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Chertoff to hand Obama immigration successes

Border Patrol beefed up; fence nearly complete

By Stephen Dinan (Contact) | Thursday, December 4, 2008

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Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff declared success Wednesday on President Bush's vow to double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol and near-success on his pledge to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The two measures leave President-elect Barack Obama in a better position to get an immigration bill passed, he said.

Mr. Chertoff said the Bush administration's recent step-up in enforcement has finally made a dent in illegal immigration, and should ease worries of those who blocked last year's immigration bill, arguing that the government needed to prove it was serious about enforcement before it could legalize current illegal aliens.

"For the first time, we've seen a real significant decrease quarter to quarter in terms of illegal immigrants coming into the country," Mr. Chertoff told reporters. "It doesn't mean the job is done, but it means for the first time we've reversed them and we're moving in the right direction."

Mr. Chertoff said the Border Patrol reached a force of 18,049 agents this week, which he said makes good on Mr. Bush's pledge to double the approximately 9,000 agents he inherited in 2001. Mr. Chertoff said Homeland Security will meet about 90 percent of its goal of fencing or vehicle barriers along 700 miles of the 1,950-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

"I think we have made a very good down payment on confidence and enforcement," he said, though he said it will be up to Mr. Obama to decide whether the federal government needs to do more enforcement before trying to achieve his campaign promise of a "comprehensive" immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.

Mr. Bush and a bipartisan coalition of senators tried last year to pass a bill that rewrote the rules for legal immigration, legalized illegal immigrants and promised better border security. But angry voters flooded Capitol Hill with calls, convincing lawmakers that the people lacked confidence that the government would secure the borders, thus sinking the bill.

Since then, Mr. Bush and Mr. Chertoff have stepped up immigration enforcement dramatically. They have granted states the right to enforce immigration laws, authorized high-profile workplace raids that have netted hundreds of illegal immigrants, and written new rules to try to prevent businesses from hiring illegal immigrants.

During this year's campaign, Mr. Obama criticized some of those enforcement efforts and promised to try again to pass a broad bill that included citizenship for illegal immigrants.

A spokesman for Mr. Obama said the president-elect remains committed to his election promises, but declined to comment on Homeland Security's progress or Mr. Chertoff's remarks.

Mary Giovagnoli, policy director for the National Immigration Forum, which wants a more generous immigration policy, said the drop in illegal immigration is more likely a result of a downturn in the economy than an effect of stepped-up enforcement.