Georgetown Security Law Brief

Amid immigration reform, calls to change asylums

05/22/13:  The Miami Herald reports as Congress debates legalizing about 11 million immigrants living in the US illegally, immigration advocates are pushing plans they say will open the asylum process for thousands of more people who flee persecution in their home countries. The Senate version of the immigration bill does away with a one-year application filing deadline that Congress enacted in the 1990s to reduce fraud and that advocates say has prevented many legitimate asylum seekers from applying to the program. But it's not clear what the House will do and the April revelation that the two brothers accused of carrying out the deadly Boston bombings arrived in the US through the asylum system has concerned some lawmakers in Congress. The Boston bombings did prompt some action that was approved by the Senate panel. On Monday, the panel voted to strip asylum or refugee status from individuals who return to the country they fled, unless they can show a good reason for doing so. The asylum system is designed for people who are persecuted or may be persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or are members of an oppressed social group. In 2001, more than 39,000 people were given asylum. In 2012, that number dropped to around 25,000. Security measures include checking an asylum seeker's identity with Homeland Security and other federal databases; running their fingerprints and names through FBI databases; vetting documents for their authenticity against a library of foreign travel and identity documents. Meissner said the system was the first to pioneer biometrics and other security methods in the 1990s - now the norm with federal agencies.

Biometric database of all adult Americans hidden in immigration reform

05/11/13:  Wired's Threat Level reports the immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the US, in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system. Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID. Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo. This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet.

Lawmakers close to immigration overhaul bill after business-labor deal, but details remain

04/01/13: The Miami Herald reports optimistic lawmakers on Sunday cautioned they had not finished work on an immigration overhaul that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.  The AFL-CIO and the pro-business US Chamber of Commerce reached a deal late Friday that would allow tens of thousands of low-skilled workers into the country to fill jobs in construction, restaurants, and hotels, but lawmakers from both parties conceded negotiations are not finished.  The agreement hasn’t taken the form of a bill and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the “Gang of Eight” Senators searching for a compromise haven’t met about the potential breakthrough.  “There are a few details yet.  But conceptually, we have an agreement between business and labor, between ourselves that has to be drafted,” Graham said.  Still, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a favorite of the Republican right-wing who functions the group’s emissary to hardcore conservatives, warned he was not ready to lend his name and political clout to a deal.  Rubio called the agreement a starting point but pointed out ninety-two Senators from forty-three States haven’t yet been involved in the process.

Cleanup underway after Arkansas oil spill

03/31/13: The Miami Herald reports crews recovered about 4,500 barrels of oil and water Saturday after a crude oil pipeline ruptured in central Arkansas.  An ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured Friday afternoon in Mayflower, a small city about twenty miles northwest of Little Rock.  Authorities are still investigating the cause of the spill.  The city said Saturday that it recommended that twenty-two area homes be evacuated.  Crews have mobilized more than a dozen vacuum trucks to the site to clean up the oil.  Professional hygienist authorities are also monitoring air quality, officials said.  There are precautions in place to keep oil away from nearby Lake Conway.

DHS officials still seek ways to assess border security

03/22/13:  The New York Times reports more than two years after Homeland Security officials told Congress that they would produce new, more accurate standards to assess security at the nation’s borders, senior officials from the department acknowledged this week that they had not completed the new measurements and were not likely to in coming months, as the debate proceeds about overhauling the immigration system. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were taken aback at a hearing on Wednesday in the House of Representatives when Mark Borkowski, a senior Homeland Security official, said he had no progress to report on a broad measure of border conditions the department had been working on since 2010. The lawmakers warned that failure by the Obama administration to devise a reliable method of border evaluation could imperil passage of immigration legislation. Amid contentious discussions in Congress over immigration, one point of wide agreement is that an evaluation of border security will be a central piece of any comprehensive bill. A bipartisan group in the Senate is working to write legislation that includes a “trigger,” which would make the path to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country contingent on measurable advances in security at the borders. Lawmakers have been pressing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to devise a measure they can use to judge if the Obama administration’s claims of significant progress in border enforcement are justified. Republican senators in the bipartisan group have said a border standard is pivotal to their efforts.

