U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

57–327 PDF 2011

S. Hrg. 111–1051 

BORDER SECURITY: MOVING BEYOND THE 

VIRTUAL FENCE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

APRIL 20, 2010 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/ 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois 

EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina 

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

TROY H. CRIBB, Counsel 

BLAS NUNEZ-NETO, Professional Staff Member 

NICOLE M. MARTINEZ, Research Assistant 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

ROBERT L. STRAYER, Minority Director for Homeland Security Affairs 

MATTHEW L. HANNA, Minority CBP Detailee 

MOLLY A. WILKINSON, Minority General Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

PATRICIA R. HOGAN, Publications Clerk and GPO Detailee 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Hearing Clerk 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Lieberman ........................................................................................... 1 

Senator McCain ................................................................................................ 3 

Senator Burris .................................................................................................. 14 

Prepared statements: 

Senator Lieberman ........................................................................................... 33 

Senator McCain ................................................................................................ 36 

WITNESSES 

TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 

Hon. Alan D. Bersin, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security ............................................................. 5 

Hon. Dennis K. Burke, U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, U.S. Department 

of Justice ............................................................................................................... 17 

Hon. Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel, Mayor, City of Nogales, Arizona ................... 20 

Larry A. Dever, Sheriff, County of Cochise, Arizona ............................................ 23 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Bersin, Hon. Alan D.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 57 

Burke, Hon. Dennis K.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 17 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 67 

Garcia-Von Borstel, Hon. Octavio: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 20 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 79 

Dever, Larry A.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 23 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 86 

APPENDIX 

Tucson Weekly Articles submitted by Senator McCain ........................................ 38 

Photograph submitted by Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel ................................................ 56 

Richard M. Stana, Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues, U.S. 

Government Accountability Office, statement for the Record .......................... 89 

Responses to questions for the Record from Mr. Bersin ....................................... 102 

(1) 

BORDER SECURITY: MOVING BEYOND THE 

VIRTUAL FENCE 

TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:05 a.m., in room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph I. Lieberman, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Lieberman, Pryor, Burris, and McCain. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN LIEBERMAN 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. The hearing will come to order. I thank 

everybody for being here. 

This is the third hearing our Committee has held to review 

America’s border security programs in the wake of the stunning increase in violence caused by the Mexican drug cartels. In fact, and 

by coincidence, it was a year ago today that our Committee held 

a field hearing in Arizona—with some of the same witnesses who 

are on our second panel. 

I regret to say that in the year that has passed, the situation has 

continued to deteriorate. Since 2006, more than 22,700 people have 

been murdered in Mexico by narco-terrorists in the ongoing war between the cartels and the cartels and the government. That number comes from a Mexican Government study. It is a multiple— 

22,700—of the number of Americans killed in the wars in Iraq and 

Afghanistan since 2001. 

The pace of the murders unfortunately has been steadily escalating: 9,635 murders in 2009, an increase of 50 percent over the 

already unprecedented level in 2008 and three times the 2,837 

killed in 2007—Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s first year in 

office. 

These statistics are of grave and great concern to the United 

States, as they are to Mexico and its strong and courageous President. I greatly admire his unwavering commitment to rid his country of the plague of narco-terrorism. 

In the past year, the Mexican Government has arrested or killed 

literally scores of leading cartel figures, including Arturo BeltranLeyva, known as the ‘‘boss of bosses,’’ in December. 

But as cartel leaders are taken out, the violence seems to increase as the cartels fight amongst themselves for the remaining 

pieces of the narco-trade. The obvious fact is that we have to do 

2 

everything in our power to support our southern neighbors in the 

historic battle they are currently waging against the cartels. 

And we have to be vigilant on the American side of the border 

because there are deeply troubling signs that the cartels and other 

smuggling groups are becoming more willing to bring their violence 

across the border and inflict it on U.S. citizens. 

In the past month alone, as you know, three separate incidents 

have drawn our attention, concern, and anger: A pregnant U.S. 

Consulate employee, her husband, and the Mexican husband of another Consulate employee were all gunned down in Juarez as they 

left a children’s party; the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo was attacked with an improvised explosive device (IED), which is a term 

we normally hear used with regard to the terrorist attacks against 

us and our allies in Iraq and Afghanistan; and then, of course, a 

well-known and much respected and beloved rancher in Arizona 

was murdered on his own property. All this follows the murder of 

an on-duty Border Patrol agent last year. 

So the bottom line before our Committee today is what can the 

Federal, State, and local governments do together to control violence in Mexico, on the border between the United States and Mexico, and violence and other illegal behavior that will flow over the 

border into our country. 

That brings me briefly to highlight a focus of this hearing, which 

is our efforts to use technology to control the border. When the ‘‘virtual fence,’’ or SBInet project, was first launched, we were told that 

it would be extended across our entire Southwest Border—that is 

nearly 2,000 miles—by early fiscal year 2009. 

Well, it is now, of course, April 2010, almost 4 years after SBInet 

began and $770 million has been spent directly on it, and we are 

still waiting on the testing of the first 23-mile stretch of SBInet, 

which will be in the Tucson Sector. That is it. 

By any measure, SBInet has been a failure—a classic example of 

a program that was grossly oversold and has been badly underdelivered. 

When SBInet first started, U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

(CBP) seems to have effectively told Boeing, the contractor, ‘‘Go 

ahead and do what you can do as quickly as you can.’’ 

Without clear goals and expectations, both CBP and Boeing underestimated the complexity of building the system, I believe. And 

the Border Patrol agents themselves—the people who would be relying on and implementing the system every day—were not, in my 

opinion, adequately consulted on what their actual needs were. 

I am also troubled that the program office responsible for SBInet 

is heavily dependent on contractors, weakening CBP’s own organic 

capability to manage the program and ensure capability. 

And, of course, the structure of the SBInet contract—one overarching contract to a single contractor—means that CBP does not 

get the benefit of competition for individual tasks undertaken for 

the SBInet program. 

From the beginning of SBInet, CBP’s reports to Congress read 

like a quest to find that mystical point where parallel lines finally 

meet: It is always just over the horizon, but you never actually get 

there. 

3 

1The articles submitted for the record by Senator McCain appear in the Appendix on page 

38. 

We have to get there. Our Committee staff visited the Tucson 

Sector over the recess, and once again, they heard, ‘‘We are almost 

there.’’ 

I do not think the Members of the Committee will believe that 

we are there until we are actually there and we can see so with 

our own eyes. 

I am pleased that Secretary Napolitano has ordered a long overdue internal review of the SBInet program, which will consider its 

long-term viability and determine whether there are technological 

alternatives to providing better border control. 

I welcome CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin today. In some sense 

maybe on this occasion he is fortunate that it took a long time to 

get him into office because he is not accountable for any of the 

delays that I just described, but now he has the responsibility, of 

course, to end them, and I look forward to his testimony and the 

questioning that will follow. 

We are also honored to have a second panel of witnesses from Arizona to bring our Committee a firsthand, from-the-ground, local 

perspective on this crisis, which is a homeland security crisis. 

I am honored to be joined as Ranking Member today by Senator 

John McCain of Arizona. He has an obvious interest in this crisis 

because it so disproportionately affects the people of Arizona. He 

has been a persistent advocate for better border security and urgent action to deal with the violence now pouring over the border 

into the United States, and I am proud to call on him now for an 

opening statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MCCAIN 

Senator MCCAIN. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and, again, I 

thank you for holding this hearing—you and the Ranking Member, 

Susan Collins. This is an important hearing. 

As you mentioned, it was exactly 1 year ago today that we had 

a hearing in Phoenix, and it was at that time that we called for 

the dispatch of 3,000 National Guard troops to the border. And, unfortunately, as our witnesses will testify, we are seeing an increase 

in violence. The situation has not improved. We are seeing serious 

spillover violence that affects Americans living near the border. 

Mr. Chairman, I have three articles that I would like included 

in the record.1

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Without objection. 

Senator MCCAIN. They are titled ‘‘The Chiricahua Corridor— 

Drug-trafficking and crime victimize residents and destroy the environment along the Southern Arizona-New Mexico border;’’ ‘‘Luck 

and Fear—A border-area home invasion has forced residents to 

take action;’’ and ‘‘Chico and the Monkey—How many times were 

a border coyote and his accomplice captured and released by law 

enforcement? Would you believe 35?’’ 

These are all very interesting articles that I hope all of my colleagues would take the time to read so they can understand how 

serious and uncontrolled our border situation is. 

4 

As you mentioned, just last month, three Americans were killed 

on the Mexican side of the border, and a third-generation Arizona 

rancher was found dead on his property near the Mexican Border, 

reportedly shot by a suspect that may have entered our country illegally. Interestingly, last week the L.A. Times reported that more 

than 22,000 deaths in Mexico during the past 3 years occurred because of drug violence with the cartels—22,000 Mexican citizens. 

The violence is increasing and impeding the everyday life and 

the peace of mind of our citizens in the border region. Some believe 

that they are living in a lawless land where there is little or no 

consequence for the violation of their land, property, and wellbeing. 

The President’s most recent budget, unfortunately, seeks to cut 

181 Border Patrol agent positions. Inexplicable. Inexplicable. This 

comes after the number of Border Patrol agents already declined 

between fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010. 

As all the witnesses know today, the Border Patrol in the Tucson 

Sector accounts for almost 50 percent of all illegal immigrant apprehensions across the country. Specifically, in fiscal year 2009, the 

Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector apprehended 241,453 individuals—the size of the population of Reno, Nevada. And we will hear 

from our witnesses what proportion are not apprehended. Some say 

three times, some say five, but regardless, that number is astonishing. 

The Tucson Sector also accounts for 50 percent of all the marijuana seizures in the Nation. In fiscal year 2009, the Border Patrol 

seized more than 1.3 million pounds of marijuana in the Tucson 

Sector alone—the first time any Border Patrol sector had ever 

seized more than 1 million pounds of marijuana in one fiscal year. 

