Monday, September 12, 2011

Keeping Us Safe

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not seem to be among the most efficient of our federal bureaucracies, at least according to Gilbert Sanchez who is one of the people guarding our border at Port Angeles, Washington. Mr. Sanchez is so excised at what he believes is a boondoggle that he testified before a congressional panel, "When I arrived at my station, there was rarely any casework to be done, if at all, so I just roved ... wasting gasoline. Today this has not changed and there still is rarely any casework to do, if any, and we agents are bored." Yet, DHS is increasing the staff from 40 and 50 and spending $5,700,000 to house them in a new building which is a 21st century building complete with fitness center and dog kennel. Another comment from Mr. Sanchez, "The worst fraud on taxpayers is that we are getting paid overtime not to work."

This northern section of our border has seen less than 2% of the Border Patrol's 'apprehensions' since 2001. Nonetheless, the staff has gone from 340 to 2,263.  And, of course, the budget for the Border Patrol has gone from $1.6 billion in 2000 to $3.6 billion last year.

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