A secure border

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano’s comment about the border is significant, because if it were said in another context, it could advance the process of regularizing millions of undocumented immigrants.

“I believe the border is secure,” Napolitano said during a tour of the border. With this comment, made days after the White House and some Democratic senators presented their proposals, the Department of Homeland Security itself has determined that the border is secure.

According to the Senate’s bipartisan plan for immigration reform, the official declaration that the border is secure will be the determining factor for undocumented immigrants who avail themselves of the legalization to be able to begin their path to citizenship if they want. The problem with this plan is that it leaves it up to a commission made up of politicians and activists to determine when the border is secure in order to proceed to the next step.

As we have said before, the commission is a bad idea. If someone should make this type of assessment, it should be the government agency in charge of that area—like the Department of Homeland Security—instead of making it political by setting up a commission.

There are some who say that Napolitano is not the appropriate person for this, basically because she is part of the Obama administration, which is pushing for the reform. However, what gives Napolitano credibility is her tenure as the head of this federal agency.

Under Napolitano, $18 billion were spent in agencies like the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement—more than the total amount allocated to all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. At the same time, domestic enforcement has been inhumanely efficient, deporting more than 1.5 million people in four years.

The border will never be fully sealed. But these numbers, plus the decrease in border crossings—both because of the U.S. economic drop and demographic changes in Mexico—do indicate that there already is a reasonable margin of stability and security, one that Napolitano has recognized.