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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

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Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry

Marc R. Rosenblum, Specialist in Immigration Policy

January 6, 2012

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/180681.pdf

[full-text, 46 pages

 

Summary

Border enforcement is a core element of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) effort

to control illegal migration, with the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) within the Bureau of Customs

and Border Protection (CBP) as the lead agency along most of the border. Border enforcement

has been an ongoing subject of congressional interest since the 1970s, when illegal immigration

to the United States first registered as a serious national problem; and border security has

received additional attention in the decade following the terrorist attacks of 2001.

 

Since the 1990s, migration control at the border has been guided by a strategy of “prevention

through deterrence”—the idea that the concentration of personnel, infrastructure, and surveillance

technology along heavily trafficked regions of the border will discourage unauthorized aliens

from attempting to enter the United States. Since 2005, CBP has attempted to discourage repeat

entries and disrupt migrant smuggling networks by imposing tougher penalties against certain

unauthorized aliens, a set of policies known as “enforcement with consequences.”

 

Twenty-five years after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA, P.L. 99-603)

marked the beginning of the modern era in border enforcement, this report reviews recent

enforcement efforts, takes stock of the current state of border security, and considers lessons that

may be learned about a quarter century of enhanced migration control efforts at U.S. borders.

IRCA authorized a 50% increase in the size of the USBP, and at least 10 additional laws since

then have included provisions related to migration enforcement and/or border security.

Appropriations for the USBP have increased about 750% since 1989—a number which excludes

many other programs related to border enforcement.

 

On one hand, robust investments at the border have been associated with a sharp drop in the

number of aliens apprehended, especially in the sectors first targeted for enhanced enforcement.

The number and proportion of people apprehended more than once (recidivists) and those with

serious criminal records are also at the lowest levels ever recorded. On the other hand, overall

illegal inflows continued to increase in the 20 years after 1986, with the estimated unauthorized

population more than tripling, even after almost 3 million aliens were granted amnesty as part of

IRCA. The only significant decrease in unauthorized migration appears to have occurred since

2007, and it is unclear how much of the drop-off is due to increased enforcement and how much

is a result of the U.S. economic downturn and other systemic factors.

 

At the same time, enhanced border enforcement may have contributed to a number of secondary

costs and benefits. To the extent that border enforcement successfully deters illegal entries—an

effect that is also difficult to measure since deterrence ultimately involves decisions made in

towns and villages far away from U.S. borders—such enforcement may reduce border-area

violence and migrant deaths, protect fragile border ecosystems, and improve the quality of life in

border communities. But to the extent that aliens are not deterred, the concentration of

enforcement resources on the border may increase border area violence and migrant deaths,

encourage unauthorized migrants to find new ways to enter illegally and to remain in the United

States for longer periods of time, damage border ecosystems, harm border-area businesses and the

quality of life in border communities, and strain U.S. relations with Mexico and Canada.

 

Thus, this report concludes by raising additional questions about future investments at the border,

how to weigh such investments against other enforcement strategies, and the relationship between

border enforcement and the broader debate about U.S. immigration policy.

 

Contents

Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 1

Background...................................................................................................................................... 3

Border Control Strategy................................................................................................................... 4

National Strategic Plan .............................................................................................................. 4

National Border Patrol Strategy ................................................................................................ 6

Secure Border Initiative............................................................................................................. 7

Enforcement with Consequences............................................................................................... 8

2012 National Border Patrol Strategy...................................................................................... 12

Budget and Resources.................................................................................................................... 12

Border Patrol Appropriations .................................................................................................. 12

Border Patrol Personnel........................................................................................................... 14

Fencing and Tactical Infrastructure ......................................................................................... 16

Surveillance Assets.................................................................................................................. 18

Enforcement Outcomes.................................................................................................................. 19

Alien Apprehensions ............................................................................................................... 20

Southwest Border Apprehensions by Sector ..................................................................... 21

The Limits of Apprehensions Data.................................................................................... 22

Operational Control of the Border........................................................................................... 22

Additional Measures of Border Enforcement.......................................................................... 24

Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) System......................................... 24

Successful Illegal Entries .................................................................................................. 26

Smuggling Fees................................................................................................................. 27

Probability of Apprehension.............................................................................................. 29

Unintended and Secondary Consequences of Border Enforcement .............................................. 30

Border-Area Crime and Migrant Deaths ................................................................................. 30

Migration Flows: “Caging” Effects and Alternative Modes of Entry ..................................... 33

Environmental Impact and Effects on Border Communities................................................... 35

Effects on Regional Relations ................................................................................................. 36

Legislative Issues........................................................................................................................... 37

Border Patrol Personnel........................................................................................................... 37

Surveillance Assets.................................................................................................................. 38

Fencing and Tactical Infrastructure ......................................................................................... 38

Access to Federal Lands.......................................................................................................... 39

Conclusion: Understanding the Costs and Benefits of Border Enforcement Between Ports

of Entry....................................................................................................................................... 40

Figures

Figure 1. Enforcement with Consequences, Selected Indicators, FY1999-FY2010...................... 11

Figure 2. U.S. Border Patrol Appropriations, FY1989-FY2012.................................................... 13

Figure 3. U.S. Border Patrol Agents, Total and by Region, FY1980-FY2011............................... 15

 

 

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