Statement for the House Homeland Security Committee on "Ending the Crisis: America's Borders and the Path to Security"

The American Immigration Council submitted a written statement to the House Homeland Security Committee for a Feburary 7, 2017 hearing on "Ending the Crisis: America's Borders and the Path to Security." The statement shares our analysis and research regarding an unnecessary border wall and the already massive investment that has been made along the Southwest border. The U.S. currently has over 650 miles of fencing along the Southwest border, record levels of staff for ICE and CBP, fleet of drones, and other resources. Although the U.S. has invested in more measures for border security, these efforts do not neccessarily measure border security. DHS currently lacks transparent, consistent, and stable measures for evaluating border enforcement. The statement suggests that in order to address border security, Congress needs to require clear reporting metrics from DHS. Ultimately, border enforcement cannot be done in isolation, it must be examined in the larger context of reforms needed for the entire immigration system.