Legal Commentary

Obama Ramping Up War on Drugs at Northern Border

By Jeralyn

President Obama has a Border Czar named Alan Bersin. His official title is "special representative for border affairs." In an interview with the Associated Press , he discusses the increased number of border agents along the Canadian border to fight the war on drugs.

The U.S. Border Patrol has tripled the number of agents along the 5,500-mile border in recent years, with hundreds more soon to be deployed. Unmanned U.S. surveillance aircraft are being tested for use over the frontier, and video surveillance towers are going up around Buffalo and Detroit. Multi-agency, binational law enforcement teams operate in 15 regions from coast to coast.

...."Technology necessarily will play a more important role," he said. "You'll want more extensive use of surveillance systems, coupled with communications channels. And partnerships become a very important part of the strategy - federal, state, local and cross-border."

[More...]

ICE agents are working hand in glove with the DEA:

Last month, the DEA and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reached an agreement that will enable ICE to assign more of its agents to drug investigations along both borders. "I have no intention of focusing simply on the southern border," said ICE's director, John Morton.

The agents are getting some cool new toys:

For the Border Patrol, recent initiatives have brought not only hundreds more agents to its northern front, but also new offices and transport, ranging from aircraft and boats to snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. "We patrol mountains, forests, fields - we need those ATVs," said Mark Henry of the Border Patrol's Swanton Sector, which monitors a 295-mile stretch of the border from Alexandria, N.Y., across the tops of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Is this courtesy of that law enforcement pork in the stimulus bill? Too bad it didn't go to health care.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 25, 2009 (boomark / email).