Immigration

Ineffective Reform

With millions of Americans lives at stake, I feel that It is necessary to speak about a few of the current policies under the direction of George W. Bush, while also touching base on what I feel are areas of conflict and the affirmative necessary action we need to take to solve them.

America's borders are the boundaries between the United States and the rest of the world. The massive flow of people and goods across our borders helps drive our economy, but can also serve as a conduit for terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, illegal migrants, contraband, and other unlawful commodities. The new threats and opportunities of the 21st century demand a new approach to border management.

Bush's policy on immigration reformed two sectors of homeland security throughout North America. New technology has allowed a heightened sense of surveillance on our nation's border while also providing the means to place more law enforcement on the ground. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, borders are required to be monitored and protected by US border patrol agents and technology like video cameras, ground sensors, physical barriers, land vehicles and manned aircraft

. If we look in our near past we see that there has been a serious problem with securing our borders and a threat with not only terrorists but drug smugglers, arms dealers, and human traffickers. This problem needed serious attention and quickly piqued the interest of our high governmental officials. Our president started by deploying Over 6000 troops from the National Guard to our borders to be stationed and keep watch and isolate any immigrants or terrorists attempting to cross onto U.S. soil. Billions of dollars have been spent and are continuing to be spent on keeping our nation's borders under constant surveillance the ground and the air.

Another project that has shown to have little effect is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. They are small aircraft

that are can either be controlled by someone on the ground or have an automatic control that needs no pilot. They are equipped with state of the art cameras that can show live video feed and are capable of taking detailed photographs from altitudes of 60,000 feet. In recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, UAVs have been used for surveillance and air attacks. He has also implemented a policy that would require electronic identification cards to be carried to ensure that only authorized immigrants could obtain employment. A system of verifiable electronic identification cards to ensure that only citizens and authorized residents could obtain employment. A national id card. The push for getting a National Id for the American people should not be pursued. There are a number of problems that arise with this idea in the picture. Many people lose their id's every day. What would be the needed action to come about getting a new one. What if the id fell into the wrong hands and was used successfully. This could

endanger anyone and possibly ruin someone's life. Also the issue on privacy arises. Any nation that has such an id would never be able to remain in one place with out their government knowing of it. In the end, biometric ids would not be safe or effective.

America requires a border management system that keeps pace with expanding trade while protecting the United States and its territories from the threats of terrorist attack, illegal immigration, illegal drugs, and other contraband. The border of the future must integrate actions abroad to screen goods and people prior to their arrival in sovereign U.S. territory, and inspections at the border and measures within the United States to ensure compliance with entry and import permits. Federal border control agencies must have seamless information-sharing systems that allow for coordinated communication among themselves, and also the broader law enforcement and intelligence gathering communities. This integrated system would provide timely enforcement of laws and regulations. Agreements with our neighbors, major trading partners, and private industry will allow extensive pre-screening of low-risk traffic, thereby allowing limited assets to focus