Rein in the Border Patrol

$9,127,088,000 is the magic money number required by the Border Patrol for one year of service to the nation in the 2014-15 budget, according to a Border Patrol union source.  Prior figures for the United States Border Patrol show an ever escalating growth in costs, from just $262,647,000 in 1990 up to $3,466,880,000 in 2013 in statistics generated by the Border Patrol at http://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/BP%20Budget%20History%201990-2013.pdf

If these statistics are correct, then the 2014 budget shows a tripling of Border Patrol costs in just one year.  Where did this money come from?  New taxes?  Siphoned from other programs?  Borrowing? 

The outrageous cost increases of the Border Patrol are also accompanied by a perceived growth in the daily jurisdictional areas near the border.  I live in Tucson and must go through Border Patrol inspections miles from the border on at least two major highways into town, and sometimes more.  At the border, I am required to show a passport in order to reinter my own country and must submit to questioning and search.  When I traveled in Texas to Big Bend on the Rio Grande, the area was thick with Border Patrol and we were stopped repeatedly, just so they could look at us, not due to any problems.  I find it hard to believe that these unaccompanied children portrayed as swarming across the Rio Grande were not seen.  Why were they not stopped and prevented, rather than allowed to cross and then apprehended? 

This leads to a crucial question nobody is asking.  Who is responsible for bringing these children to the border?  I’ve traveled extensively in Mexico and it can be difficult, particularly without resources.  Who is bringing these children to the border?  I heard of a Catholic mission located on an island off Yucatan where migrants from Central America come by boat, and then are given arranged passage through Mexico to the USA border.  Are these religious organizations responsible for this mass movement of children?  If the violence is so bad in Central America, why have we not heard about it on the news?  It’s outrageous that a religious organization that touts unlimited breeding is now moving the resultant unwanted children to another location for others to care for them. 

If Mexico let them in in the first place, they should deal with it.  They should have more pride than to allow their country to be used as a conduit for children unwanted in their homelands to be brought to the USA.  Mexico is remiss in allowing it and if the religious organizations and coyotes are smuggling people through Mexico, the Federales should arrest them.  Either that or Mexico should take these unwanted children in.

So it comes out that Border Patrol agents in New York state are getting bonuses for busting illegal immigrants, presents like Home Depot gift cards, cash, free vacations and other perks.  The article I found states that a similar program exists in Arizona.  Does the Texas sector of the Border Patrol award bonuses for apprehensions?  Is this why they are letting ‘unaccompanied’ children into the USA?  Did Border Patrol agents receive bonuses for ‘apprehending’ these children?  Are the Border Patrol agents getting bonuses and the taxpayers get to pay for the care of these unfortunate children whose parents abandoned them?   

So now Southern Arizona is graced by Border Patrol housing units that the federal government paid $600,000 each for, when comparable units cost $100,000 and the average price of homes in Ajo nearby is some $70,000.  The Border Patrol homes are around 12-15,000 square feet.  I have seen these from the outside and they look no better than the usual tract homes around Tucson, which isn’t saying much.  With the budget tripling, I wonder how much more money they will waste when they get their hands on over 9 billion dollars.  See the article at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/12/immigration-border-agent-housing/2642491/

 

I watched Senator Flake question the Border Patrol during the recent hearing concerning the dumped immigrant children and his basic question was an excellent one:   Why isn’t the Border Patrol on the border rather than so far inland?  I think the Border Patrol honchos are interested in enlarging their jurisdiction rather than perfecting the patrol of the actual border.  Recently, right outside Tucson, the Border Patrol conducted a high speed chase that resulted in a wrecked vehicle, from which the driver broke and ran.  A Border Patrol officer shot him in the back of the head as he was running away.  This man was an unarmed USA citizen but the agent who fired said he ‘made a suspicious movement with his hand’ so he shot him.  I believe that the Border Patrol should quit usurping the jurisdictions of our local sheriffs and police departments. 

The Border Patrol should do their job on the border and I don’t see why their budget appropriation should triple.