 

China: US missile defense plan risks antagonizing North Korea

03/18/13: CNN reports China warned Monday that the United States’ plans to beef up its missile defenses against North Korea are likely to inflame tensions already running high over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.  “Bolstering missile defenses will only intensify antagonism, and it doesn’t help to solve the issue,” Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a news briefing in Beijing.  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Friday that the United States will deploy additional ground-based missile interceptors on the West Coast as part of efforts to enhance the nation’s ability to defend itself from attack by North Korea.  The announcement came after North Korea recently threatened a preemptive nuclear attack on South Korea and the United States in response to stepped-up UN sanctions over its latest nuclear test last month.

Radical UK cleric Abu Qatada returned to prison for bail violation

03/11/13: The Miami Herald reports a British judge ruled Saturday that radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada must remain in custody following his arrest for allegedly breaching his bail conditions.  The cleric, who has been described as a key al-Qaeda operative in Europe, was arrested in London Friday following a series of raids by counterterrorism police.  The arrest came three days before the government’s latest court bid to extradite him to Jordan.  Judge Stephen Irwin refused on Saturday to grant the preacher bail and ordered him to return to prison, finding there was strong evidence that Abu Qatada had breached bail conditions.  In November, a court sustained Qatada’s appeal from his deportation to Jordan and allowed him to stay in the UK; the British government will challenge that decision at the Court of Appeal on Monday.

US rescues 71 Haitian migrants near Puerto Rico

03/10/13: The Miami Herald reports federal officials have rescued seventy-one Haitian migrants found stranded on the shores of a cluster of islands just west of Puerto Rico.  US Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard first rescued two migrants found on one island and then the remainder of the group from the island of Desecheo off the western coastal town of Rincón.  Customs spokesman Jeffrey Quinones said Saturday that a large number of the Haitians were dehydrated and had bruises and scratches.  They were taken to hospitals for treatment.  The rescue comes a week after sixty-seven migrants from Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic were found in the same cluster of islands.  One Haitian woman was found dead.

Small airports irked by removal of body scanners

03/07/13:  The Miami Herald reports managers at dozens of small airports have expressed outrage at federal officials for hauling new full-body scanners away from their facilities and sending them to large hubs that haven't yet upgraded older machines criticized for showing too much anatomy. US Transportation Security Administration contractors were threatened with arrest after officials at a Montana airport said they received no notice before the workers arrived. In North Dakota, the scanners are set to be yanked from a terminal remodeled last year with $40,000 in local funds just to fit the new machines. The L3 Millimeter Wave body scanners, which are about the size of a minivan on end and produce cartoonlike outlines of travelers, are being removed from 49 smaller airports across the country to help replace 174 full-body scanners used at larger airports. After controversy erupted over the bare images of a person's body the full-body scanners produce, Congress set a June deadline for them to be removed or updated. But officials at smaller airports said removing their machines will produce longer lines, increased pat-downs, decreased security and a waste of taxpayer money. 

Pressure builds on Senate group to introduce immigration bill

03/03/13: The Hill reports the bipartisan Senate group working on immigration reform plans to set a timeline for unveiling legislation, as it feels subtle pressure from the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to act.  Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), a lead negotiator of the ad hoc group on immigration reform, says the clock is ticking, and the group hopes to soon have a timeline for unveiling legislation.  “We know time is of the essence.  Sometime in the next few weeks we will have a definite timeline.  We got a couple of very big issues to resolve,” McCain said.  Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), McCain’s negotiating partner, said he expected to have a bipartisan bill sometime in March.  There are only three weeks left until Congress leaves for a two-week Easter recess on March 22.

Obama to issue executive order on cybersecurity

02/12/13:  The Washington Times reports President Obama is set to issue on Wednesday an executive order to fight off electronic attacks and hackers, according to various media.  The order — which has undergone several revisions over the past few months — sets the Department of Homeland Security as overseer of an information-sharing network that distributes intelligence information about cybersecurity risks, Fox News reports. The information would help U.S. business owners block hackers and attacks on their compute systems, Fox News says.  Some Republicans decry the executive order as yet another presidential bypass of congressional authority, according to Fox News. The executive order comes after Congress failed to pass similar legislation last summer, Fox News reports.

Technical difficulties delay DHS plan for upgraded sensors on US-Mexico border

02/11/13: Wired reports the US Government’s plan to install new advanced ground sensors at the Mexican border has been delayed due to bandwidth and frequency problems the.  The delay isn’t the first, and it comes as thousands of aging sensors along the border trigger false alarms that have proved deadly to Border Patrol agents.  The Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) originally planned to blanket the border with a new generation of “unattended ground sensors” (UGS’s).  According to CBP, the plan hasn’t been canceled outright, but it has been delayed for much, if not most, of 2013.  The problem: the sensors can’t communicate with the rest of the tech along the border.

