Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has directed his department to begin taking the necessary steps to set up three interagency task forces aimed at bolstering the security of the nation’s southern border as part of President Barack Obama’s executive actions toward immigration reform.
Johnson on Thursday directed the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Citizenship and Immigration Services to stand up within 90 days Joint Task Force East, Joint Task Force West, and Joint Task Force Investigations, DHS said on Friday afternoon. In the memo Johnson said at the end of the 90 days each task force should have a headquarters and relevant personnel should be “realigned.”
The new task force structure is part of the Southern Border and Approaches Campaign that Johnson announced in May and provided more detail about this fall (Defense Daily, Oct. 9).
JTF-East, which will be led by the Coast Guard, will be in charge of the southern maritime border and related approaches, JTF-West, to be led by CBP, will be responsible for the southern land border and the West Coast, and JTF-I will be led by ICE and will provide investigations support to the two geographic task forces, the Nov. 20 memo states.
The “lines of effort” that the task force directors are charged with carrying out include reducing the risk of terrorism to the United States, combating transnational criminal organizations, preventing the exploitation of legal traffic and commerce at ports of entry, countering illegal flows at maritime approaches and between ports of entry, and disincentivizing illegal border behavior, Johnson states.
Johnson also listed 10 objectives of his new strategy, some of which include minimizing the risk of terrorism, increasing the perceived risk of illegal border activity, interdicting people and goods attempting to enter the United States between ports of entry, minimizing the cost to travelers and delays to shippers being screened at ports, maximizing the number of travelers and the value of cargo being screened before arriving at U.S. ports, and increasing situational awareness in the air, land and sea border and approaches.
Johnson, as he has said previously, said in the memo that illegal immigration into the United States is lower than at its peak in 2000, due to the “nation’s long-term investment border security” over the years.
A White House fact sheet released on Friday following Obama’s immigration announcement the previous night said that “Immigration Accountability Executive” actions will “crack down on illegal immigration at the border, prioritize deporting felons not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay their fare share of taxes as they register to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation.”
The administration hasn’t provided any information about how some of these new actions will be funded, although in some cases, such as vetting documented immigrants, reportedly fees will be levied on these individuals to cover related costs. Obama in his speech Thursday night said there will be “additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings and speed the return of those who do cross over.”
There will be a need to ramp up capacity if the administration expects to be able adequately conduct these checks, Rick “Ozzie” Nelson, head of business development with identity solutions provider Crossmatch and a non-resident policy adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Defense Daily on Friday. For the plan to be successful, Nelson said it would require more surveillance systems and identity management solutions but “we haven’t seen any call for additional procurement” and where exactly the money will come from hasn’t been specified.
In a separate memo on Nov. 20, Johnson also directed ICE to discontinue the Secure Communities program, which calls for local law enforcement to conduct fingerprint checks during bookings against the FBI’s biometric database for criminal records checks. He says that goal of Secure Communities remains “valid” but that under the new Priority Enforcement Program will continue to rely on fingerprint-based checks although DHS will specify criteria for state and local law enforcement agencies to turn an individual over to federal custody.