Border Control: Revised Strategy Is Showing Some Positive Results
Highlights
GAO discussed the United States' efforts to secure the southwest border, focusing on: (1) the threat from drug smuggling and illegal immigration; and (2) ways to enhance security between ports of entry. GAO noted that: (1) between 50 and 70 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States enters through the United States-Mexico border; (2) federal and local government officials support a prevention strategy that focuses on preventing illegal entry rather than apprehending aliens once they have crossed the border; (3) the prevention strategy has already been initiated in the San Diego and El Paso sectors; (4) the reduction in the number of illegal aliens entering these two areas can be linked to a rise in illegal entry in other areas, notably in the Nogales, Arizona sector; (5) improvements in physical barriers, checkpoint operations, and electronic surveillance equipment would reduce the need for additional Border Patrol agents; and (6) unless border control becomes more effective, illegal immigration could increase over the next decade.