US simulates mass-migration scenario at Guantanamo

02/11/13: The Miami Herald reports soldiers, sailors and Homeland Security officials came to Guantánamo Bay this weekend to simulate a humanitarian-relief crisis inspired by the tens of thousands of Haitians and Cubans who overwhelmed the base in the 1990’s.  The exact nature of the scenario is classified, and only Pentagon-approved photos of the exercise will be released.  That’s because nobody wants news about it to touch off a real, live Caribbean exodus.  The intent, say organizers, is not to encourage anyone in the Caribbean to get on rafts to reach this Navy base in southeast Cuba, but to be ready in case it happens.  One thing they’ll rehearse is registering 1,000 migrants in a single day, and if history is any guide, the actors should cram inside the processing tent, desperate, undocumented and disorganized.

France opens case against terror suspects

02/10/13: BBC News reports a French judge has opened criminal proceedings against four men suspected of links with Islamist militant networks in west Africa.  The four, who were detained near Paris on Tuesday, are being investigated for possible “association with a terrorist enterprise.”  Reports say three are French and one is from Mali.  French officials have said they were arrested in connection with the case of a French national arrested in Niger while trying to join Jihadist groups in Mali last year.  The man was extradited to France, where criminal proceedings were launched against him in August.  France increased its domestic terror threat level after French forces entered Mali on January 11 to push back militants who had captured Timbuktu and other parts of northern Mali.

DHS Watchdog okays ‘suspicionless’ seizure of electronic devices along border

02/09/13:  The Wired's Threat Level reports the Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights watchdog has concluded that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security.  The DHS, which secures the nation’s border, in 2009 announced that it would conduct a “Civil Liberties Impact Assessment” of its suspicionless search-and-seizure policy pertaining to electronic devices “within 120 days” More than three years later, the DHS office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties published a two-page executive summary of its findings.  "We also conclude that imposing a requirement that officers have reasonable suspicion in order to conduct a border search of an electronic device would be operationally harmful without concomitant civil rights/civil liberties benefits,” the executive summary said.

Vulnerability lets hackers control building locks, electricity, elevators and more

02/07/13:  Wired's Threat Level reports a critical vulnerability discovered in an industrial control system used widely by the military, hospitals and others would allow attackers to remotely control electronic door locks, lighting systems, elevators, electricity and boiler systems, video surveillance cameras, alarms and other critical building facilities, say two security researchers.  The vulnerability in the Tridium Niagara AX Framework allows an attacker to remotely access the system’s config.bog file, which holds all of the system’s configuration data, including usernames and passwords to log in to operator work stations and control the systems that are managed by them.  Billy Rios and Terry McCorkle, noted security researchers with Cylance, who have found numerous vulnerabilities in the Tridium system and other industrial control systems in the last two years, demonstrated a zero-day attack on the system at the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summmit on Tuesday.

Reid: Immigration bill will pass Senate

02/04/13: The Hill reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Sunday said that immigration reform was “certainly going to pass” the upper chamber.  “It has to get done.  We have to work hard to get it done,” Reid said.  “It’s really easy to write principles.  To write legislation is much harder.  And once we write the legislation, then you have to get it passed.  But I think things are looking really good.”  Last week a bipartisan group of senators introduced a framework for reform, which includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and calls for tighter border security.  But the plan faces obstacles from GOP lawmakers who are opposed to measures granting illegal immigrants citizenship and want border-security issues addressed first.

Iraqi immigrants sentenced for plotting to help al-Qaeda

01/30/13: CNN reports two Iraqi men living in Kentucky received long prison sentences this week after being convicted of a series of charges involving a plot to help al-Qaeda.  Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan were arrested last August in Bowling Green, Kentucky in a terror-related sting operation.  After arriving in the United States, the men were monitored by federal authorities and told an FBI undercover agent they wanted to provide weapons and explosives to al-Qaeda in Iraq.  Hammadi pleaded guilty in August to twelve counts, including four counts of aiding al-Qaeda in Iraq.  Alwan pleaded guilty to twenty-three counts in December, including plotting to kill Americans overseas.  Alwan, 31, was sentenced to forty years in federal prison. Hammadi, 25, got a life sentence.

