 2,000
miles long and the land border with Canada
is 4,000 miles long (excluding the mostly
impassable land border with Alaska). The Rio Grande
2
River provides a natural barrier with Mexico;
however, each year over
1 million unauthorized
aliens are interdicted entering the country
mostly on the southwest border .
Testimony by the
Border Patrol union chief places the estimate
of illegal entrants not
interdicted by Border
Patrol to
be two times those actually caught. 1
U.S. Citizenship &
Immigration Services (USCIS) estimated
that, during the last decade, the illegal
alien population increased by 350,000 people a year.
Of those illegal immigrants who entered the
U.S. in 1999, 500,000 are estimated to be
Mexican nationals, 225,000 were estimated to
be Central American nationals, and 30,000 to
40,000 were smuggled in from Asia. Worldwide,
the United Nations estimates that 4 million
people are smuggled annually, amounting to a
$7 billion enterprise (U.S. government estimates
reach $9.5 billion).
Currently, there are 75 miles of fence and
about 55 miles of vehicle barriers .
Probably the
most well known border fence runs along the
border area near San Diego and Tijuana. It is 14
miles long and starts from the Pacific Ocean
leading to a mountainous region. It was constructed
of 10-foot-high welded steel and later became
a triple-layered fence with Border Patrol roads
running in-between; however, the fence was
never fully completed due to environmental-related
litigation. The Government
Accountability Office has reported, in report GAO-95-30, that
the San
Diego fence actually has had a deterrent
effect . In FY1996,
there were 480,000 apprehensions in
the San Diego sector, compared to 100,000
apprehensions in FY2002. 2
Border Patrol
The Border Patrol patrols over 8,000 miles of
American international borders with Mexico
and Canada and the coastal waters around
Florida and Puerto Rico. In addition, Customs &
Border Protection (CBP) assigns resources to
and is responsible for another approximately 2,000
miles of coastal border. There are
approximately 1,000 agents stationed along the Northern
Border and approximately 10,000 stationed
along the southwest border. At eight-hour shifts, this
approximates to one agent for every 12 miles
in the northern border, and with both borders
together, 1.67 miles per agent on an
eight-hour shift. This average does not discount for a small
amount stationed in the coastal sectors of New
Orleans, Miami and Ramey, Puerto Rico. Further,
these figures are conservative when examining
the actual enforcement coverage, since this
assumes that all agents are working along all
external border areas all of the time (many are
supervisors, or chasing smugglers, and some
are employed at road blocks and inspection stations).
Before 9/11, border security was the
responsibility of different agencies, including the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, the
Customs Service, the Department of Agriculture’s
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,
and the Coast Guard. These elements have been
combined under the Department of Homeland
Security.
1 T.J.
Bonner, president of Border Patrol Council, testimony before
the House of Representatives, Subcommittee on
Immigration, Border Security and Claims, March
3, 2005: "The reason that so many people can easily cross
our
borders illegally is quite simple: The Border
Patrol is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of traffic. Last
fiscal year, it
apprehended nearly 1.2 million people trying
to illegally enter the country. Front-line agents estimate
that two to three
times that number managed to slip by
them."
2 See
Blas Nunez-Neto and Stephen Vina, Congressional Research
Service, RS22026, “Fences Along the U.S.
International Border,” January 13, 2005.
3
9/11 Commission Report and the threat of
terrorist penetration
The 9/11 Commission report estimated that
500,000 illegal entrants come to the United
States each year. It found that “it is
elemental to border security to know who is coming into the
country. … We must . . . be able to monitor
and respond to entrances between our ports of entry.
… The challenge for national security in an
age of terrorism is to prevent the ... people who may
pose overwhelming risks from entering ... the
U.S. undetected.” 1
The Commission’s staff
report
on “9/11 and Terrorist Travel” found that
“there is also evidence that terrorists used human
smugglers to sneak across borders.” 2
The Department of Homeland
Security periodically has
reported on the entry of “Special Interest
Aliens,” including, from last year 8 from Afghanistan, 6
from Algeria, 13 from Egypt, 20 from
Indonesia, 10 from Iran, 55 from Israel, 122 from Pakistan,
6 from Saudi Arabia, 6 from Syria, 22 from
Turkey, and 2 from Yemen.
Last year, the nation’s intelligence chiefs
testified in Congressional hearings that al-Qaeda
and other terrorist groups will vigorously
attempt to circumvent American border security and
enter the country to perpetrate further
terrorism on a scale large than 9/11. Admiral James Loy,
former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security,
testified:
“Entrenched human smuggling networks … in
areas beyond our borders can be
exploited by terrorist organizations. Recent
information … strongly
suggests that
al-Qaeda has considered using the southwest
border to infiltrate the United
States. Several
al-Qaida leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the
country through Mexico and also believe
illegal entry is more advantageous than
legal entry for operational security reasons.