Additionally, 90 percent of the cocaine used in the United States 

comes through Mexico, and much of it is smuggled through Arizona, right up the I–10 highway. So it is for these reasons that in 

fiscal year 2009, 73 percent of the District of Arizona’s criminal filings involved either immigration or drug charges. 

As you know, Mr. Chairman, yesterday Senator Jon Kyl and I released a 10-point border security action plan that calls for 3,000 

National Guard troops to be sent to patrol the Arizona-Mexico Border, 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents to the border, 24-houra-day surveillance by Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 

(UAVs), and construction of a fence that truly deters illegal entries, 

among other issues. 

I hope the hearing today will highlight the outstanding work that 

our State and local officials are performing to provide for the safety 

of Americans, despite the inability of the Federal Government to 

secure the Southwest Border from the flow of drugs, money laundering, and illegal immigration. In our second panel, we will hear 

from the Mayor of Nogales, Arizona; the Sheriff of Cochise County, 

Larry Dever, who deals with these issues on a day-to-day basis; 

and our U.S. Attorney, Dennis Burke, who has increased the number of border-related prosecutions, I am happy to say. 

Finally, Mr. Chairman, on SBInet, it is a disgraceful failure. At 

least $800 million so far has been wasted. Think of how that money 

could have been spent to try to improve our border security. There 

has been a lack of oversight; there has been a lack of accountVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:29 Sep 06, 2011 Jkt 57327 PO 00000 Frm 000008 Fmt 06633 Sfmt 06633 P:\DOCS\57327.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
5 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Bersin appears in the Appendix on page 57. 

ability. And by most reports, this virtual fence, which has already 

consumed hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, has 

been a complete failure. 

I will look forward to hearing from Commissioner Bersin on this 

issue, along with other border security issues. 

Again, I thank you for holding this hearing. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you, Senator McCain. 

Commissioner Bersin, I am glad to welcome you here for your 

first appearance since you assumed the responsibilities of this critically important office. We look forward to working with you as the 

oversight Committee for the Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS), and we would invite your testimony at this time. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. ALAN D. BERSIN,1 COMMISSIONER, U.S. 

CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. BERSIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Senator 

McCain, Senator Pryor, Senator Burris, and staff. I appreciate this 

opportunity to return to testify before the Senate. I had many 

years, earlier years, in the 1990s, in which I watched the border 

from my home and the place where I worked in San Diego. And 

as I have come back during the past year, I understand that we 

face many of the same problems, but we have many more opportunities because of the resources and the support that the Congress 

and, in particular, this Committee have provided to Customs and 

Border Protection. I take the reins at CBP with honor and pride, 

and I understand that I am accountable to our people and to this 

Committee. 

The Committee indicated it wishes to hear from me on three subjects: 

The status of border security efforts—and that is our No. 1 priority, to protect the American people and our border communities 

from violence—to assure public safety, and to assure security on 

the border. 

Second, the Committee wishes to hear about the status of our efforts in support of the Government of Mexico. As the Chairman 

noted, there has been a historic reversal of the past in terms of 

President Calderon’s efforts, and I will be pleased this morning to 

report on efforts that CBP and DHS and the other elements of the 

U.S. Government have provided to President Calderon. 

The third is to review the theory of action of our border security 

to go back over what the original theory was with regard to personnel and infrastructure and technology, with specific reference to 

SBInet, its current status, and the future prospects. 

A year ago, actually beginning in the last quarter of 2008, the 

American people became aware of something that had actually 

started with the ascension to power of President Calderon in 2006. 

We discovered—and it hit our front pages—the kind of violence 

that has now escalated to the point where—as Senator McCain and 

the Chairman noted—an estimated 22,000 Mexicans have died as 

cartel takes on cartel and as the Mexican Government for the first 

time in its history takes on Mexican organized crime. 

6 

In March 2009, Secretary Napolitano—no stranger to the border—announced the Southwest Border Initiative that had three 

basic goals: 

One was to see that the violence that was occurring in Mexico 

would not spill over in the same form and with the same frequency 

and the same devastating impact that it was having in northern 

Mexico. 

The second goal was to reduce the movement of contraband and 

illegal crossings across our border in the Southwest. 

And the third was to support Mexico in its campaign to crack 

down on cartels through technical assistance, through intelligence 

sharing, and through support on our side of the border of the operations that were taking place south of the border. 

Significant resources were deployed to the border in terms of personnel, in terms of technology, non-intrusive inspection technology 

and X-ray machines, in terms of intelligence analysts, and in terms 

of redirected Stonegarden funds. As the Chairman and Senator 

McCain noted, support and partnership with our State, local, and 

tribal partners is absolutely essential to the Federal strategy on 

border security. 

The results of the Southwest Border Initiative: We saw significant decreases in illegal crossings, and while this was attributable 

in some material part to the economy and the recession that we 

have experienced, both in North America and worldwide, it also reflected a heightened enforcement posture by the increase of Border 

Patrol agents that brought our total level of agent strength to 

20,000 Border Patrol agents, an increase of 100 percent since 2004, 

and an increase, I should say, of 71⁄2 to eight times from what it 

was when I last worked with the Border Patrol in the 1990s. 

The statistics with regard to seizures of contraband, of narcotics, 

are set forth in the written testimony, and I will leave the staff in 

the Senate to refer to that testimony for the specific statistics. 

With regard to the violence situation, we have two reports—one 

that is cautious in its optimism, but also in its recognition that vigilance is required; and a second that is not optimistic, but reflects 

the kind of tragedy that we saw in the murder of Robert Krentz, 

a rancher in Arizona. 

The kind of violence that we have seen in Mexico, the shoot-outs 

in the plazas, the 200-day death toll in Ciudad Juarez that has 

converted that city into the most dangerous city in the Western 

Hemisphere, we have not seen in the United States in terms of 

mass impact. We are geared to prevent and to deter that impact 

from coming across our border. That is not to say, Senators, that 

we have not seen significant and disturbing trends of increased violence attributable to organized crime activities based in Mexico. We 

have, and we do, and we take it very seriously. 

The murder of Mr. Krentz was the most recent incident in which 

an American citizen on our side of the border was the victim of organized criminal violence based in Mexico. Secretary Napolitano 

took very direct action in responding to that murder. Additional 

Border Patrol agents were deployed in the Douglas Station area of 

the Tucson Sector. We saw an immediate dispatch of air and marine assets to help track the suspected murderers, and we have 

reason to believe they did move back into Mexico. The investigation 

7 

continues, not only with Sheriff Dever in Cochise County, but also 

with Federal and State investigators, and we are also working with 

our Mexican colleagues. Secretary Napolitano wanted me to assure 

this Committee that she is committed to seeing that this murderer 

is apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

We also see—and it is disturbing—the killings of American citizens and people connected to the Consulate in Juarez. The Committee asks whether that or the use of an IED against the Consulate in Nuevo Laredo represents a change in the cartels’ approach to targeting or challenging U.S. law enforcement and U.S. 

personnel abroad. Senator, that inquiry continues, but we take that 

threat very seriously, and it would constitute a change in the way 

in which the cartels have operated with respect to U.S. law enforcement officials or U.S. officials stationed abroad. 

Last, in terms of the relationship with Mexico, I can tell you 

from having returned to the border that indeed the future is not 

what it used to be with regard to our relationship with Mexico. 

Whereas the border used to be a place where U.S. law enforcement 

stopped and where sovereignty was still respected, the fact of the 

matter is that cooperative relationships with Mexico are at a level 

and at a depth that we have never seen before. This stems both 

from President Calderon’s recognition of the extent to which organized crime has tainted Mexican politics and society and from the 

recognition by President Obama, Secretary Napolitano, and her colleagues in the Cabinet that we share a co-responsibility for the situation on the U.S.-Mexico Border, and that, in fact, the cycle of 

drugs coming north and guns and cash going south are part of one 

organized vicious cycle of crime and criminality that we have a 

joint responsibility to confront. And I am pleased to report to you, 

Mr. Chairman and Senators, that we have confronted that in cooperative ways not seen before. Let me give you three examples. 

One is the extent to which we at CBP focus on the southbound 

movement of cash and guns. We have created an Outbound Programs Division in our Office of Field Operations. We have dedicated the resources. We have instituted the checks that look not 

only at people and things, cargo and goods coming north, but people and things going south. The result of that in concert with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been an unprecedented 

level of seizure both of cash and also of weapons. 

We have also seen for the first time in the history of the U.S.- 

Mexican Border the dispatch and the deployment of Federal police 

in Mexico in the Sonora area at Nogales to coordinate with the U.S. 

Border Patrol. This creation of a communication north and south 

of the border holds out great promise and indicates something that 

would have been unthinkable even 5 years ago. 

On the prosecution front, we see our prosecutors—and Mr. Burke 

will be able to describe this with greater specificity—cooperating 

with the Attorney General of Mexico (PGR) to actually share prosecution authorities or responsibilities to see to it that law breakers 

are punished, whether in American courts and now in certain cases 

in Mexican courts. 

With regard to personnel, infrastructure, and technology, we 

have increased Customs and Border Protection to where we have 

now almost 58,000 employees. We have 20,000 Border Patrol 

8 

agents and 24,000 field officers. We also have built the infrastructure that Congress asked us to do with regard to the fencing across 

the U.S.-Mexican Border. On the advice of Border Patrol and the 

professionals who live and work there, we have met in all material 

respects the obligations placed on the Department of Homeland Security with regard to the fence. 

And last, Mr. Chairman and Senators, with regard to SBInet, as 

you know, when Secretary Napolitano came into office, because of 

her experience as the Governor of Arizona, she understood that the 

promise of the virtual fence from Brownsville to San Diego had not 

delivered and was not anywhere near being able to deliver. As a 

result, as you know, she ordered a midterm assessment and ordered some immediate steps with regard to funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). 

What the Secretary ordered—and it has taken place—was a reallocation of those funds under ARRA to see to it that we would 

not continue to spend on the Block 1 technology but, rather, use 

those funds to purchase and deploy technology at the border that 

had been trusted and tried by our Border Patrol agents and field 

officers, and that has been done with regard to the $50 million, and 

I will be pleased to answer the Committee’s questions with regard 

to the specific allocation among the variety of devices that have 

been long in use on the U.S.-Mexican Border and have proven their 

value. 

