New 10-Point Border Security Plan Introduced

Arizona Republican Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain have introduced legislation that would send a minimum 6,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border by 2016. The

Border Security Enforcement Act of 2011, will also increase the number of Border Patrol Agents by 5,000 and increase the number of Customs Enforcement agents by 500. If passed the bill would provide funding, which both Senators say is already fully paid, for double layer fencing, an increased number of surveillance systems used by law enforcement, increased number of Border Patrol stations along the southern border in addition to possibly adding a new Border Patrol sector in Arizona and the completion of a permanent checkpoint in the border state. The goal of the plan is to reduce illegal immigration, drug smuggling, human smuggling and violence. The legislation will cost $600 million dollars.

The full 10-Point Plan:

Deploy no fewer than 6,000 National Guard troops to the United States-Mexico border.
Deploy 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents to the United States-Mexico border by 2016 and Offer Hardship Duty Pay to Border Patrol agents assigned to rural, high-trafficked areas. Provide funding for 500 additional Customs inspectors for the southwest border.
Provide increased funding for Operation Streamline.
Provide increased funding for the Southwest Border Prosecutors Initiative.
Provide increased funding for Operation Stonegarden.
Construct double-layer fencing at needed locations along the United States-Mexico border and replace outdated and ineffective landing-mat fencing along the southwest border.
Increase the number of mobile and other surveillance systems and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) along the United States-Mexico border. Send additional fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to the United States-Mexico border.
Provide funding for vital radio communications and interoperability between Customs and Border Patrol and state, local, and tribal law enforcement.
Provide funding for additional Border Patrol stations along the southwest border and explore the possibility of creating an additional Border Patrol sector in Arizona. Create six additional permanent Border Patrol Forward Operating Bases and upgrade existing bases.
Complete construction of the planned permanent checkpoint in Arizona. Deploy additional temporary roving checkpoints and increase horse patrols throughout the Tucson Sector.

Kyl and McCain are taking an all-hands-on-deck approach with this legislation by not only planning to complete a double layer fence, but more importantly, will re-deploy National Guard troops to the border when they are pulled this summer. Border crossings decrease significantly when a military presence in the area. President Obama ordered National Guard troops to the southern border in Arizona in August 2010 following a series of violent acts, including the murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, but will they taken out of the state in June 2011.