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1. DHS ends fence funding
2. Dept. to assist with U Visa
3. Amnesty groups mobilizing
4. TX senators invite Obama
5. CA Gov. for more BP agents

1.
Janet Napolitano halts funding for virtual border fence
The virtual border fence was supposed to revolutionize US-Mexico border security. But delays and glitches led Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to freeze its funding Wednesday.
By Daniel B. Wood
The Christian Science Monitor, March 17, 2010

Los Angeles -- In May 2006, President George W. Bush touted the SBInet project as “the most technologically advanced border security initiative in American history.” The proposed "virtual border fence" along the US-Mexican border was to be a string of towers that would use cameras, radar, and ground sensors to see who was coming across in real time.

Now the project, which spent $2.4 billion between 2005 and 2009, has hit so many snags that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is freezing its funding.

“Not only do we have an obligation to secure our borders, we have a responsibility to do so in the most cost-effective way possible,” wrote DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in a press release Tuesday. “The system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border known as SBInet has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines.”

In early trials, technical problems and other snafus led to media reports that DHS and the Boeing Co., which held contracts to build two sections of the high-tech fence, might mothball the project.

Problems included software glitches, camera images affected by wind and rain, and radar that had trouble distinguishing sagebrush from camping migrants or animals.

Boeing officials admitted that the effort had been more challenging than they anticipated. The project, which was supposed to be handed over to the US Border Patrol in June 2007 was not accepted until December. At a congressional hearing, Richard Stana, Homeland Security and Justice Director for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that the first phase of the project "did not fully meet the user needs."

A shift in funding

Now – reportedly two days before the release of a GAO report that was said to criticize the project – Ms. Napolitano says that DHS will shift the funding.

It will redeploy $50 million of Recovery Act funding originally allocated to "commercially available security technology along the Southwest border, including mobile surveillance, thermal imaging devices, ultra-light detection, backscatter units, mobile radios, cameras ,and laptops for pursuit vehicles, and remote video surveillance system enhancements,” Napolitano’s statement said.

Critics of the virtual border fence project have been quick to respond.

“It’s a good thing they have finally acknowledged the obvious, that SBInet is a failure, and they are going to evaluate it,” says T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a professional labor union representing more than 17,000 US Border Patrol agents and support staff.

Mr. Bonner thinks that DHS needs to examine the entire premise of using technology at the border.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0317/Janet-Napolitano-halts-funding-fo...

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2.
Labor Dept to help crime victims get special visas
By Juliana Barbassa
The Associated Press, March 17, 2010

San Francisco (AP) -- Immigrants who have been victims of crimes and help authorities prosecute perpetrators can now get help from the U.S. Labor Department with their applications for a special type of visa.

Investigators of workplace violations have been authorized to certify applications for a U visa to stay in the country, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said.

In the past, law enforcement agencies were responsible for signing off on the applications that must receive final approval from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

To qualify for the visas, immigrants have to show they suffered a specific crime such as sexual assault or being forced to work without pay, and show they helped law enforcement in their investigation.

The Labor Department action is intended to help immigrants who might be afraid to call police or unable to escape their workplace.

"Regardless of immigration status, no one should have to suffer criminal abuse silently," Solis said in a statement Monday. "U visas give some measure of security to immigrant victims who are desperate to escape an abusive situation and are willing to cooperate with law enforcement."

After approval by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the visas allow immigrants to stay in the country for four years and eventually apply for residency.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ig8KDqaKKgNAVu3iLxlCxd...

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3.
Groups mobilize to pressure lawmakers to act on immigration reform
Plans include a march in Washington, a texting drive, 'tacos for justice' coupons and score cards for lawmakers' votes on immigration issues. 'The time for promises is over,' an organizer says.
By Teresa Watanabe
The Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2010

Frustrated at the White House and Congress, immigrant advocates are rolling out a series of pressure tactics to push forward legalization for illegal immigrants and other reforms.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to march Sunday in Washington, D.C., urging officials to act on legislative reforms or face the consequences -- including a possible Latino voter backlash in November.

