{"id":3906,"date":"2013-06-19T14:32:09","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T18:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=3906"},"modified":"2018-12-28T15:54:35","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T20:54:35","slug":"data-shows-border-security-metric-in-s-744-subject-to-political-manipulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2013\/06\/19\/data-shows-border-security-metric-in-s-744-subject-to-political-manipulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Shows Border Security Metric in S.744 Subject to Political Manipulation"},"content":{"rendered":"
With the Senate considering numerous border security amendments as it debates S.744, there are growing questions over what constitutes an effective measure of border security. Many Senators refuse to give support to the bill, known as the Gang of Eight amnesty legislation, until there is more certainty that the bill will actually secure the border.<\/p>\n
Currently, S.744 requires DHS to submit a border security plan within 6 months that includes a goal \u201cfor achieving and maintaining effective control\u201d along the U.S.-Mexico border. (p.864) The bill defines effective control as: (1) \u201cpersistent surveillance\u201d and (2) an \u201ceffectiveness rate of 90 percent.\u201d (p.855) It is this latter component, the effectiveness rate, that is the flashpoint in the debate.<\/p>\n
Under the bill, the effectiveness rate is calculated by: (1) adding the number of apprehensions at the border and the number of illegal aliens who turn back to evade being caught (called turn-backs); and (2) dividing this number by the total number of illegal entries<\/u>. While this language reflects current practice of the Border Patrol, the GAO points out that the total number of illegal entries only includes those illegal aliens the Border Patrol actually knows crossed into the U.S.\u2014i.e. apprehensions, turn-backs, and aliens the Border Patrol fails to apprehend whom agents either see or leave evidence of crossing into U.S. territory (\u201cgot-aways\u201d). The total number of illegal entries, however, excludes aliens who illegally enter the U.S. who are able to completely evade the Border Patrol\u2014i.e. unknown illegal entries<\/u>. (GAO-13-25, p.4 FN 8) Thus, from the start, the effectiveness rate is an unreliable border security metric because it excludes unknowns.<\/p>\n