The
speed with which a technology can ricochet from one
purpose to another with new consequences is remarkable.
In 1992, the US Navy conceived of a technology to
help process a flood of Haitian refugees. In 1994,
the Border Patrol adapted it, and the technology became
pivotal in efforts to stem the tide of illegal immigration
along the Nation's westernmost border. (See 'IDENT's
Origins.') One consequence: A computer in Washington,
D.C., stores the prints of the two index fingers and
a digital photo of the face of more than two million
apprehended illegal aliens.
The
international border between San Diego, California,
and Tijuana, Mexico, has had conflicting distinctions.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry, which serves the two
cities, is this Nation's busiest legal crossing point.
But the adjoining border area also has been by far
the Nation's busiest illegal crossing zone…
Operation
Gatekeeper
In
the fall of 1994, the Clinton administration decided
that the border area had to be reclaimed, starting
at Imperial Beach and eventually moving eastward along
the length of the California-Mexico border. In October
1994, Attorney General Janet Reno launched Operation
Gatekeeper to achieve this purpose.
Operation
Gatekeeper is a continuing Federal effort to reverse
and deter the tide of illegal entry…
Finally,
INS turned loose the following cornucopia of technology
and equipment for the Border Patrol, all of which
has helped to capture and deter illegal entrants.
- Underground
sensors detecting the movements of illegal immigrants
almost tripled to more than 1200. A system allowing
the computerized response of agents to sensor hits
was installed.
- Infrared
scopes removing the cover of darkness for illegal
entrants almost quadrupled to 45.
- Reinforced
fencing to deter illegal crossings doubled in length
to 38 miles. INS continues to build a triple fence
along a crucial fourteen mile section of the border.
- Almost
five miles of newly installed high-intensity lighting
and 98 portable lighting platforms illuminate the
most frequently trafficked border areas.
- The
number of aircraft for border surveillance and support
of agents went from six to eleven.
- The
number of patrol vehicles, many of them sturdy sport
utility vehicles, increased from 700 to almost 2000.
The
IDENT system
The
most important technology for Gatekeeper, however,
has been IDENT, an automated identification system
that INS first installed at Border Patrol stations
in the San Diego area. IDENT captures a digital print
from the index finger of each hand and a digital photograph
of each illegal entrant over fourteen who is caught
by Border Patrol agents or apprehended by INS agents
at ports of entry. IDENT data from the field is stored
in a computer in Washington, D.C. …
Before
IDENT, the names of apprehended illegal entrants ended
up on the 10 x 15 cm index cards. With IDENT, Border
Patrol agents established a digitally based identity
for each apprehended alien and started making distinctions
among those who were new entrants, recidivist entrants,
and convicted felons on special lookout lists. "For
the first time, we could see who was really infiltrating
our border," Williams said, whether it was "One
person coming in 20 times or 20 persons coming in
at once."…
IDENT
gave Bersin's office "an ability to identify
with certainty those illegal entrants who pose the
greatest threat to our community. We have used this
technology to forge a new prosecutorial strategy.
Our prosecution guidelines target only those who commit
aggravated felonies or whose criminal history is substantial.
Economic migrants, who formed the bulk of our prior
misdemeanor prosecutions, are returned to their homeland"…
Gatekeeper's
achievements
Four
years into Operation Gatekeeper, crime rates along
the border near the Pacific have decreased significantly.[12]
Overall declining apprehension figures for illegal
entrants in the Border Patrol's San Diego sector further
indicate Gatekeeper's accomplishments. A total of
531 000 illegal immigrants were caught in 1993, 450
000 in 1994, 524 000 in 1995, 463 000 in 1996, and
283 000 in 1997. INS officials say the apprehension
rate to date for 1998 is running about 30 percent
less than the rate for 1997.