Details of the Senate immigration proposal

01/29/13:  The Miami Herald reports here are some details of the bipartisan Senate framework on immigration reform announced Monday. President Barack Obama is expected to endorse a similar set of proposals Tuesday during an appearance in Las Vegas.  Create a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country: Increase border security efforts including adding unmanned drones, surveillance equipment and more border agents; Require completion of an entry-exit system to track whether people in the U.S. on temporary visas have left as required; While security measures are under way illegal immigrants can register with the government, pass background checks and pay fines and back taxes in order to earn "probationary legal status." Once security measures are in place, immigrants on "probationary legal status" could apply for permanent legal status behind other immigrants already in the system. People brought to the U.S. as children, and farmworkers, would have a quicker path to citizenship.

Senators reach agreement on immigration overhaul

01/28/13: NPR reports a bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to retool the nation’s immigration laws.  The deal covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.  Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.  The eight senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Robert Menendez (N.J.) and Michael Bennet (Colo.); and Republicans John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.)  Several of these lawmakers have worked for years on the issue.  McCain collaborated with the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) on comprehensive immigration legislation pushed by then-President George W. Bush in 2007, only to see it collapse in the Senate when it couldn’t get enough GOP support.  Comprehensive immigration reform has not been seriously attempted since.

Pentagon to expand cybersecurity force

01/28/13: The New York Times reports the Pentagon is moving toward a major expansion of its cybersecurity force to counter increasing attacks on the nation’s computer networks, as well as to expand offensive computer operations on foreign adversaries.  The expansion announced by defense officials Sunday would increase DOD’s Cyber Command by more than 4,000 people, up from the current 900.  As part of the expansion, officials said the Pentagon was planning three different forces under Cyber Command: “national mission forces” to protect computer systems that support the nation’s power grid and critical infrastructure; “combat mission forces” to plan and execute attacks on adversaries; and “cyber protection forces” to secure the Pentagon’s computer systems.  In October outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned in dire terms that the United States was increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Anonymous claims attack on US Sentencing Commission site

01/27/13: The blog Space War reports hacker group Anonymous said it disabled the US Sentencing Commission’s website Saturday and vowed to release government data in revenge for the death of Internet freedom advocate Aaron Swartz.  The Commission’s website was apparently hacked early Saturday.  Anonymous threatened to make public the encryption keys to files that could potentially embarrass judges and other federal employees, saying it acted in protest at how the Justice Department handled Swartz’s case.  Swartz was facing thirty-five years in prison and a $1 million fine for breaking into a closet at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to plug into the computer network.  He downloaded millions of scholarly articles he allegedly planned to distribute for free.

Lawsuit permitted over immigration policy

01/26/13: The New York Times reports a federal judge in Dallas has ruled that a group of federal immigration agents can proceed with a lawsuit that seeks to halt an Obama administration program granting reprieves from deportation to young illegal immigrants. In a suit filed in August, several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents argued that the administration had exceeded its constitutional authority in granting the reprieves, and said they were being forced to violate the law by obeying instructions to refrain from deporting the young immigrants. Judge Reed O’Connor rejected a Justice Department request to dismiss the case.

Man with Fourth Amendment on chest gets trial over detention

01/26/13: Wired's Threat Level reports a Virginia man who wrote an abbreviated version of the Fourth Amendment on his body and stripped to his shorts at an airport security screening area won a trial Friday in his lawsuit seeking $250,000 in damages for being detained on a disorderly conduct charge. Aaron Tobey claimed in a civil rights lawsuit (.pdf) that in 2010 he was handcuffed and held for about 90 minutes by the Transportation Security Administration at the Richmond International Airport after he began removing his clothing to display on his chest a magic-marker protest of airport security measures.

