“The U.S. Supreme Court may get a chance to join the fractious debate over building fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
A legal challenge by two environmental groups seeking to limit enhanced Department of Homeland Security powers to suspend more than 30 laws to build the fence is gathering support in Congress.” (Dallas Morning News)
“The Border Patrol, scrambling to hire thousands of agents by the end of the year, is taking its recruiting efforts overseas to try to enlist military veterans as they leave their tours of duty.
Two teams of agency officers just returned from visiting six U.S. military bases in Germany where they persuaded nearly 100 veterans to [...]
“The Homeland Security Department used its legal authority Tuesday to waive environmental and land management laws, so it can complete 670 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.
The waivers will allow the department to move ahead with miles of pedestrian and vehicle fence construction as well as roads and detection systems.” (USA Today)
“The Bush administration unveiled a revised rule Friday threatening businesses with prosecution unless they fire employees identified in government records as possible illegal immigrants, offering a new explanation but virtually no change in content from the regulation that a San Francisco federal judge blocked in October.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced today the final rule for the land and sea portion of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), a core 9/11 Commission recommendation. The WHTI final rule requires travelers to present a passport or other approved secure document denoting citizenship and [...]
The Department of Homeland Security, continuing to enforce what it calls a “strict policy of arresting, prosecuting and jailing” illegal immigrants, deported a record number of those caught on the nation’s borders last year — more than 280,000 in fiscal year 2007 compared to 186,000 a year earlier.
It was the largest number of illegals ever [...]
“The Department of Homeland Security, continuing to enforce what it calls a “strict policy of arresting, prosecuting and jailing” illegal immigrants, deported a record number of those caught on the nation’s borders last year — more than 280,000 in fiscal year 2007 compared to 186,000 a year earlier.” (Washington Times)
“Most plans to gain control of the porous U.S.-Mexico border focus on some combination of fence. But this city in far west Arizona is looking to build a moat.Faced with high-levels of crime and illegal immigration, authorities in Yuma are reaching back to a technique as old as a medieval castle to dig out a [...]
“The Coast Guard is using a new weapon to fight illegal immigration: electronic fingerprinting.
A test program in which Coast Guard sailors take digital fingerprints from people picked up on boats headed to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic has led to more than 100 prosecutions in the past year.” (USA Today)
“Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Wednesday strongly defended border security projects undertaken by his department, asserting that virtual fencing in Arizona is working and that border-control efforts are not being delayed by three years.” (GovExec)



