Chertoff defends border actions, calls for immigration bill

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Thursday defended actions his department has taken to control the nation's borders and prodded Congress to continue to provide funding and support for key security programs.

"We have turned the corner on this," Chertoff said during what he and several lawmakers said could be his last public hearing in front of the House Homeland Security Committee before the end of the Bush administration. "We have really started to move the ball in the other direction."

But he said Congress needs to reauthorize the so-called E-Verify program, which employers can use to verify the legal status of workers, and get fiscal 2009 funding to the states for border security programs.

He also reiterated his plea for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration legislation that creates a temporary guest-worker program. He said a guest-worker program would help stem the flow of illegal immigrants coming across the nation's Southern border.

But Homeland Security Management Subcommittee Chairman Chris Carney, D-Pa., said he believes problems still exist with the department's SBInet border security program, which aims to secure some parts of the border by using virtual fencing, traditional fencing and personnel.

The program came under fire because its first phase to secure 28 miles of the border in Arizona had technical problems, fell behind schedule and cost more than originally planned. The department is now extending the program to other parts of the border. Carney said it appears that some of the same problems that plagued the first phase are being repeated in the follow-on phase.

Chertoff said the department is incorporating lessons learned from the first phase. "I think philosophically we're on the same page," Chertoff told Carney.

Homeland Security ranking member Peter King, R-N.Y., criticized Democrats for not bringing the fiscal 2009 Homeland Security spending bill to the House floor for a vote. "I think that's really irresponsible," King said. House Democratic leaders have indicated they will likely look to pass a continuing resolution at the end of the fiscal year to fund the government until a new administration takes control.

Every Republican on the Homeland Security Committee sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. a letter Wednesday asking her to bring the Homeland Security spending bill to the floor as a standalone bill for an immediate vote.

King also questioned how the panel can criticize the department for border security problems when it has failed to produce a border security bill.

Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the fiscal 2008 spending bill gave the department $1.4 billion more than it requested for border security and enforcing immigration laws. Chertoff said he agreed that Congress, under Democratic leadership, has been "tremendously supportive" of border security efforts.

In another matter, Democrats and Republicans on the panel also criticized the Justice Department for not asking the Mexican government to detain or extradite the suspected killer of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Jesus Navarro Montes was released from a jail in Mexico in June even though he was suspected of running over and killing Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar in Arizona in January. "This is not just an international incident. This is a situation that we cannot tolerate," said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J.