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Report: Canada-USA border full of holes Illegal immigrants, smugglers have little trouble getting in

By Donna Leinwand
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- The border between the USA and Canada is so poorly staffed that illegal immigrants and contraband are slipping easily into the country.

A federal report by the inspector general at the Department of Justice found that the Border Patrol lacks the people and equipment to monitor illegal activity and ''cannot accurately quantify how many illegal aliens and drug smugglers it fails to apprehend.''

''The number of Border Patrol agents available simply cannot patrol the entire length of the border,'' the report said. ''At current staffing levels, illegal activity exceeds the Border Patrol's capacity to respond.''

The Immigration and Naturalization Service agrees with the ''general thrust'' of the recommendations and will examine northern border issues, INS officials said in a statement Thursday. ''In the interim, we believe that we have deployed our personnel in the most effective manner to address the threat, and we are actively working on ways to improve security along the northern border,'' the statement said.

The report found:

* Fewer than 4% of the nation's Border Patrol agents are assigned to the Canada-USA line. That amounts to about 300 agents for almost 4,000 miles of border. More than 7,700 agents patrol the border along Mexico.

* One border sector has 65 smuggling corridors along 300 miles but had only 36 electronic motion and heat sensors to monitor them.

* Some sectors do not have adequate jail space, so illegal aliens are released into the community to await trial. Border Patrol agents sarcastically call the practice the ''catch and release program.''

* Some shifts have no patrol coverage, which leaves the border open to illegal activity.

A USA TODAY survey of border crossings in January found that in sparsely populated areas, immigration officials close the border at 10 p.m. by lining up orange cones in the road. The port of entry is left unstaffed until the next morning.

INS officials did not respond Thursday to questions. The INS began a four-phase plan in 1994 to tighten up U.S. borders. Three of the four phases focus on the southwest. The fourth phase, which includes the northern border, has no projected start date or specific goals, the report said.

''For all the work they spent on the southwest, they just plain have not planned out what they are going to do on the northern border,'' acting Inspector General Robert Ashbaugh said Thursday. ''It's less serious than the southwest border, but the problems we identified and the lack of planning make it a significant gap in INS' overall planning.''

In June, INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said the agency intended to deploy 430 Border Patrol agents this year. Of those, 20 agents will go to the northern border. McAllen, Texas, will get 100 new agents. Blaine, Wash., will get two.

The INS is working with Canadian authorities on a coordinated plan for the border and is expected to submit a progress report by October, Ashbaugh says.

Ashbaugh released the report Feb. 18 but restricted its distribution to a small number of federal officials because it identified ''significant and specific gaps in the INS' northern border operations.'' USA TODAY obtained a redacted version of the report.