Border Crossing Fee

US CBP to study land border crossing fee to Canada and Mexico

by Rapid Travel Chai on April 22 | 5 Comments

in Canada, CBP, Mexico, News, North America, Security, United States

Rep. Brian Higgins of NY found this little pill in the proposed budget for the US Department of Homeland Security:

SEC. 544. (a) The Commissioner of the United States Customs and Border Protection shall:

(1) conduct a study assessing the feasibility and cost relating to establishing and collecting a land border crossing fee for both land border pedestrians and passenger vehicles along the northern and southwest borders of the United States; the study should include:

(A) the feasibility of collecting from existing operators on the land border such as bridge commissions, toll operators, commercial passenger bus, and commercial passenger rail;

(B) requirements to collect at land ports of entry where existing capability is not present; and

(C) any legal and regulatory impediments to establishing and collecting a land border crossing fee; and

(2) complete the study within 9 months of enactment of this Act.

News outlets in Canada lit up with the news that a land border crossing fee may be in the works. CBC’s As It Happens interviewed Rep Higgins, listen here.  Canada’s Global News has a summary article.

Politicians on both sides of the border are vowing to fight any fee as a potential impact to trade. The DHS is apparently arguining that this would be analogous to the fee changed for air arrivals.

Editor’s note: “Vehicle Dismount and Exploitation Radar” = “Vader”…who are these comedy writers who come up with these names and acronyms?

By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau, LA Times article

WASHINGTON — A sophisticated airborne radar system developed to track Taliban fighters planting roadside bombs in Afghanistan has found a new use along the U.S. border with Mexico, where it has revealed gaps in security.

Operated from a Predator surveillance drone, the radar system has collected evidence that Border Patrol agents apprehended fewer than half of the foreign migrants and smugglers who had illegally crossed into a 150-square-mile stretch of southern Arizona.

The number of “gotaways,” as the Border Patrol calls those who escape apprehension, is both more precise and higher than official estimates.

RELATED: Is the border secure?

According to internal reports, Border Patrol agents used the airborne radar to help find and detain 1,874 people in the Sonora Desert between Oct. 1 and Jan. 17. But the radar system spotted an additional 1,962 people in the same area who evaded arrest and disappeared into the United States.

In contrast, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, estimated in January that the Border Patrol had caught 64% of those who illegally crossed into the Tucson sector in 2011.

The new tally of unlawful border crossings could complicate White House efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform after Congress returns from recess next week.

The Obama administration contends America’s borders are more strictly policed than ever, with nearly 365,000 apprehensions last year. Republicans have demanded more guards, drones, fencing and other security measures before legal status is granted to the estimated 11 million people believed to have entered America illegally or overstayed their visas.

President Obama is scheduled to visit Mexico in early May, and efforts to maintain rigorous border security — to stop economic migrants moving north and American-made weapons flowing south — are likely to be among his priorities in discussions with Mexico’s newly elected president, Enrique Peña Nieto.

The new system is called Vader, for Vehicle Dismount and Exploitation Radar. It was borrowed from the Army‘s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and has been deployed in Arizona since March 2012.

PHOTOS: Securing the border with Mexico

Michael Friel, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the Vader remained in a “preliminary testing phase.” He also said the method used in the agency’s internal reports to compare apprehensions to arrests was flawed because it didn’t include people who were detained after the airborne radar had left the area.

Officials warn that the radar would not work well near border towns and areas where migrants and smugglers can quickly load into a car and blend into highway traffic.

“There is no silver bullet in border technology,” Friel said.

The tests have gone well enough that the agency has asked Congress to allocate money to purchase two more Vader systems. Each system costs about $5 million per year to maintain and operate.

New Border Ready Lanes

The Tunnel of the Week discovery in the Otay Mesa warehouse area was a half mile long and included rail cars, electricity and ventilation.

From the photo at left, whotheheck knew that there was a San Diego Tunnel Task Force?  You can even buy Tunnel Task Force shirts, sweats, aprons, mugs and mousepads.  I’m not kidding, and they are just in time for Christmas.

“The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, made up of representatives from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. Formed in 2003, the Task Force uses a variety of techniques to detect cross-border tunnels, from state-of-the-art electronic surveillance to old fashioned detective work. That includes following up on tips, many of which come from the public.”