The Secretary also started a science-based assessment that is underway that will look at sector by sector across the U.S.-Mexican 

Border what mix of technology will best serve our agents on the 

ground and our communities at the border. And I would say that 

while the news regarding the wholesale integration at a borderwide level has proven to be beyond the capacity of the contractors 

and beyond the capacity of CBP to date, there are elements in the 

Block 1 technology that we would urge this Committee and its staff 

to work with us to see whether it actually functions in a way that 

can be integrated with a placement and a deployment of technology 

across the border so that, in fact, SBInet technology, if not the 

SBInet system as originally envisioned, would actually have a place 

as we move forward. 

Mr. Chairman, I thank you again for this opportunity and look 

forward to responding to the Committee’s questions. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks very much, Commissioner Bersin. 

We will have 7 minutes for each of the Senators on this round. 

Let me begin my questioning, Commissioner, and I want you, 

just as briefly as you can for the benefit of those in the room and 

those who may be watching or listening, to contrast two things you 

said that are of interest to the Committee. The first is that, in your 

estimation—and you are fairly new at CBP—the Federal Government has met all of its obligations, you said, with regard to the 

fence along the border. Contrast that, if you will, with what everyone, including you, I gather, views as the failures of the SBInet virtual fence system. 

Mr. BERSIN. Mr. Chairman, the fence is an element of infrastructure, and what we did, beginning actually back in the Clinton Administration with regard to the old landing-mat fence, and then 

carried forward with the resources provided by Congress as the 

9 

fence of approximately 700 miles—just about 675 miles to be more 

precise—was built, was very much more governed by differential 

terrain and differential circumstances. And the theory of the fence 

was to provide our Border Patrol agents with an opportunity, depending on the different terrain, to be able to respond to incursions. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. And what areas is that generally present 

in now? 

Mr. BERSIN. It has been effective with regard to the different 

kinds of fences that have been built. So, for example, around ports 

of entry, you will see pedestrian fences of 15 feet or greater that 

will actually keep people from scaling the fence and moving into a 

town or a city in which they can then blend into the population and 

escape from apprehension. 

Out in the middle of the desert, different kinds of infrastructures 

are required, largely to prevent the movement of vehicles across a 

flat terrain. 

So I think what we have seen is a successful implementation of 

this differential application of infrastructure. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Now, contrast that with the SBInet. That 

was intended as a back-up or to cover the whole border in a kind 

of virtual fence? 

Mr. BERSIN. The SBInet is a system that was to give us through 

a combination of video and radar an ability to both detect incursions on a screen and to identify the kind of incursion—the kind 

of person, the kind of car, and the number of people. And, in fact, 

Block 1, while the assessment is still going on, has shown some 

promise in being able to do precisely that. 

What has not worked is the total integration of technology from 

each of the areas along the border into an overall system that 

would permit central monitoring and control. That technology integration at the very broadest level has been the complete failure 

that the Committee describes. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. So that is a helpful clarification. I presume you would not say that the combination of the fence and the 

virtual fence of SBInet, whatever parts of it are working, are stopping the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the United 

States today. 

Mr. BERSIN. No. It has not sealed the border such that there is 

no illegal movement. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Right. So there continues to be illegal 

movement in and out, as it were. Do you have any relevant statistics, estimates—and this is a hard thing to do, I know, because of 

all the vagaries of making judgments like this since we are talking 

about essentially—of obviously illegal behavior? 

Mr. BERSIN. In terms of the number of crossings? 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Yes. Has the number gone up? Has it 

gone down? There has been some theory that it may be going down 

because the economy is worse here. 

Mr. BERSIN. The statistics, which are set forth in full, Mr. Chairman, in the testimony, indicate that in fiscal year 2009, we saw 

and encountered at the ports of entry 224,000 inadmissible aliens 

at the port of entry, and we apprehended more than 556,000 beVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:29 Sep 06, 2011 Jkt 57327 PO 00000 Frm 000013 Fmt 06633 Sfmt 06633 P:\DOCS\57327.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
10 

tween the ports of entry, approximately in total 580,000 illegal or 

attempted illegal crossings. 

In fiscal year 2010 to date, we have seen 113,000 aliens at the 

ports of entry and 245,000 between the ports of entry, somewhat 

greater but basically the same level. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Still significant. Still about the same as 

the year before. 

Mr. BERSIN. But compared to 2008 and 2007, we saw a decline 

in the apprehensions between the ports of 23 percent, more than 

167,000 apprehensions. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. So let us go back to SBInet. You have a 

reputation for being a tough law enforcer and manager. Did I correctly infer, as I heard you talking about SBInet, that you think 

as a total system it is never going to go into effect and that the 

best we can do with it is to take pieces of the technology and use 

them well? 

Mr. BERSIN. Mr. Chairman, that is one of the options on the 

table. I was out speaking to our employees in the Office of Information Technology today, and I remembered that the first trial I had 

in Federal court in the 1970s was about the Baltimore traffic control system in which there was an integration of all the technology 

and the traffic lights in the city of Baltimore. The expectation was 

that based on traffic flow, you could direct all the cars in the city. 

It was a horrible integration failure. That would be a piece of cake, 

technically speaking, today. 

So I do not want to say that theoretically at some point you could 

not have the kind of sophisticated technological integration that 

SBInet originally projected. But in the near term, the Secretary 

has concluded, and I agree with her based on the advice that we 

have received, that wholesale integration is not a goal that is practicable or that would produce the kind of productive results that we 

would want to see. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Let me ask you a final question, which 

is—in some sense you gave a response, but I want to clarify it, for 

myself anyway—whether the murders at the Consulate, whether 

the killing of the rancher, Mr. Krentz, whether other attacks on 

U.S. citizens indicate a change in tactics by the Mexican drug cartels, which have generally in the past avoided direct attacks on the 

United States. I would add to that the use of the improvised explosive device, which is essentially a bomb. 

I think I heard you say that you are not sure. Should we worry 

that CBP personnel, American citizens, and others on this side of 

the border and American interests in locations in Mexico will be 

subject to more violent attacks by the drug cartels? 

Mr. BERSIN. Mr. Chairman, the answer to the second question, 

should we be concerned, absolutely, and we need to take the possibility very seriously. At the same time, in response to the first 

question, we are not sure, and we continue to investigate. 

So, for example, while an operating premise might be that Mr. 

Krentz had been killed by someone connected with a smuggling 

outfit, we have yet—and the investigation continues—to establish 

that in fact. But there are hypotheses, and certainly we need to 

take seriously the threat that the incidents you reference in Juarez 

and Nuevo Laredo represent a change in policy. We have not seen 

11 

the killing of an American law enforcement person in Mexico since 

that of Enrique Camarena in the 1980s. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Right. 

Mr. BERSIN. I hesitate to draw the same conclusion, and I do not. 

We need to investigate that because the situation in Mexico in 

terms of where the violence is coming from, the street gangs coupled with the cartel wars that are going on, make it unclear. But 

we need to take the possibility and the threat very seriously, and 

we do. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. I trust that our cooperative relationship 

with Mexican Government and law enforcement authorities includes sharing of intelligence so that they would be one of the resources we would have in determining whether the cartels had 

taken a turn and decided now to target Americans on either side 

of the border. 

Mr. BERSIN. That is correct, Mr. Chairman. The information 

sharing is at a level that we have never experienced before. At the 

same time, given the weaknesses in Mexican law enforcement and 

security apparatus, they understand, just as we do, it is very much 

on a trust-but-verify basis. I suggest the Committee may wish in 

a more confidential setting to receive the briefing on exactly what 

we do know and do not yet know about that threat. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you, Commissioner. Senator 

McCain. 

Senator MCCAIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Bersin, I am not sure if Sheriff Dever of Cochise County is 

here. I think he can provide you with information, which at least 

circumstantially and evidence-wise, shows that this murder of Robert Krentz was done by someone who had entered this country illegally and very likely involves drug trafficking. They have not 

reached a total conclusion, but certainly there are signs that Sheriff Dever will inform us about. 

Do you believe that violence has increased or decreased on our 

border in the last year? 

Mr. BERSIN. With regard to the so-called spillover from Mexico 

of the mass violence, we have not seen that. We are prepared for 

it, and we understand the risk. But we have this anomaly of—— 

Senator MCCAIN. Well, let me just interrupt you right there. 

Sheriff Dever and our other law enforcement people will tell you 

that there has been a significant change in the behavior of the drug 

traffickers, and that is that they are prone to violence, they are 

prone to trying to cause accidents on the freeway so they can get 

away, and they have become much more aggressive. The sophistication and types of their weaponry have dramatically increased. 

Would you agree with all that? 

Mr. BERSIN. I acknowledge that. I do agree with that, and that 

does not gainsay the fact that we have Juarez, the most dangerous 

city in the Western Hemisphere, sitting next to El Paso, which is 

one of the safest cities in America. That does not deny everything 

that my old colleague in law enforcement Sheriff Dever has said. 

We have significant violence that is caused by organized crime 

based in Mexico, yes, sir. 

Senator MCCAIN. Then would that not argue for increased enforcement on the border? 

12 

Mr. BERSIN. Yes, it does, and we have seen steadily increased enforcement, Senator McCain, from March 2009 on. 

Senator MCCAIN. Actually, the budget proposal is a reduction in 

Border Patrol. 

Mr. BERSIN. Sir, respectfully, with regard to this year compared 

to next year, the level of Border Patrol agents will remain level 

without a loss in Border Patrol force and strength. 

Senator MCCAIN. So violence is increasing, and the Border Patrol 

numbers remain level. 

Mr. BERSIN. This is not just about Border Patrol agents alone. 

It is about infrastructure, technology, tactical operations, and cooperation with law enforcement—local, State, and across the border. 

