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Heritage on the border

June 3, 2008 | By Nathaniel Ward

Protecting the borders is a critical part of keeping the nation safe, as Heritage Foundation experts have often pointed out.

» Read all Heritage research on immigration and border security

But border security isn’t just a theoretical exercise: it has to be demonstrated to work. That’s why Heritage national security expert James Carafano recently traveled to the southwest to inspect the border security facilities there.

In Nogales, Arizona, Carafano discovered the importance of leveraging technology to bar entry to criminals like drug smugglers. “Looking for bad people by screening individual records is like looking for a needle in a needle stack,” he explains in a post on Heritage’s blog, The Foundry. “The real value of collecting the data is looking for anomalies and patterns that allow border enforcement to focus on criminal smuggling gangs.”

These technologies also speed legitimate cross-border traffic, he continues. “Speeding legitimate trade and travel, while focusing border enforcement at the ports of entry on criminal activity, is what good security is all about.”

He also saw firsthand why it’s a good thing the government limited the number of documents that can be used as identification at ports of entry. Border patrol agents showed him “a table with hundreds of documents that in the past had been authorized as proof of U.S. citizenship or other documentation to enter the U.S. from Mexico—many of them were fraudulent documents at that.”

In another blog post, Carafano points out that border security can help protect the environment. Those crossing the borders illegally, he explains, often leave behind mountains of trash and trample the wildlife. But secured areas have seen an environmental rebirth, as in one area in the San Diego sector that’s now a bird sanctuary.

He also saw the human cost of illegal immigration. “Stamping out illegal border crossings is as much a humanitarian mission as anything else,” he writes. Unscrupulous smugglers can kidnap, rob, rape or kill their human cargo—or leave them for dead after plying them with drugs that dehydrate them.

You, too, can attend the President’s Club meeting

Donald and Sandra Dubuc of Minot, Maine are the winners of Heritage’s Election Reflection Giveaway, which includes a free trip to Washington, D.C. and an invitation to Heritage’s fall President’s Club meeting.

All President’s Club members will receive an invitation to attend this important meeting, which will feature in-depth analysis of the way forward for conservatives after the November elections. If you are not yet a member of the President’s Club, join today with your tax-deductible contribution.

Other Heritage work of note

  • Protect America. There has been some good news in the war on terror, as al Qaeda is reportedly on the retreat. But they’re hardly beaten, Heritage national security expert Peter Brookes writes in the New York Post, and they continue to spread their propaganda and plan their operations using new technologies. “[T]his is no time to rest on our laurels,” he argues. “Al Qaeda and its affiliates continue to adapt their means and methods to our security measures — meaning we must evolve to the twists and turns in their terror tactics.”
  • Energy and Environment. “When it comes to expanding Uncle Sam’s girth,” Heritage Vice President Mike Franc writes on National Review Online, “nothing tops the global warming cap-and-trade proposal currently before the Senate.” Franc notes that the bill, essentially a massive social engineering plan “to force Americans to change their way of life,” includes a massive tax hike and other measures that would impose severe economic costs on the nation. And what do we get for all that? A miniscule effect on global temperatures.
  • Leadership for America. As The Heritage Foundation’s summer interns start work this week, the media is once again taking note of the program’s successes. Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, profiles a former intern and a former staffer now helping shape policy. Meanwhile, Nanette Everson tells the Washington Post that 39 of Heritage’s 68 summer interns live in Heritage’s on-site intern housing in the Johnson Building.
  • Energy and Environment. To meet its goals, the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-tax global warming bill would require an unprecedented expansion of the nation’s nuclear capacity—between 50 and 200 new reactors over the next 25 years—but many environmentalists continue to stymie nuclear energy. “To deny the United States access to nuclear technology while mandating CO2 caps is hypocritical and indefensible,” Heritage energy expert Ben Lieberman writes in a new analysis. He outlines ten ways to make nuclear energy more viable, including a renewed commitment to free enterprise and limiting arbitrary government regulations.

In other news

  • Last month, the government began issuing $600 checks to taxpayers in an effort to stimulate the economy. But the money is not being spent on consumer items as Washington insiders had hoped, and the extra cash hasn’t changed the incentives to work or invest—the key to long-term economic growth.
  • Liberals in Congress want the government to partially take over the hurricane insurance business—at taxpayer expense. The proposal would shift costs away from those who choose to live in high-risk areas prone to hurricanes, like Florida, to taxpayers in all 50 states. Critics cited in the Wall Street Journal point out that the legislation would encourage further development in high-risk areas.
  • The Washington Post reports on welcome news from the United Nations: “U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will issue an urgent plea to world leaders at a food summit in Rome on Tuesday to immediately suspend trade restrictions, agricultural taxes and other price controls that have helped fuel the highest food prices in 30 years, according to U.N. officials.”
  • As Europeans grow increasingly frustrated with an environmental policy that has led to price hikes at the pump and in grocery stores, politicians may scale back their “green” polices, Canada’s Globe and Mail reports. American lawmakers should keep this in mind as they consider a global warming bill for this country.

Coming up at Heritage

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Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.