Limits sought on Border Patrol

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The Department of Homeland Security wants to restrict the U.S. Border Patrol's arrest of illegal aliens in the nation's interior, concerned that the recent apprehension of 450 illegals by agents in inland areas of Southern California failed to consider the "sensitivities" of those detained.

According to department sources, a formal written policy under review would limit Border Patrol arrests to areas along the nation's 7,000 miles of international border and give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the responsibility for enforcing immigration laws in the nation's interior.

But ICE officials have acknowledged that it has neither the manpower nor the resources to carry out an extensive interior-enforcement program. Between 8 million and 12 million illegal aliens are thought to be in the United States.

ICE has only 2,300 agents committed to interior-enforcement efforts, and they concentrate on finding the 80,000 criminal aliens on the nation's streets and 320,000 foreign nationals known as "absconders," who fled after being ordered deported.

In recent weeks, ICE supervisors also have been asked to "closely scrutinize all expenditures and curtail spending to the maximum extent possible."

Under the pending policy, according to the sources, Homeland Security would restrict the Border Patrol to the arrest of illegal aliens traveling north from the border, others at border highway checkpoints and illegals at transportation centers, such as international airports.

The California arrests took place at public locations in the state's interior during a two-week period beginning June 4. The aliens were taken into custody by a newly trained 12-member Border Patrol team based in Temecula, Calif., known as the Mobile Patrol Group.

Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson criticized the arrests, saying they had not been approved by officials in Washington and violated U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) policy, the agency that oversees the Border Patrol.

In a letter, Mr. Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security, assured Rep. Joe Baca, California Democrat -- and other members of the state's delegation who complained about the arrests -- that in the future, Homeland Security would enforce immigration laws "in a reasonable manner" and would consider the "sensitivities" surrounding the enforcement of those laws in its interior-enforcement program.

The California delegation had described those detained as victims of racial profiling and said the arrests caused panic in the Hispanic community.