Senator MCCAIN. And infrastructure that was supposed to provide us with surveillance all across the U.S.-Mexico Border has 

now turned out to be, at least in the assessment of the Government 

Accountability Office (GAO), an abysmal failure. So that is why 

Senator Kyl and I, in agreement with every law enforcement agency in the State of Arizona, have done what Secretary Napolitano 

asked for when she was Governor of the State of Arizona, to send 

the National Guard to the border until we are sure that we have 

some kind of control over the border. 

Look, if you have 241,000 people apprehended just in the Tucson 

Sector of Arizona, if you have intercepted 1.3 million pounds of 

marijuana—and you can cite the statistics as to how many are apprehended versus how many get away—does that not indicate that 

our border is not under control? 

Mr. BERSIN. Senator McCain, the threats that we face in all 

areas are taken seriously. We have deployed in March 2009, and 

we are preparing to deploy additional resources to the border. 

Senator MCCAIN. And those resources are? 

Mr. BERSIN. The threat is appreciated. The National Guard is 

one option that is under consideration, and I suspect the Secretary 

and the Administration will be making that decision in the near future. 

Senator MCCAIN. Well, you just said that you are deploying additional resources to the border. What are they? 

Mr. BERSIN. We have deployed, for example, in response to the 

murder of Mr. Krentz, agents into the immediate area. 

Senator MCCAIN. On a temporary basis. 

Mr. BERSIN. On a deployed basis until the threat level has resumed an acceptable place. 

Senator MCCAIN. I do not see how, frankly, a situation where 

241,000 people are apprehended in just one sector, in the Tucson 

Sector, and 1.3 million pounds of marijuana are intercepted does 

not argue for stronger measures to be taken, and in the short term, 

for what Secretary Napolitano asked for when she was Governor of 

Arizona, and that is, to get the National Guard to the border. 

By the way, I have often cited the Goldwater Range as an example where the Marines and the Border Patrol got together. We had 

a huge problem with illegals coming across and had to shut down 

the missions over the Goldwater Range, and now because of their 

cooperation, it has worked. And it was with commercial off-theshelf capability. 

13 

Let me get to fences for just a second. In San Diego, as you are 

very well aware, there has been construction of triple fences, and 

crime has gone down a great deal in San Diego. Is that correct? 

Mr. BERSIN. That is correct, and the crossings in that particular 

portion of the sector have decreased dramatically. Yes, sir. 

Senator MCCAIN. Does that not argue for double and triple fences 

in urban areas? 

Mr. BERSIN. The placement of infrastructure has always depended, Senator McCain, on the professionals on the ground making their recommendations. So as you know, in the Nogales port of 

entry, you will have significant fences, and in other places in El 

Paso, you will have duplicate fences. 

This is always about a professional judgment about how best to 

direct the traffic and to manage the flow. So I think as the Secretary has implemented the intent of Congress, it has been done 

strictly on the advice of our Border Patrol agents and other professionals on the ground. 

Senator MCCAIN. Well, I do not want to get into too much detail, 

but obviously the Yuma Sector of our border has improved significantly, whereas the Tucson Sector has not. Maybe there is a little 

bit too much autonomy there and not enough attention to the lessons learned. 

I see that my time has expired, but I just want to say, Mr. 

Bersin, I wish you luck in your position. This is an issue of utmost 

seriousness. Sheriff Dever and all of the sheriffs in Arizona will tell 

you that there has been a sea change in the last couple of years 

in the behavior of the drug and human smugglers. They are more 

violent, they are more provocative, and they fight back. They have 

little or no regard for the people that are doing the human trafficking and carrying the drugs. They are now using ultra lights to 

bring drugs across our border. We need UAVs that would be airborne 24 hours a day, rather than just during working hours. And 

people, the citizens of our State, are seeing their fundamental 

rights violated, their property being crossed, and their wildlife refuges being destroyed. And all of this has been ratcheted up over 

the last couple of years to a point where we are in a real conflict. 

And there is very little doubt that the cartels are becoming more 

brutal, more effective, and better armed and better equipped. 

And so it cries out for action, and it seems to me in the short 

term that action is sending the Guard to the border, which has 

been effective in the past. It would not be the first time. And, second of all, implement a package of efforts along the lines of what 

Senator Kyl and I have recommended, which includes interoperability of communications with local and Federal authorities up to 

and including Operation Streamline, which has been effective in reducing the motivation and numbers of people crossing the border 

because they know that they are going to be incarcerated for a period of time. 

And let me just throw one more number at you that is alarming, 

and that is, our law enforcement will tell you that 17 percent of 

the people they apprehend today illegally crossing our border have 

committed crimes previously in the United States of America. That 

alone is enough to concern us as far as the safety and security of 

our citizens. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

14 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you, Senator McCain, very much. 

Senator MCCAIN. By the way, do you have a response to that diatribe? [Laughter.] 

Mr. BERSIN. Senator McCain, as somebody who has lived and 

worked on the border for more than a quarter of a century, I appreciate your sense of urgency, and I have lived and worked to combat 

it for many years and look forward, with your support and the support of this Committee, to continue to do so ever more effectively. 

Senator MCCAIN. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you. Senator Burris. 

Senator BURRIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BURRIS 

Commissioner, I would just like to congratulate you and welcome 

you aboard. 

Mr. BERSIN. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator BURRIS. I recently had the opportunity to travel to the 

Southwest Border and get a close-up look at the work that DHS 

and its component agencies are doing down there. They have been 

fighting a tough battle, and I am grateful for the men and women 

who are working to protect our borders, and I want to take my hat 

off to them and let the American people know that it is not an easy 

position to be in, having visited there and seen it firsthand. 

Commissioner, I am deeply concerned about SBInet. I am trying 

to get a clearer understanding of your testimony, which states that 

it is an overall combination of the various protections. But I want 

to know who actually authorized this particular contract. And, by 

the way, if my Boeing people are here—and I am not going to slam 

Boeing yet; they are headquartered in my State—but I do not want 

Boeing or any other company taking advantage of the taxpayers’ 

dollars, and if they have spent all of this money and we do not 

have a system that works, I want to know why we are continuing 

to do it. My notes say that we spent over $1.2 billion on a system 

that is not working. 

Can you clarify some of that for me, Commissioner? 

Mr. BERSIN. Senator Burris, not that this is good news, but the 

expenditure is slightly over $700 million, not—— 

Senator BURRIS. It is not $1.2 billion? 

Mr. BERSIN. That is the only good news, that it is not $1.2 billion. The problem is that the original conception has not been delivered. The requirements that had been set forth have not been met 

with regard to an integrated system. And Secretary Janet Napolitano, having recognized that, has taken the steps that I described 

both in the written testimony and briefly in response to the Chairman’s questions to redeploy $50 million that had been added to the 

SBInet coffers, if you will, to other technologies, including thermal 

imaging devices and mobile surveillance systems that actually have 

demonstrated utility. 

What the Secretary has also ordered and is in the process of 

being accomplished is an assessment of what are the next steps 

with regard to SBInet. And as I suggested, I think there will be 

an assessment of the one portion on the border in Tucson where 

the system has been in place—— 

15 

Senator BURRIS. Well, pardon me, Commissioner, but this SBInet 

is supposed to cover almost 2,000 miles. We have done 23 miles initially, and Ajo–1 is only going to do another 30 miles, and we spent 

$700 million. Are we planning to try to use this on the other 1,900- 

plus miles that we have to go? 

Mr. BERSIN. That will be the conclusion reached after the assessment the Secretary is—— 

Senator BURRIS. Why could we not have made the assessment up 

front? I understand Boeing is still working on it. Do you not have 

competition? And then evidently there is an exclusive contract 

here. We have not sought to get any competition to see if some 

other company could even do this better and cheaper. Why are we 

locked into Boeing so deeply in this process? 

Mr. BERSIN. The contractual situation and the contract management are both matters that offer big lessons, and I hate to avail 

myself of the Chairman’s temporary pass. I was not present at the 

creation of this. But I am accountable for it now and responsible 

for it now. 

Senator BURRIS. Can we cancel the contract with Boeing? 

Mr. BERSIN. I am not in a position to render that legal judgment, 

but it is a fair question that you ask. 

Senator BURRIS. How can you do a pilot program that costs $700 

million? The pilot evidently is not working, and we are expanding 

now into doing more, and we are not sure that it is going to work, 

but we are going to continue to pay. Taxpayers do not have unlimited pockets for Boeing or any other company. 

Mr. BERSIN. I understand your frustration and anger, Senator. 

Senator BURRIS. So is that under your purview now, to assess 

what is happening? Or is it the Secretary who has to assess the 

program? 

Mr. BERSIN. On the front line, the buck stops with me with regard to SBInet. 

Senator BURRIS. Well, Commissioner, can you find out just where 

the money has gone and where it is going to go in the future? We 

do not have unlimited funds to pour into something that is not 

going to work, regardless of who the corporation is. I am trying to 

find out how they got a contract of that magnitude. Mr. Chairman, 

there ought to be some type of investigation into this particular 

contract. I am deeply concerned about how a contract of this magnitude could be awarded and no one had tested whether or not it 

would work. There has to be some follow-up here. I do not know 

where the GAO is in reporting on this, but we have to get into just 

how this all took place and what deliverables were supposed to be 

coming out of this contract because that is just a total abuse of taxpayers’ money. 

Commissioner, is there actually triple fencing on the San Diego, 

California Border? 

Mr. BERSIN. In a small portion of the border, you will find double 

and triple fencing in terms of the infrastructure, yes. 

Senator BURRIS. The single fencing that I saw on the border was 

just a piece of tin metal stretched across the Mexican side, and all 

the trash is dumped onto our side, which we have to clean up. It 

is a garbage pit, and it all drains down toward the ocean, which 

we spend millions of dollars trying to clean up. And our Border PaVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:29 Sep 06, 2011 Jkt 57327 PO 00000 Frm 000019 Fmt 06633 Sfmt 06633 P:\DOCS\57327.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
16 

trol says that is just what we have to do. Has there been any talk 

with the Mexican Government about how we can work this out? 

