U.S. Border Patrol Relaxes Check at Canada
US Border Patrol relaxes searches along Canadian border.
The U.S. Border Patrol has relaxed its checks at the Canadian border according to an Associated Press release.
After the Obama administration announced that in an effort to relieve the overburdened immigration system by focusing mainly on illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, the U.S. Border Patrol has quietly stopped its routine practice of searching buses, trains and airports for illegal immigrants.
The new order has baffled some border agents as these checks consisted of a bulk of their responsibilities. The agents are still allowed to perform check of vehicles within 100 miles of the border or to go to bus, plane, or train stations if they have “actionable intelligence” of an illegal immigrant entering the country.
Along the northern border last fiscal year, the agency made 7,431 arrests. It was not immediately clear how many stemmed from routine transportation checks. The public affairs office for the Border Patrol’s Blaine sector said it doesn’t break down the data that way.
News of the relaxation of the Canadian border comes close on the heels of a recent report that from Oct. 2, 2010 to the end of last month a record number of illegal immigrants have been deported: 396,906. For more information about this, please read our article, Obama Administration is Deporting Illegal Immigrants in Record Numbers.
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics, the number of Border Patrol arrests nationwide has been falling – from nearly 1.2 million in 2005 to 463,000 in 2010, and 97 percent of them at the southern border.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, held a meeting to discuss an issue of increased security along the northern border which potentially could include the construction of fences.
A draft version of an environmental study, Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for U.S. Customs and Border Protection Northern Border Activities, analyzing potential environmental socioeconomic effects of current and potential future border security activities along the northern border has been released. The study analyzed approximately 4,000 miles from Maine to Washington and 100 miles south of the U.S.–Canada Border.
While the U.S. Border Patrol is relaxing their searches, it appears plans are in place to build fences along the northern border.
Filed Under: Immigration News
