NDN REPORT: The Governments Border Strategy Is Working

Yesterday, The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano delivered a major address on the "State of America's Homeland Security, Making The Border More Secure."

In the speech Secretary Napolitano made the assertion that the Southwest Border Initiative has yielded very real results, and she provided statistics and DHS metrics which showed that the border has become safer.

NDN has also taken a deep dive into the question of whether or not the border has become safer over the last two years. Our findings show that since the Southwest Border Initiative has been in place, there has been greater cooperation between the United States and Mexico, there has been a drop in violence, apprehensions, and crossings along our southern border.

Asserting these facts is necessary because there has been so much talk on television, on the radio and by certain politicians that the south west border region is out of control. With enough statistical evidence, dialogue between legislators who actually live on the border and their counterparts in Washington D.C.  perhaps we can put the notion that the border is out of control to rest.

It should be clear that we at NDN do not think that the border is "secure." The concept of "securing the border" is fairly nebulous and in many ways creates an unreachable metric for which to gauge success in the southwest region. We could not assert that the border is secure because there have been isolated incidents of violence along the border. But those incidents are much less then they were five years ago, and violence along the border is at an all time low.

This is not an unrealistic assessment of the progress made on the border; casually perusing the data collected below shows an increase in the number of government personnel along the border which has resulted in lower number in apprehensions, and crossings.

Which is to say that The Government’s Border Strategy Is Working:

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) has made a commitment to serious and effective enforcement of the law along the United States southern border. Despite all of this there is currently a perception that violence along the border has increased and that the federal government has done nothing to stop it.

This is nothing short of nonsense and here is why:

DHS has facilitated huge increases in the presence of federal agents on the border, this coupled with overall historically high increases in the number of deportations of criminal aliens and increased, enhanced and continued cooperation with Mexico is dramatically changing the dynamic on the border.

To date there has been a decline in crime in border states, a slowing of illegal migration into the United States, and a lack of spillover of violence from Mexico onto American soil.

As this docuement will show the statistical evidence to make this case is overwhelming:

  1. More Money, More Border Patrol, Customs Agents and National Guard
  2. Deportation of Criminal Undocumented Immigrants Has Increased
  3. Drug Seizures Are Up
  4. Illegal Migration Into the US Has Dropped 
  5. Much Greater Cooperation with Mexico