Mr. BERSIN. Actually, I know this because I am a resident of San 

Diego County, not because I am the Commissioner of Customs and 

Border Protection. The United States helped construct a sewage 

plant in the Tijuana River Valley, and as bad as it may have 

seemed to you, Senator Burris, on your visit, it used to be 10 times 

worse. 

Senator BURRIS. So we are getting cooperation? 

Mr. BERSIN. Yes, sir. 

Senator BURRIS. We are doing the work, but we are getting the 

cooperation of the Mexican Government. Are there any type of penalties for using that as their garbage dump? That is what it is. Any 

help from the Mexican Government? 

Mr. BERSIN. We are, Senator. 

Senator BURRIS. My time has expired, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Senator Burris. We all share 

your frustration and anger about the contract. The GAO has done 

some work on SBInet, and I am glad to talk to you more about 

what more we can do. But at this point, I think with Commissioner 

Bersin coming on now, with his background, I think we are counting on him really to give us a direct assessment and take action 

to either terminate the contract or take from it what will work. As 

Senator McCain indicated earlier, it may be that the best answer 

here to this continuing crisis and the continuing flow of illegal immigrants into the United States is to go back to the old-style 

fences, double and triple layered—unless that is topographically 

impossible in certain areas. 

We are going to move on to the second panel, but I wanted to 

thank you for your testimony today. Look, bottom line from what 

we know and what you have testified today, the flow of illegal immigrants across the Mexican Border into the United States remains unacceptably high, hundreds of thousands per year, even at 

the reduced rate that we see occurring now. We know that the violence in Mexico is just stunning in its scope and brutality. And we 

know and, as you said, have reason to be concerned that Americans 

have been targeted more and that will happen more in the future. 

So as you come on, I hope you will make this your No. 1 concern, 

and you have the background to really make a difference here. This 

whole operation, I am not saying it is easy. If it were easy, we 

would have solved it long ago. But this thing needs to be shaken 

up, and from your background, I think you are somebody who can 

do it. 

I would also say about my colleagues, Senator McCain and Senator Kyl, in their program they put forward yesterday, including 

the request for Federal troop support temporarily at the border, I 

hope that you and the Administration will give this request the respect that I would want you to give me if I and my colleague from 

Connecticut were appealing for Federal help for a natural disaster 

that had occurred in our State because I do not think most of us 

in this country can appreciate what people in Arizona are living 

with every day. It is just not acceptable, and it is obvious that the 

State and local governments cannot handle it themselves, and we, 

together with our allies and partners in Mexico, have to do a better 

17 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Burke appears in the Appendix on page 67. 

job. So this is a big challenge, but you are a person with the background and experience and record, if anybody can, to turn it 

around. And I just urge you to be as tough and direct and aggressive as you feel you need to be to get this done. 

Mr. BERSIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you, Commissioner. 

Senator McCain, do you want to add anything? 

Senator MCCAIN. No, except to say that I hope you will examine 

Senator Kyl’s and my proposal and give us a response as to your 

assessment of our recommendations. We would appreciate that. 

Thank you very much. 

Mr. BERSIN. We will, Senator, and thank you. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Commissioner. 

We have a vote that has just begun. We will go over, vote, and 

come back quickly. 

In the meantime, the hearing is in recess. 

[Recess.] 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. I would ask the witnesses on the second 

panel to come to the table, please, and we will go forward with the 

hearing. 

We are really honored to have here—and I know they came some 

distance—the three participants on this panel: The Hon. Dennis 

Burke, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona; the Hon. Octavio 

Garcia-Von Borstel, Mayor of the City of Nogales—did I get that 

more or less correct? 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. You did, Senator. Thank you, Mr. 

Chairman. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you, Mayor. It is good to see you 

again. And Larry Dever, Sheriff of the County of Cochise in Arizona; great to see you again, Sheriff. I appreciate your patience as 

we went to vote, and we will begin now with U.S. Attorney Burke. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. DENNIS K. BURKE,1 U.S. ATTORNEY, 

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 

Mr. BURKE. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I have my 

lengthy comments I would like to submit for the record, and I 

would like to focus my oral comments on what we are doing today 

and how it differs from the past. 

Senator McCain, you referenced a few times already that in the 

sector of Tucson, we have confiscated over 1.3 million pounds of 

marijuana in the last year—— 

Senator MCCAIN. Could I interrupt you for a second? In your position as U.S. Attorney, maybe you could give us a few words as 

to your assessment of the situation and then what you are doing. 

Could you do that? 

Mr. BURKE. Sure. 

Senator MCCAIN. I would appreciate that. I think it would be 

helpful for the record. 

Mr. BURKE. Yes, the assessment of the situation is, from hearing 

the testimony of Commissioner Bersin and the questions earlier, I 

think the Committee is right on point, that the individuals who are 

involved in trafficking, drugs, and human smuggling are more vioVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:29 Sep 06, 2011 Jkt 57327 PO 00000 Frm 000021 Fmt 06633 Sfmt 06633 P:\DOCS\57327.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
18 

lent than we have seen in the past. We deal with more firearms 

cases than we have in the past. We deal with more smugglers carrying firearms and being willing to use those firearms. It has an 

impact on the agents who work in the sectors in Arizona, and it 

has an impact on our prosecutions. 

We have seen an increased interest in smuggling weapons from 

Arizona to Mexico. We have numerous ongoing investigations working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 

(ATF) and local law enforcement with regard to gun trafficking 

headed to Mexico. We have seen an increase in bulk cash smuggling. We have increased our cases with regard to focusing on that. 

So you have the drugs and the humans heading north, and we are 

focusing on that. But at the same time, we have to focus on the 

money and the guns heading south. And we have seen an increase 

in all those particular areas. 

My district once had a 500-pound threshold for marijuana trafficking. If you in the District of Arizona had 400 pounds, those 

cases were being declined. Why? Because the Federal prosecutors 

in my office were so overloaded with cases that they literally were 

not able to get to those types of cases. That threshold is now gone 

thanks to supplemental funding from Congress. We now have over 

160 Federal prosecutors working for me. That is a 50-percent increase in prosecutors in just over the last 3 years. Because of Justice Department funding, I have just finished hiring six additional 

border security prosecutors for my Tucson office, very seasoned attorneys, and I am going to be receiving authority from the Justice 

Department in the near future to hire additional border security 

prosecutors. 

So the prosecutors are there. They are on the ground. They are 

experienced, and they are incredibly focused and diligently working 

on these cases. So when it comes to resources, the Department has 

been backing the district. They do so because we produce, and we 

are making a difference. We filed over 3,200 felony immigration 

cases in fiscal year 2009. We filed 22,000 misdemeanor cases in the 

immigration area. We have increased our drug prosecutions by over 

100 percent from fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2009. And these 

prosecution statistics in the District of Arizona are also consistent 

with recent trends across the entire Southwest Border. 

From 2007 to 2009, the five Southwest Border districts increased 

their felony caseloads by 42 percent. Indeed, the Southwest Border 

districts file 41 percent of all the Federal felony cases in the entire 

Nation. I speak weekly with my counterparts in the other Southwest Border districts. We are constantly sharing intelligence, prosecution tips, and trends. Indeed, two of the border security prosecutors that I mentioned earlier I am hiring from our Texas districts, 

and they are two of the best in the country. 

Aside from the reactive border-related caseloads we handle on a 

daily basis, we are also very involved in a significant number of 

complex, long-term investigations involving transnational organized criminal activity, including, as I mentioned earlier, drug and 

firearm trafficking, human smuggling, and currency exportation. 

This reflects the Department of Justice’s cartel-targeted strategy, 

and as I said, as much as we need to stop the drugs and humans 

heading north, we are focusing more and more than we have in the 

19 

past on stopping the guns and the money heading south. It was reflected in Commissioner Bersin’s testimony. There is more attention in our district devoted to southbound smuggling than there 

has ever been before. 

Our investigative tools are more advanced than just a few years 

back. We are doing 50 percent more wiretap cases than we did a 

year ago. This is in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) state-of-the-art wire room as part of their multiagency strike force. 

I mentioned our bulk cash commitment, and we are working with 

ATF, and I would also like to mention that just last week in the 

district we unveiled the indictments in Operation In Plain Sight. 

It was an investigation that was 2 years in the making, in which 

49 arrests were made, 30 search warrants were executed, and 50 

vehicles were seized. We targeted a cross-border human smuggling 

organization. We removed the entire infrastructure of their network. We had Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), CBP, 

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), DEA, the Marshals Service, 

ATF; Arizona Department of Public Safety was involved, Phoenix 

and Tucson Police Departments, and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office all worked in conjunction on that investigation. 

I think that case also highlights the strengthening ties that we 

have been building with Mexican Federal law enforcement agencies. The Mexican Federal Police (SSP) arrested one of the main 

targets in that case and executed search and arrest warrants simultaneously with our operation in Arizona. 

This level of cooperation and coordination with Mexico is unprecedented, and, in fact, for the first time ever, we refer port of entry 

drug-trafficking cases back to Mexico for prosecution. So we have 

drug traffickers who are being prosecuted in their own country 

under their own laws, and the sentences are severe: 10 years each 

in the cases we have so far referred. 

Let me finally mention with regard to our contacts and relationships and cooperation with Mexico, a few weeks back, Attorney 

General Holder convened a meeting in Arizona with his counterpart, the Mexican Attorney General, Auturo Chavez Chavez, and 

the Attorney General included Southwest Border U.S. Attorneys 

and other U.S. Attorneys with drug-trafficking organization connections in their districts to work on joint cross-border prosecution 

strategies. So we are making more and more advancements than 

we have ever in the past with Mexico. The work of President 

Calderon, his courageous effort, is being reflected in his prosecutors, and it has developed relationships and work that we have not 

ever had in the past. In fact, indeed Mexico has been assisting us 

at the Federal level with our efforts to track the horrendous murder of Robert Krentz in the Cochise County area. 

So, Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to give a general overview of my comments, and I appreciate the opportunity to 

be here today. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Mr. Burke. That is a good beginning in giving the Committee a sense of the impact of this homeland security crisis on the ground in Arizona. 