Activists plan to launch texting and "tacos for justice" campaigns Friday to raise money for the reform campaign. And next week, leaders from nine national Latino organizations plan to unveil their first-ever score card on congressional immigration votes.

In recent months, activists have grown increasingly critical of the Obama administration and Democratic legislative leaders for failing to uphold campaign promises to legalize most of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, provide more family visas and enact other reforms.

"People are frustrated and disappointed," said Angela Sanbrano of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities. "The message of the march is that the time for promises is over and we want concrete action."

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said Obama's commitment to reform remains "unwavering." He said the president recently met to discuss the issue with both grassroots community leaders and the two men forging a bipartisan Senate bill, Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

"The President is optimistic that their efforts will contribute to a favorable climate for moving forward," Shapiro said in an e-mail.

Others, however, say that pushing legalization at a time of high unemployment would be "political suicide."

"We have 15 million Americans unemployed and looking for jobs," said Rosemary Jenks of NumbersUSA, a Virginia-based organization that supports immigration restrictions. "There's absolutely no question that economically this is not the time for amnesty. This is a time to reduce foreign worker competition."
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-latino18-2010mar18,0,203431.story

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4.
Texas senators invite president to visit border
By Stewart M. Powell
The Houston Chronicle, March 17, 2010

Washington, DC -- Texas' U.S. senators pressed the White House Wednesday to take more seriously the threat that Mexican drug cartels' murder and mayhem could spill across the border and claim the lives of Texans.

The threat is “real and it is escalating,” Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Dallas, and John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, told President Barack Obama in a letter. “Our border patrol agents and local law enforcement are more regularly engaged with gunmen associated with drug cartels, but our resources and personnel are limited.”

The senators urged Obama to accompany them on a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, craft a plan to address the violence and provide senators a classified intelligence briefing on whether the wave of cartel killings poses a threat to safety and overall national security.

Obama will find it “helpful to travel to the border to see it for himself,” Cornyn said in a conference call with reporters. “I think part of the problem in Washington is that the knowledge that people assume they have about the border is derived from reading novels and watching movies.”

The senators wrote the president in the aftermath of the weekend killings of an El Paso couple, one of whom worked at the U.S. consulate. In another incident the same day, the husband of a different consulate worker also was slain.

A White House official speaking on background said the administration will respond to the senators' letter and lay out the “extensive and unprecedented steps we have taken — and continue to take — across the government to ensure the safety and security of border communities and to support the Mexican government's efforts against drug trafficking organizations.”

An official with the Department of Homeland Security rejected the senators' claim that federal law enforcement personnel are clashing with cartels.

“There is no evidence, neither scientific nor anecdotal, to show that Border Patrol personnel are more regularly engaging with gunmen associated with drug cartels,” said the DHS official.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6918153.html

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5.
Schwarzenegger asks more Border Patrol agents
By John Marelius
The San Diego Union Tribune, March 18, 2010

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday told Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that newly available stimulus money should be spent on more Border Patrol agents rather than electronic equipment, as the department plans.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration called a halt to work on a “virtual fence” on the U.S.-Mexico border — a project that had been beset by technical problems and delays. It shifted $50 million in economic stimulus funds planned for the project to other technology, including laptop computers, radios, sensors and mobile surveillance devices.

After spending $672 million on the virtual fence with little to show for it, Napolitano ordered a freeze on two pilot projects in Arizona, essentially killing the program.

In a letter to Napolitano, Schwarzenegger appealed for more agents.

“I am entirely sympathetic to the view that a virtual fence is not a panacea for our problems,” he wrote. “Clearly, the cost and time projections for completion are not being met, and I doubt that it will be able to get back on track without some major structural changes.

“Yet I am also not convinced that buying more laptops, radios, thermal-imaging devices and other equipment for Border Patrol agents is the answer. Certainly, they should have all the resources necessary to do their jobs, but they should also have all the manpower necessary to do their jobs.”
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/18/schwarzenegger-asks-for-m...