The San Diego Tunnel Task Force is a division of the San Diego Border Enforcement Task Force(B.E.S.T.).   BEST is an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement(I.C.E.).  ICE is the principle investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security(D.H.S.).

If you really want to be frightened by the size, layers, bloat and bureaucracy of the drug crusade, check out the 77 page National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy Report.  Wowzerz!

And check out the appendix of abbreviations for the thousands of initiatives, departments, agencies and strategies involved.  It is written by the “Office of National Drug Control Policy” from the “Executive Office of the President of the United States”.

It is obvious that none of these agencies and departments operate on a budget or are accountable for their activities.  But, they do write lots of nice reports.

What I really want to know is which 12 year-old designed the SD Tunnel Task force logo and how much was he paid?

“Operation Worm Watch” has begun in the Otay Mesa warehouse area with SD Tunnel Task Force agents going door-to-door with flyers asking for cooperation. The flyer federal agents are passing out asks people to report subterranean noises, unexplained vibrations and the odor of marijuana. It also asks warehouse owners to keep an eye out for renters who pay in cash, are unusually withdrawn, or keep unusual business hours.

Be the first on your block to get an SDTTF badge, flashlight and signal decoder as your reward.  You may need the flashlight soon if the entire area implodes due to the proliferation of perforation.

Editor’s note:  the success of the Ready Lanes at Otay Mesa have lead to new Ready Lanes at San Ysidro, scheduled to open December 2011.

Fewer Illegals Arrested

“It appears, according to numerous reports from current and former border agents, that this practice has gravitated many miles north of the border. That means that, regardless of proximity to the border, people who are detected but not caught are considered to be “Turned Back South(TBS),” Arizona Sheriff Larry Dever said in his written testimony before the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security.

Last month, FoxNews.com first reported that Dever said he’d been told by Border Patrol officials, including at least one senior supervisor, that they have been ordered to reduce and to sometimes stop arresting people attempting to cross into the U.S. illegally.  Complete Article

In related news, Dunkin’ Doughnuts is bullish on the doughnut market, as they announced their IPO this week.

New Border Fence

First proposal was to build a fence way back in 2005.  Next was a plan to build a high tech virtual fence.  After completing only 53 miles, looks like Homeland Security will end that effort after delays, failed technology and costs overruns at 12 times original estimates.

In November 2005, Homeland Security announced the launch of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a multiyear, multibillion-dollar program aimed at securing U.S. borders and reducing illegal immigration

COMING SOON: a new blue ribbon commission to study this issue.

Complete Article on the fence update.

Toner Cartridge Ban

Toner cartridges are now illegal to use in the USA.

Businesses and individuals have 30 days to round up their toner cartridges and turn them in to US Border and Customs Protection offices.  Violations are subject to fines up to $1,000 per cartridge and 30 days imprisonment.

“Asylum for cartridges currently in the U.S. is not a viable option due to the current terrorist threat level”, said Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

There will be no distinction between cartridges hiding in closets, storerooms and desks versus cartridges working productively in laser printers.

US Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced a new jobs program designed to provide new work for secretaries.  “To replace the undocumented toner cartridges, we are implementing a secretarial pool that will type documents, reports and financial statements”, said Solis.

Secretaries who can document that they have not been working for at least 12 months may apply.   Businesses who hire secretaries during the next 12 months will receive a $1,000 tax credit for these new hires.  Solis proudly announced that, “These new hires mean new jobs, new health care benefits and new opportunities for millions who have been out of work”.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced that a business tax credit of $100 would apply for any typewriter manufactured in the United States that is purchased during the next 12 months.

Lisa P. Jackson , Administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency, applauded the toner cartridge ban.  “Toner cartridges have been on our recommended ban list for quite some time.  The plastic cartridges sit in landfills and take hundreds of years to degrade back into the soil”, said Jackson.

Toner cartridge advocate HP Bradbury complained that these new governmental restriction unfairly blame toner cartridges.  “Clearly, the administration is favoring ink cartridges and ribbons over my hard-working constituents”, Bradbury said in a rally on the DC Mall Saturday.  Bradbury also criticized the Labor Department promotional poster that portrays only middle-aged, white women with Napolitano-like  hairstyles being qualified for the job.

CBP commissioner Alan Bersin announced that the toner cartridges rounded up would be recycled mostly for material to patch the border fence between the U.S. and Mexico.    Approximately 20% of the recycled material would also be used for CBP warning signs and Homeland Security threat level signs.