After wasting $1 billion trying to build a virtual border fence and giving up, the Department of Homeland Security wants to spend another $1.5 billion on a replacement program that hasn’t been well thought out, according to critics.

 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “has not yet demonstrated the effectiveness and suitability of its new approach for deploying surveillance technology in Arizona,” states a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). What the agency needs to do, according to the GAO, is explain “how, where, and why it plans to deploy specific combinations of technology” before it starts buying and setting up new systems. The report charged CBP with failing to make any contingency plans for any equipment failures or delays.

 

The congressional watchdog also questioned the $1.5 billion price tag of the Arizona Border Surveillance and Technology Plan, indicating it may be inaccurate.

 

For this year, CBP wants $242 million to get started on its Plan B for keeping illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and terrorists from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

 

The report also noted that “apprehensions along the southwest border are at their lowest levels since the 1970s.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Auditors Blast DHS' $1.5 Billion Border Plan (by Aliya Sternstein, NextGov)

Arizona Border Surveillance Technology: More Information on Plans and Costs Is Needed before Proceeding (Government Accountability Office) (pdf)

Border Surveillance Plan Stumbles as Two-Thirds of Mexico Declared Unsafe (by Robert Beckhusen, Wired)