20 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia-von Borstel appears in the Appendix on page 79. 

Mayor, thanks for coming. Again, it is good to see you. Your testimony was very important to us last year, and we look forward to 

hearing from you now. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. OCTAVIO GARCIA-VON BORSTEL,1

MAYOR, CITY OF NOGALES, ARIZONA 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. Very well, thank you. Chairman 

Lieberman, good morning. Senator McCain, good morning. As you 

mentioned, I am the proud mayor of the City of Nogales, Arizona. 

Before I start with the key issues that I will raise with you here 

today, I want to thank you for this rare occurrence, an opportunity 

to participate in this hearing. 

With that being said, allow me to get to the heart of the matter. 

Gentlemen, Nogales needs your help. Nogales is a community that 

is extremely dependent on the border and our neighbors to the 

south. The ability to cross the border effectively, efficiently, and in 

a secure and safe environment is vital. 

Since September 11, 2001, we have all recognized that our world 

is different. We now must look at security at the same time that 

we look at commerce, trade, and tourism. But that is also the key 

point that I would like to make today, that we must not lose sight 

that we are working to secure the homeland so that we can conduct 

our normal lives. 

We have all seen or have experienced an increase in violence on 

border communities. I was deeply saddened recently when I heard 

the news of the deaths of our very own people, Americans from the 

U.S. Embassy in Ciudad Juarez who became victims of the drug 

cartel violence. In fact, I was just at that embassy last week, and 

I met with the sub-Consulate and discussed the horror of the situation affecting American citizens. 

The assassination of the local rancher in Cochise County is evidence that the violence is, in fact, spilling over to the United 

States. Perhaps part of the solution we identified is to involve all 

governments—local, State, and Federal. Although I respect and understand it is a Federal issue, the local governments have to be 

able to form part of the strategy because, after all, we are the ones 

who are directly impacted the most. I, for one, would like better 

communication in order to better support and address the violence 

and border initiatives. 

To give you an idea, our community has three land ports of 

entry: Morley Gate, which is a pedestrian-only crossing; DeConcini, 

which is a pedestrian, private vehicles, train, and bus crossing; and 

Mariposa, which is our commercial crossing, but we also cross pedestrians and private vehicles. Our three border stations currently 

process in excess of 15 million people, over 300,000 trucks, and well 

over 3 million cars each year—in a northbound direction. Two-way 

traffic is approximately 30 million people, 600,000 trucks, and over 

6 million cars. 

I want to thank our congressional delegation—in particular, Senator McCain, who is with us today, and Senator Jon Kyl as well— 

for their active and continued support for the issues that we face 

in Nogales. And, yes, we are making great headway on some very 

21 

1The photograph referenced by Mr. Garcia-Von Borstel appears in the Appendix on page 56. 

important border issues. For instance, the Mariposa port of entry 

is currently undergoing a major reconfiguration, a project funded to 

the tune of $200 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This project will double, if not triple, our throughput 

for inspection of both commercial and non-commercial traffic at 

Mariposa. This project, which started in September of last year, 

should be completed by 2013. We are currently working with the 

Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway 

Administration to improve the connectivity from the port of entry 

to the Federal highway system. Additionally, we are working with 

our Mexican counterparts to ensure that necessary improvements 

are made to the Mexican side of Mariposa. 

In recent years, we have seen a clear focus at securing the border 

between the ports of entry. But there has been little attention to 

the ports of entry themselves. I truly believe that in order to have 

a safe and efficient border, you must have an effective border. Customs and Border Protection has identified some $5 to $6 billion 

worth of projects on the U.S.-Mexico Border, yet the budget proposed for fiscal year 2011 shows only $93 million for one project. 

Our ports of entry are a national asset. However, the budget does 

not reflect that. 

The violence between drug cartels has certainly created a paranoia across both countries and has had a direct impact on border 

communities. Tourists going both south to north and north to south 

have lost confidence and are now afraid for their safety when traveling through Nogales. We continue to see human trafficking and 

drug trafficking, I believe, as a result of a lack of resources for our 

border communities. 

Our current wait times in Nogales are well in excess of an hour, 

easily 2 hours or more during peak hours every day. Due to long 

waits, we have seen a dramatic transition from people crossing the 

border in their cars to crossing on foot. But we were not ready for 

this transition, and the increase of pedestrian traffic means that 

there are now wait times to cross on foot in excess of an hour. I 

have brought a copy of a recent article that was published in our 

local newspaper which shows the long pedestrian line at the border, and I believe you do have a picture of that, Mr. Chairman.1

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Yes, I am going to enter that in the 

record. Thank you. 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. Very well. Thank you, sir. 

At the same time, Secretary Napolitano recently issued a press 

release commemorating the first anniversary of the Southwest Border Initiative and touted the great results from an enforcement 

perspective. Yes, the program has seized many weapons and 

stopped many millions of dollars that were being laundered and 

shipped back to Mexico, but at what cost to Nogales and all the 

other border communities? The DHS initiative is centered on conducting inspections of trains, trucks, and vehicles leaving the 

United States. The unintended consequence and one of the key 

points that I want to make before you today, gentlemen, was not 

a consideration when this initiative was planned and deployed. 

22 

None of the ports of entry at Nogales is equipped to handle 

southbound inspections. CBP lays down a few cones on the road, 

perhaps some jersey barriers, and simply stops every vehicle departing from the United States to Mexico. And although everyone 

talks about the random efforts at Nogales, Customs and Border 

Protection has notified us that they are inspecting every truck leaving the United States through that port of entry. The traffic backups on a southbound basis reach well over an hour or more during 

the peak hours. 

The end result, and thus the unanticipated consequence, is that 

people are now crossing less frequently as they have to wait 1 or 

2 hours coming in and out from our ports of entry. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Excuse me for interrupting. To the extent 

that you can, if you can summarize the rest of your statement. 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. Very well. I will move over to perhaps, respectfully, the recommendations that I would have presented before you. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Good. 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. If that would be OK, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Excellent. 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. Thank you. 

First of all, I would respectfully recommend to staff our ports of 

entry to the capacity that is required. 

Second, provide additional funding in an expedited and confirmed manner to our ports of entry. 

Third, DHS needs to come up with a plan to address the congestion, safety, and other unintended consequences of the southbound 

inspection program. 

Fourth, find ways to deploy trusted traveler programs for southbound traffic. For instance, the Secure Electronic Network for 

Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) program that is working so 

well for northbound travelers should be considered for southbound 

traffic as well. 

Finally, there needs to be better coordination and sharing of information and intelligence with Mexico to help reduce the duplication of efforts and to ensure that we maximize the return of investment. Include all governments—local, State, and Federal—in these 

efforts to increase the success of tackling the drug wars at the border. 

Mr. Chairman, Senators, Senator McCain, again let me thank 

you for the opportunity to be here to communicate our issues and 

needs. Please be assured that for me and Nogales, security and facilitation are our top priorities, as that is essentially our livelihood. 

I thank you for your attention, and I look forward to your questions and comments. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Mayor. That was an excellent 

statement, and we appreciate your recommendations also. 

The last person on the panel, Sheriff Larry Dever, thanks for 

making the trip. We remember your testimony very well from last 

year, and we look forward to an update this morning. 

Obviously, we would be particularly interested in, though it is an 

open investigation, what you can tell us about the murder of Robert Krentz. 

23 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Dever appears in the Appendix on page 86. 

TESTIMONY OF LARRY A. DEVER,1 SHERIFF, COUNTY OF 

COCHISE, ARIZONA 

Mr. DEVER. Thank you, Senator Lieberman, and Senator 

McCain. It is a privilege and a pleasure to be here. We did meet 

a year ago to discuss border violence in Phoenix, Arizona. 

You know, I have heard a lot of numbers here today, and I have 

a hard time wrapping my mind around all those numbers. But I 

can tell you all of them added together came up with a great big 

fat zero for Robert Krentz. And it comes up with a big fat zero for 

the people living out in the eastern part of Cochise County right 

now who suffer daily burglaries, thefts, home invasions, and for the 

couple that was tied up in their home and left forever had it not 

been fortunate enough for somebody to come by, all their stuff stolen. The guy who gave aid to a couple of illegals and was tied up, 

duct-taped in his own home, managed to get his tongue free from 

the duct tape around his mouth and dial 911 on his cell phone with 

his tongue. I can tell you stories about people who have lived out 

there for 3 or 4 years, one who has been burglarized 18 times. And 

it is a vast, large area. 

The murder of Robert Krentz was particularly senseless. My lead 

detective on the case, who has seen some gruesome murders, while 

this one was not unnecessarily gruesome, just the circumstances, 

and she has dealt with all kinds of horrible things, brought her to 

tears because of the senseless nature of the whole thing. 

So I cannot tell you a lot specifically about the investigation, although we have made great progress beyond what I had initially 

hoped we would. I can tell you that with surety—I have been challenged on this. How do you know he was an illegal alien or a drug 

smuggler? Mr. Chairman, Mr. McCain, it is a 35,000-acre remote 

cattle ranch. There are jackrabbits, rattlesnakes, and a few cattle 

grazing on that barren pasture. Illegal aliens and drug smugglers 

are out there, and that is it. This was not somebody walking to 

Walmart to shoplift something. 

So that said, we do know and have reason to believe that this 

man was a scout for a drug-smuggling organization, and that is 

about the extent that I can talk to you about what we know about 

who this individual is. 

It was said earlier—there was a term used about people flowing 

across the border. I can tell you there was a time that was the 

case. But today the people who are crossing the border illegally are 

led, and they are led by very ruthless, armed, and well-equipped 

individuals who are prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect 

their financial interests in that smuggling operation. 

A few years ago, we would jump loads of dope on the fence. People would just give it up and run. The people who entered the 

country illegally were coming on their own and then looking for 

rides. Today everything is much more organized, much more dangerous, and much more dire. 

