Border agency nearly "overwhelmed," chief says

[The Straight Story]

Border agency nearly "overwhelmed," chief says
By Chris Strohm
[email protected]

The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection has launched a "full-court press" to gain control of U.S. borders, including the issuance of a new national border patrol strategy, according to officials.

CBP Commissioner Robert Bonner acknowledged in a television interview Monday that the Border Patrol is "almost ... being overwhelmed" by illegal immigration. The Border Patrol caught about 1.1 million illegal immigrants in fiscal 2004, but an estimated 10 million illegal aliens are in the country.


"This is like a sinking ship with a hole in it. You've got to plug the hole. You've got to stop the illegal migration into the United States," Bonner said on C-SPAN's Washington Journal.


"If you don't do that ... you're just bailing water out of a sinking ship," he added. "So the very first thing we have to do is to gain control of our borders. The next thing we need to do is ... identify and remove people who are illegally residing in the United States."

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0405/040505c1.htm

[Leilani]

1. He's a Liar.

He's Bush's guy, & Bush doesn't want to close the borders because it would hurt business interests.

The Congress passed a bill for hiring 2000 new BP agents each year for 5 yrs, which both parties were in favor of...it was a recomendation of the 9/11 commission.

Bush's budget funded 200.