Over the next year it will become apparent to the American people that a secure southwest border is possible, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Alan Bersin.
CBP chief says a ‘secure’ Southwest Border is being realized
“Our border with Mexico has been a project of a 20-year effort beginning in the early 1990s, and I think what will come apparent over the next year … is that the last chapter in that first phase is about to end in Arizona,” Bersin told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Friday.
Border Patrol in Texas
The event, which featured Bersin and two of his predecessors, focused on post-911 border security in the United States. All three men asserted that the southwest border is more secure now than it has been in 30 years.
“The notion that we can secure the border – not seal it, not shut it down, but secure it – is something that is underway as a result of the magnificent effort of 10 percent of CBP,” Bersin said. “Six thousand of our people are in Arizona serving at the ports of entry, in the air, and on the ground between the ports of entry, and the progress is remarkable – more known to those who watch it closely but soon to be known by the American people.”
“We will then enter a new phase for CBP on the land borders,” Bersin continued, “one that will actually involve the same tools of information collection, intelligence gathering, analysis and risk management applied to both the land borders as well as the securing of goods and people coming towards us.”
Asked by CNSNews.com to elaborate on his comment about a secure border being “underway,” Bersin noted the lower number of apprehensions in Arizona this year.