I mentioned the scouts. The scouts sit on mountaintops, high 

places with radio communications, and they are armed, and they 

set up little camps, and they simply relay via radio the location of 

the Border Patrol or ICE or sheriff’s deputies who are working in 

24 

the area, and that is how they defeat the law enforcement presence. And they are very good at it. And speaking of communications, they are better equipped than we are, certainly, in many 

cases using encrypted radio transmissions. 

After September 11, 2001, all the language that came out in 

grant funding and this talk about the need to partner with State 

and local agencies, the Federal Government’s need to partner in 

order to better protect our homeland, included language about the 

need for interoperability, referring to radio communications and 

hard land-line communications. In our pursuit of the shooter of 

Robert Krentz, we had State Department of Corrections dog-tracking teams, ICE agents, sheriff’s deputies, and two Border Patrol 

sector representatives who could not talk to each other. And none 

of us could talk with each other. That is inexcusable. And until 

that problem is resolved, all of our law enforcement efforts, no matter how well coordinated, are going to have a soft under belly, and 

the bad guys are going to continue to win. 

Senator McCain mentioned that 17 percent of the people captured crossing the border are criminal aliens, people who have previously committed crimes in this country. That number comes from 

the Douglas Station of the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol. I 

confirmed that before I came here. That means that of all those 

millions of people, the hundreds of thousands of people that enter 

here, the bad guys keep coming, no matter whether the apprehension rates rise or fall, the numbers of criminal aliens rise. 

That, gentlemen, is the threat to our homeland security in this 

country. Catastrophic events are of great concern, and the vulnerability at the border for crossing materials and people with that intent, but the daily crossing of criminal minds arriving in communities throughout this country, throughout this entire Nation, is 

the real threat to our peace and harmony. 

There are a thousand other things I would like to talk about. My 

time is up, and I will yield to questions. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks very much, Sheriff. Thanks for 

trying to describe the impact of this crisis on people who live in the 

area because as I said earlier, I do not think people around the rest 

of the country appreciate it—people on your property, people burglarizing, and then, of course, worse. And what you describe as a 

change is significant, which is it is not largely what it has been before, as you see it, which is a movement of illegal immigrants. This 

is now a movement which is being led by armed individuals who 

are protecting a business, basically, and human smuggling. 

Let me ask each of you whether I am correct in concluding that— 

and let us take a year ago when we happen to have been in Arizona holding the hearing—this situation along the border and the 

spillover of violence is worse today than it was a year ago. Would 

you agree with that, Sheriff? 

Mr. DEVER. Absolutely. And there is reference after incident after 

case to verify and prove that, and we could talk about them all day. 

I would just like to emphasize that it is worse, and it is getting 

worse. And I hope you understand, I hope Congress can wrap their 

minds around the idea and the concept, and the President and this 

Administration, if we do not get this right this time, when are we 

and how will we? 

25 

You know, 1997 was my first testimony before Congress about 

border violence. Ten years prior to that, the Tucson Sector Chief 

of the Border Patrol was quoted as saying, ‘‘Congress has mandated we get control of our border, whether it is illegal aliens, narcotics, terrorists, whatever. And that is what we are going to do.’’ 

So here we are 23 years later, and how many chances, when is 

momentum ever going to gather again? What event will it take to 

cause us to finally take action and bring this to a stop? 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Well, those words should echo in our 

minds because whatever we have done is obviously not working, 

and the problem, which you live with every day, is continuing. 

Mayor, is it worse today than a year ago? 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. I would certainly echo the sheriff’s 

comments, and I would confirm that, yes, sir. Previously, Senator 

McCain mentioned there has been 22,000 killings in Mexico. It is 

a full-blown war, and we need to do all the diligence we can to 

make sure that we prevent that violence from continuing to spill 

over the border. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Mr. Burke. 

Mr. BURKE. Mr. Chairman, I would agree, although I would also 

add that in some respects some of the steps that have been taken 

on the border have led to increased violence. These are criminal organizations competing over turf and routes and so forth. And as 

the sheriff mentioned, in the past there might have been a flow of 

people who would come back and forth across the border. Now 

those routes are much more limited, and they are controlled by 

particular organizations. And they are much more violent organizations, and they are taking it out on each other. And they are also 

taking the opportunity because of the tightening in certain spots to 

actually steal another organization’s drugs or humans. But what 

we see a lot of in the Phoenix area are drug rip-offs or human ripoffs where an organization, instead of having a connection to Mexico to bring up drugs or humans, will just get a sense of some other 

organization having a drop house of drugs and humans and will go 

do a violent rip-off of that other organization. 

So that is a new phenomenon in the last couple years. You did 

not see that 5 to 10 years ago. Now we have an epidemic amount 

of that in the Phoenix area. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Let me ask you this question from a law 

enforcement point of view. Obviously, we all admire President 

Calderon of Mexico for taking on the drug cartels, and I infer from 

your answer that part of what is happening now is that the violence in Mexico is partially the cartels turning on people in government, local or regional or higher, but also the cartels fighting each 

other because the turf has been constricted by the government. 

Does that continue to be a reality? 

Mr. BURKE. I believe that is correct, Mr. Chairman. We have 

seen that in Arizona with regard to how the cartels battle over 

their routes. It is evident in our conversations with the PGR. The 

PGR is the Attorney General of Mexico. It is reflected in our conversations with them as to what they are dealing with. 

But I will say—and as I said with regard to President 

Calderon—that the PGR, the people we are dealing with, are unbelievably courageous for what they are taking on. 

26 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Yes. I agree, it is a real tribute to them. 

You just made a point that, again, I want to emphasize. Part of the 

way in which the violence does come over the border from Mexico 

is with the cartels competing for the pathways north. 

Mr. BURKE. That is correct. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. And you see it there. 

Incidentally, just to state for the record, at an earlier hearing, we 

had a representative from the FBI, and he told the Committee that 

the Mexican drug cartels are the No. 1 organized crime threat in 

America today, obviously not just at the border, but in cities from 

Anchorage, Alaska, to Hartford, Connecticut, and pretty much everywhere in between. 

Again, from a law enforcement point of view, you would think at 

some point, as the government in Mexico is steadfast and really 

courageous in continuing this battle not to yield control of much of 

the country to criminal elements, that we would turn a corner and 

the violence would begin to recede. But that has not happened yet. 

So I would ask you and the sheriff about that because you are from 

law enforcement. Can we hope for such a turning point, Mr. Burke, 

that the good guys will win here? 

Mr. BURKE. I do not know at this stage and this juncture, Mr. 

Chairman. I can say that the steps we are taking and the cooperation, the partnerships we have with Mexico are the best we have 

ever had. I think the concern by a lot of officials in law enforcement is this is a window of opportunity that we only have with 

President Calderon. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Yes. Sheriff, what would you say? 

Mr. DEVER. Well, there are so many unknowns. What we do 

know is that the population in Mexico is growing very rapidly, and, 

therefore, the financial pressures and temptations increase in conjunction with that. All of that produces a future threat to this country as well. I do not know, if we cannot get our arms wrapped 

around the violence in our own country, why we would expect Mexico should be able to do it before we do. 

So I think we do need to continue to work together. Mr. Burke 

is correct. Cooperation is better than ever before. It is still lacking 

in some areas, but improvement is always on the horizon, and we 

will continue to work to that end. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks. My time is up. Senator McCain. 

Senator MCCAIN. Following up on the Chairman’s line of questioning, do you believe that we can secure the border? 

Mr. DEVER. Absolutely, sir. It can be done. You know, when the 

Minutemen were in Cochise County in April 2005, they were there 

for 30 days. It was a bunch of guys with gray hair and most were 

old fat guys like me, but in the section of the border where they 

deployed 24/7 for 30 days, not a single crossing occurred. It can be 

done. It takes political will, and it takes the proper strategy and 

a proper mix, as has been discussed here today, of people and technology to include some serious aerial assets to bring that under 

control. 

Senator MCCAIN. Mr. Burke. 

Mr. BURKE. Yes, sir, I do believe so. It is a tough challenge. I 

think the Chairman had said it is not a simple problem, so it is 

not going to be a simple solution. And we have seen where we have 

27 

tightened in certain areas, where there has been effective fencing, 

they have gone to other steps. I think you made a reference earlier 

to the ultra lights. That is a new method that they are using to 

bring drugs over. We have never seen that before. We have seen 

an emergence of tunneling. So their only limitation is their own 

creativity. They are sophisticated criminal organizations, and they 

are going to continue to operate as long as they can make money 

doing this. 

Senator MCCAIN. Mayor, what percentage of the City of Nogales, 

Arizona, is Hispanic? 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. Ninety-eight percent. 

Senator MCCAIN. How do the citizens of Nogales, Arizona, feel 

about this issue? 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. Senator McCain, I think we all recognize there is a desperate need to secure the border. It has been 

very frustrating, and to be quite frank with you, it has been very 

scary to live on the border. 

We need your support, and let me just lay it on the table. We 

are willing to do our part and work diligently with our Federal and 

State governments to make sure that the border is secure and 

build confidence back to our constituents and our tourists. 

Senator MCCAIN. Mr. Burke, this Operation Streamline seems to 

have had a beneficial effect. For the record, that is illegal border 

crossers are incarcerated for 15 to 60 to 90 days after apprehension. How important do you think that methodology is in discouraging illegal immigration? 

Mr. BURKE. Senator, I think it has been an effective program. In 

our Tucson office, we process about 70 individuals a day. In Yuma, 

we process about 40. According to CBP, their records on recidivism 

are effective with regard to Streamline. That said, for all the programs and all the activity that goes on, it is one small element of 

an overall program. On any given day, 700 to 1,100 people are arrested in the Tucson Sector by the Border Patrol, and Streamline 

processes 70 of them. So it is still just a small percentage of the 

overall amount of people that are crossing any day, but it has been 

effective. 

Senator MCCAIN. How do you decide? 

Mr. BURKE. It is a geographic determination made by the Border 

Patrol, and they target a particular geographic area, and those individuals are brought in by that determination, and then we give, 

obviously, priority for people with records, and that is a determination that is made every day by the Border Patrol and working with 

our prosecutors. 