… [Also,] the long United States–
Canada border, often rugged and remote,
includes a variety of terrain and
waterways, some suitable for illicit border
crossings.”
The Director of Central Intelligence testified
that “al-Qaeda is intent on finding ways to
circumvent U.S. security enhancements to
strike Americans and the Homeland.” Navy Vice
Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, Director of the
Defense Intelligence Agency, testified “ al-Qaeda’s
stated intention to conduct an attack
exceeding the destruction of 9/11 raises
the possibility that
planned attacks may involve unconventional
weapons.” Since infiltration is often necessary to
conduct a terrorist attack, lax border
controls may allow terrorists to achieve that infiltration.
Fences in the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), P.L. 104-
208, provides for the building of 14 miles of
border fence in the San Diego sector. The fence was
left uncompleted because
environmentally-related litigation halted construction. Part B
of the
Omnibus Appropriations bill of 2005, sec. 102,
provided a waiver of any legal grounds to halt the
completion of that fence. A provision in H.R.
6061 would replace section 102(b) of IIRIRA, but
in mandating a fence, refers to section 101(a)
specifying that in implementing the requirements for
a fence, the Secretary of Homeland Security
“shall take such actions as may be necessary to install
1 9-11
Commission Report, pp. 383, 390 (2004).
2 9-11
and Terrorist Travel: Staff Report of the National Commission
on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, p.
59 (2004).
4
additional physical barriers and roads … to
deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry into
the United States.”
House Action
On September 14, 2006, the House of
Representatives passed H.R. 6061, by a recorded
vote of 283 - 138, and 1 Present. By a Rules
Committee amendment, the bill was not subject to
further amendment.
Bill Provisions
The bill requires the Secretary of Homeland
Security, within 18 months of enactment, to
take all appropriate actions to achieve
operational control over U.S. international land and
maritime borders. Under the bill, “Operational
control” is defined as “the prevention of all
unlawful U.S. entries, including entries by
terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of
terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.”
This includes more effective use of personnel and
technology (unmanned aerial vehicles,
ground-based sensors, satellites, radar, cameras, and the
like) for systematic border surveillance. In
addition, the Secretary would be required to upgrade
physical infrastructure to prevent illegal
entries and create more checkpoints, vehicle barriers, and
all-weather access roads. The bill requires
the Secretary to provide an annual report to Congress
on the progress made towards achieving
operational control of the border.
Used with permission of Congressional
Quarterly, September 14, 2006 (http://www.cq.com/) © 2006
Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Section 102(b) of the Illegal Immigration
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of
1996 would be amended to require the Secretary
to provide at least two layers of reinforced
fencing (unless the topography of the area has
an elevation grade of 10 percent, in which case
sensors and barriers can be used),
installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting,
cameras, and sensors extending:
(1) from 10 miles west of Tecate, California,
to 10 miles east of Tecate,
(2) from 10 miles west of Calexico, California
to 5 miles east of Douglas, Arizona, 3
(3) from 5 miles west of Columbus, New Mexico
to 10 miles east of El Paso, Texas,
(4) from 5 miles northwest of Del Rio, Texas
to 5 miles southeast of Eagle Pass, Texas,
and
(5) from 15 miles northwest of Laredo, Texas
to Brownsville, Texas. 4
3 It
also requires installation of an interlocking surveillance
camera system by May 30, 2007, and completion of
this section of fence by May 30, 2008.
4 It
requires completion of this section of fence by December 31,
2008.
5
The Secretary would be required to produce a
study for the Senate Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and
the House Committee on Homeland Security,
on the need, feasibility, and economic impact
of constructing a state-of-the-art infrastructure
security system along the northern
international land and maritime border of the United States.
The Secretary would also have to report to
those Committees with a comparison of the
legal authority of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) (and any possible expansion of such
authority) to stop vehicles that enter the
United States illegally and disobey orders to stop, to the
legal authority that the Coast Guard has to
stop fleeing vessels. The Secretary would also have to
evaluate whether related CBP training,
technology, and equipment allow CBP to make those
stops.
Administration Position
At press time, the Administration had not
issued a Statement of Administration
Policy (SAP) for H.R. 6061.
The Administration supported Senator Sessions’
amendment on S. 2611 ,
the
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006,
to construct 370 miles of fencing and
500 miles of physical barriers along the
southwest border . That
amendment was approved
overwhelmingly by a vote of 83-16. (See
recorded vote No. 126, and vote analysis on the
Senate GOP’s Trunkline).
CBO Estimate
At press time, the Congressional Budget Office
had not provided an estimate on the
cost of H.R. 6061.
Possible Amendments
At press time, there were no indications of
what might be offered as amendments to the
bill.
http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/L56BorderBarrier092006LB.pdf
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