Clueless U.S. Border Patrol Uses Intelligence to Study Recidivism (La Jornada, Mexico)

“It seems they have failed to understand that the problem of immigration will not be resolved with intelligence and sophisticated technology … Now they are investigating the reasons for recidivism. Plain and simple, it is because in their home countries, they [immigrants] simply don’t find the opportunities they need to survive.”

-- Ted Lewis of the human rights group Global Exchange

By Ciro Pérez Silva

Translated By Marisol Plata Fortiz

May 17, 2012

Mexico – La Jornada – Original Article (Spanish)

Including the work of intelligence in matters of simple immigration makes the new strategy of the Border Patrol, which together with the National Guard monitors the Mexico-U.S. border, “into something much more aggressive and depraved for our fellow Mexicans intending to cross into the country,” declared Al Rojas, a member of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad.

The activist lamented that after the 2001 attacks against the Twin Towers, "migrants attempting to enter the United States were considered and treated as terrorists. Now we fear that with the Border Patrol’s new strategy, they see immigrants as drug suspects against whom they need to fight with lethal weapons.”

By using intelligence data, the reform aims at identifying repeat immigration offenders to determine their motives for their recurring attempts to enter the country. "The more we know, the more informed we are when it comes to identifying threats and potential dangers," argues the Patrol.

Posted by Worldmeets.US

Also, in an interview, Ted Lewis of Global Exchange said that migrants fear the new Border Patrol provisions because they sound, “as if they were entering a fight against an extremely dangerous enemy.”

Everything suggests that they have yet to understand that immigrants represent no risk and that, far from threatening the United States, they bring many benefits to the economy and society of that country, Lewis said.

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He condemned the fact that while President Barack Obama speaks of the need for immigration reform, he in fact adopts strategies like these.

"It seems they have failed to understand that the problem of immigration will not be resolved with intelligence and sophisticated technology, but with policy development and support for people who are just looking for a chance to improve the lives of their families. Now they are investigating the reasons for recidivism. Plain and simple, it is because in their home countries, they simply don’t find the opportunities they need to survive,” Lewis concluded.