Senator MCCAIN. My understanding from a letter from Judge 

John Roll is that we, in Arizona, would like to see an additional 

magistrate and also an increase in physical infrastructure that 

could handle an increase in the number of people who would be 

subject to incarceration. Is that correct? 

Mr. BURKE. I am not aware of Judge Roll’s letter. I am aware 

of Judge Roll’s concerns about his physical infrastructure capacity 

to take on a larger Streamline program. That is a major concern 

of his. 

28 

I do know that in the Tucson district court, the increased magistrates have helped considerably with regard to our ability to prosecute cases. 

Senator MCCAIN. I was struck by what you mentioned, the previous rules where anything under 500 pounds of marijuana was not 

prosecuted? 

Mr. BURKE. That is correct. 

Senator MCCAIN. Under 500 pounds. 

Mr. BURKE. That is correct. 

Senator MCCAIN. Sheriff Dever, you have been sheriff since 1996. 

Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir. 

Senator MCCAIN. Maybe you could give us a little perspective. 

We all know about the terrible tragedy of the Krentz family. What 

are people being subjected to that, frankly, citizens in the rest of 

the country are not? Has that deteriorated over time? And, clearly, 

the U.S. Government has an obligation to protect people’s lives and 

property. Is that obligation being fulfilled down in Cochise County? 

Mr. DEVER. From a criminal activities standpoint, I think most 

disturbing has been the number of home invasions versus a burglary, when people are actually at home watching television or in 

bed or whatever and somebody breaks into their home, which obviously, predictably, will lead ultimately to some kind of conflict, 

physical confrontation and one side loses. Those home invasions 

have been increasing very rapidly. 

With the burglary problem, there is an ebb and flow. Most of the 

home burglaries we have in the eastern part of the county actually 

are southbound traffic, smugglers who have hauled their contraband north, dropped it off to the transportation, and are headed 

back south and steal guns, jewelry, and cash and then just hop 

back across the border. 

So you get a picture in your mind. These are people who successfully crossed the border carrying backpacks, defeated the enforcement effort, hauled it many miles north, and then are going back 

south and committing additional crimes. 

So I have said for a long time that the situation at the border 

today is if you want to cross the border, you will ultimately succeed. And until that changes, we are going to continue to face the 

kinds of conflict and confrontation and death and carnage that 

comes with it. 

Senator MCCAIN. I understand recently there was a crackdown 

and coordination of different enforcement agencies of a transportation network where illegals were in vans and being transported 

up to Phoenix and from Phoenix to all parts of the country. Can 

you tell us the extent of that network, how far-reaching they were, 

how many people they were transporting, and how sophisticated an 

operation it was? 

Mr. BURKE. Senator, they were transporting thousands of individuals, and what would happen is that the crossers would go past 

a port of entry somewhere on the Arizona-Mexico Border and have 

information that they received from Mexico, which was part of the 

criminal organization, to either go to a spot in Nogales or to work 

their way up to Tucson where they would be picked up by shuttle 

vans that were part of the criminal organization and transported 

up to the Phoenix area, which serves as a hub for the network for 

29 

the entire country. And so this spread out into the east. The investigation led us to North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, and throughout the country. And as I referenced in my testimony earlier, we 

ended up arresting 49 individuals who were involved in this organization, seized over 50 of their vehicles, and had tremendous cooperation from Mexico with regard to targeting and arresting the 

individuals who were involved in Mexico. They would assist the individuals in getting them lined up as to where they would go in Arizona to find their shuttles. 

Senator MCCAIN. Were they transporting drugs as well? 

Mr. BURKE. No, there was no evidence of that. Based on that 

question, Senator, let me indicate also that the plazas—the areas 

of just the northernmost part of Mexico on the Arizona Border are 

referred to as ‘‘plazas.’’ Those are controlled by the drug-trafficking 

organizations. They determine who can come back and forth 

through that area. And so when human smuggling operations that 

are distinct from the drug trafficking organizations come through 

there, they are usually paying some kind of tax to the drug traffickers. So these organizations were human smuggling organizations. They were not drug trafficking organizations. But at some 

point or another, they probably had some connection to a drug-trafficking organization because they had to pay a tax to get in. 

Senator MCCAIN. It seems that we have a lot of work to do. 

Could I just finally ask your opinion, do we need the National 

Guard on the border? 

Mr. BURKE. As Commissioner Bersin said, I know the Administration is evaluating that. There was success with Operation Jump 

Start in Arizona in the past, but I know from where I was at that 

time when those decisions were made, they were pretty complex. 

They involved a lot of input from the Department of Defense and 

Customs and Border Protection with regard to defining the missions and so forth. So I know it is under evaluation. I know there 

was a lot of success with Operation Jump Start, and I saw the impact specifically, directly in Arizona. 

Senator MCCAIN. You would agree we need more personnel on 

the border? 

Mr. BURKE. I always support more personnel on the border, Senator. 

Senator MCCAIN. Mr. Dever. 

Mr. DEVER. The National Guard has been on the top of my list 

for a long time, clear back in 1998 when this first really took off, 

and I asked our governor to deploy the Guard. She did not. I asked 

Governor Napolitano to deploy the Guard when she was governor 

of Arizona. She did not. Just a year ago, I had a face-to-face meeting with Secretary Napolitano and asked her if deploying the 

Guard on the border was still on the DHS table. I was informed 

that it was, and it was a matter of deciding a specific mission and 

number of resources. That was a year ago. 

Senator MCCAIN. And the fact is you informed me, and others 

have informed me, that a person in uniform on the border has a 

strong psychological impact on the criminal elements in Mexico. Is 

that correct? 

Mr. DEVER. That is correct, and it is true in much of Latin America. I lived for 2 years in Central America, and the local law enVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:29 Sep 06, 2011 Jkt 57327 PO 00000 Frm 000033 Fmt 06633 Sfmt 06633 P:\DOCS\57327.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
30 

forcement has very little effect, if it exists. But people have a very 

deep respect and often a fear of the military in those countries. 

And so the military presence creates a whole new level of deterrent 

just by being visible in the culture and the mind-set of the people 

coming north. 

Senator MCCAIN. Mayor Garcia-Von Borstel. 

Mr. GARCIA-VON BORSTEL. Yes, Senator, I would favor the Guard 

at the border. However, I would ask for them not to disturb the 

quality of life of our community. But probably even more so I would 

support allocating more funds to CBP to have more agents at the 

facilities as well, for them to be more efficient with legal crossings. 

Senator MCCAIN. Well, I thank the witnesses, and I thank you, 

Mr. Chairman, for your patience and for holding this hearing, for 

coming to Arizona as you did a year ago, and for your commitment 

and concern for the people of my State, but also for the people of 

this Nation. As Dennis Burke just pointed out, there was a network that reached all over America that they were recently involved in cracking down on, and so this is not just an Arizona 

issue. I think it is a national issue and a homeland security issue, 

and I appreciate your involvement and commitment on the issue. 

Thank you. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Senator McCain. Obviously, you 

have helped to motivate the Committee, but it really is our responsibility. This is a homeland security problem, and it is as critical 

as any we have at this moment in terms of its impact day to day 

on people’s lives. 

We are going to stay involved in this, and we will do periodic 

hearings as they are productive and they make sense. But I do not 

want to come back again a year from now and have witnesses I 

really respect and trust tell me that things have gotten worse. That 

is why I think the request for the National Guard that my two colleagues from Arizona have made makes sense, just to try it, because I think it is common sense that the more people you have, 

the less likely it is going to be that this kind of bad behavior, unacceptable, societally destructive, sometimes deadly behavior, is going 

to go on. 

Incidentally, a very small point, but we have focused in one of 

our interim hearings on what we could do with southbound traffic 

inspections, and at the advocacy of this Committee, the appropriators increased the number of CBP personnel at the ports of entry 

southbound. For some reason, the fiscal year 2011 budget submission proposes cutting funding for 50 positions that are now involved in southbound inspections. And I just want to assure you 

that the Committee is going to be communicating with both the Administration and the Appropriations Committee to say that would 

be a very serious mistake. 

But, my thanks to you for coming up here. You make it real, and 

thank you for doing everything you can to uphold the rule of law, 

really, and trying to provide a decent environment in which the 

people of the State and the community and the county can live, 

which is no more than anybody in the rest of the country wants. 

So, with that, we will leave the record of the hearing open for 

15 days for additional statements or questions. I am very grateful 

for what you have done. I pray for your success as you go back 

31 

home, and, again, I thank Senator McCain for his persistent leadership on this critical issue. 

The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 1:13 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

(33) 

A P P E N D I X 


57327.001
34 


57327.002
35 


57327.003
36 


57327.004
37 


57327.005
38 


57327.006
39 


57327.007
40 


57327.008
41 


57327.009
42 


57327.010
43 


57327.011
44 


57327.012
45 


57327.013
46 


57327.014
47 


57327.015
48 


57327.074
49 


57327.016
50 


57327.017
51 


57327.018
52 


57327.019
53 


57327.020
54 


57327.021
55 


57327.022
56 


57327.023
57 


57327.024
58 


57327.025
59 


57327.026
60 


57327.027
61 


57327.028
62 


57327.029
63 


57327.030
64 


57327.031
65 


57327.032
66 


57327.033
67 


57327.034
68 


57327.035
69 


57327.036
70 


57327.037
71 


57327.038
72 


57327.039
73 


57327.040
74 


57327.041
75 


57327.042
76 


57327.043
77 


57327.044
78 


57327.045
79 


57327.046
80 


57327.047
81 


57327.048
82 


57327.049
83 


57327.050
84 


57327.051
85 


57327.052
86 


57327.053
87 


57327.054
88 


57327.055
89 


57327.056
90 


57327.057
91 


57327.058
92 


57327.059
93 


57327.060
94 


57327.061
95 


57327.062
96 


57327.063
97 


57327.064
98 


57327.065
99 


57327.066
100 


57327.067
101 


57327.068
102 


57327.069
103 


57327.070
104 


57327.071
105 


57327.072
106 

Æ 


57327.073