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Lou Dobbs Tonight - CNN - Show Aired September 26, 2005
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Dobbs: 7% of 1 million invaders caught have criminal records
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CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 1 million illegal aliens, that's how many the border patrol says it caught along the southwest border in the past year, more than a million illegal aliens caught virtually the same number as last year, yet the border patrol calls that progress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're moving in the right direction.
WIAN: So are the illegal aliens still streaming across the southern border at the same rate as a year ago. And just like last year, more than half of those illegal aliens crossed from Mexico into Arizona.
18 months ago, Customs and Border Protection began what it called a full court press to slow entry into Arizona. There, at least, it can validly claim progress. Putting surveillance planes in the air and hundreds of additional boots on the ground, launching deportation flights deep into Mexico and quickly deporting tens of thousands of nonMexican illegal aliens to their home countries. The result, a 13 percent decline in illegal alien captures in Arizona.
ROBERT BONNER, CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION: That's a significant drop. It's not victory, but it's a significant drop in the apprehensions. And it also means that there has been a decline in the illegal entries in Arizona.
WIAN: Bonner admits many illegal aliens have found new places to cross in neighboring New Mexico, but that's more than offset by the larger decline in illegal crossings in Arizona.
The border patrol has added only 458 agents nationwide this year, less than a quarter of the 2,000 authorized by Congress. To some, that doesn't sound like a commitment to success in securing the border.
T.J. BONNER, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL: What you're seeing here is an administration that is unwilling to add more border patrol agents, simply shuffling resources around much like a puppy dog chasing its tail. And it's not going to work. WIAN: The border patrol union leader says to truly secure our southern border he needs double the border patrol's current manpower, about 9,000 more agents and strict enforcement of laws against employing illegal aliens. Customs and Border Protection, while claiming progress, disclosed another alarming statistic, saying 7 percent of the illegal aliens caught have criminal records.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Border patrol agents generally estimate they catch about one in every four illegal border crossers. That means as many as a quarter of a million convicted criminals are entering the United States across our southern border each year -- Lou.
DOBBS: And that is certainly alarming. And it is interesting that number of 3 million illegal aliens entering the country remaining constant over at least the past two years and the focus in Washington remains let's say blurry at best.
WIAN: And perhaps, even more alarming, in Arizona alone, just during one six-month period this year, 1200 of those criminals that were caught were convicted of violent crimes in the past, Lou.
DOBBS: Casey, thank you very much. Casey Wian.
It seems our broken borders are also a problem in other countries, as well. A Greek newspaper reporting the Greek government is now considering a proposal that would allow it to use a network of satellites to monitor its borders. Greek authorities catching hundreds of illegal aliens each year trying to cross its borders.
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