President Obama announces key White House posts

01/25/13:  The White House released a statement announcing the following individuals will serve in key White House posts:

• Denis McDonough – White House Chief of Staff
• Rob Nabors – Assistant to the President and Deputy White House Chief of Staff for Policy
• Antony Blinken – Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor
• Danielle Gray – Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary               
• Katy Kale – Assistant to the President for Management and Administration
• Lisa Monaco – Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Deputy National Security Advisor
• Jennifer Palmieri – Assistant to the President and Communications Director
• Dan Pfeiffer – Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
• Miguel Rodriguez –Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs
• David Simas – Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor for Communications and Strategy

Study: Immigration dominates federal law enforcement

01/07/13: The Washington Times reports the federal government spends more on immigration enforcement than on all other national law enforcement combined, according to a new report from the Migration Policy Institute on Monday.  The findings come as Congress prepares for a major battle over immigration legislation this year, and the report indicates that the government already has taken many of the steps to build internal enforcement capabilities that will be needed once a new program is in place. The private immigration think tank said its report shows that enforcement alone will not be able to solve illegal immigration, and that some sort of changes to the legal immigration policy must follow.

TSA: Rise in guns confiscated at airports

01/04/13:  The New York Times reports the number of guns confiscated at airports across the US is on the rise, the Transportation Security Administration says. A record-setting 1,500 firearms were detected by security screeners in 2012. That number is up from about 1,300 in 2011. And nearly 85 percent of the weapons were loaded.  The agency allows passengers with proper permits to fly with guns that are unloaded and stored in hard-sided checked baggage. The police are called when weapons are found in carry-on luggage or on a passenger.  The most common type of confiscated gun was a .380 semiautomatic pistol. Airport officials also detected stun guns, grenades and rocket launchers.

Immigration change to ease family separation

01/03/13: The New York Times reports Obama administration officials unveiled rules on Wednesday that will allow many American citizens — perhaps hundreds of thousands — to avoid long separations from immediate family members who are illegal immigrants as they apply to become legal residents. The rules, announced by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, create a waiver that bypasses an arcane Catch-22 in immigration law. It had presented Americans with the prospect of being separated for up to a decade from immigrant spouses, children or parents who were applying for the legal documents known as green cards. Until now, the risks for those immigrants of leaving the United States to return to their native countries to pick up their visas, even ones that were already approved, had been so great that countless families decided not to apply, adding to the numbers of immigrants living illegally in this country.

Illegal immigration drops after decade-long rise

12/06/12:  The Associated Press reports new census data released Thursday affirm a clear and sustained drop in illegal immigration, ending more than a decade of increases. The number of illegal immigrants in the US dropped to an estimated 11.1 million last year from a peak of 12 million in 2007, part of an overall waning of Hispanic immigration. For the first time since 1910, Hispanic immigration last year was topped by immigrants from Asia.

Israel claims successful test of upgraded missile shield

11/26/12: Reuters reports a new Israeli air shield designed to intercept rockets more powerful than those blocked by Iron Dome recently passed its first field test last week after being rushed through development.  Officers said Sunday that David’s Sling, billed as Israel’s answer to the longer-range missiles of Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Syria, shot down a target rocket in a secret desert test November 20.  Worried about deteriorating security on the fronts with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and the international showdown over the disputed nuclear program of arch-foe Iran, Israel has been accelerating work on its multi-tier missile shield, with extensive help from the United States.  David’s Sling uses technology similar to that of the Iron Dome system, which Israel says had a 90 percent success rate intercepting rockets from Gaza last week.

Border killings prompt scrutiny of Border Patrol lethal force policy

11/25/12: NPR reports the Department of Homeland Security is examining its policy on deadly force along the US-Mexico border.  In less than two years, US Border Patrol agents have killed eighteen Mexican citizens there, including eight people who were throwing rocks.  Last month, Border Patrol agents responded to a report of two drug smugglers jumping the fence between the twin cities of Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico.  As the agents approached, a group of people on the Mexican side began throwing rocks.  The Border Patrol says the agents told the people to stop.  When they didn’t, one agent opened fire and killed a teenager on Mexican soil who wasn’t one of the smugglers.  Since 2010, six of the eight rock-throwers killed by Border Patrol agents were on the Mexican side of the border.

Rapid rise in applications for immigration benefits under Deferred Action

11/17/12:  The New York Times reports three months after the Obama administration started a program that gives temporary reprieves from deportation to young immigrants here illegally, nearly 309,000 of them have applied and 53,273 have received deferrals, according to figures DHS released. The number of approvals increased from 4,591 one month ago, signaling a rapid acceleration in a program that both Democrats and Republicans — including Mitt Romney — have credited with bolstering Obama’s standing among Latinos, earning him decisive votes for his electoral victories in at least four swing states.

Obama signs secret directive to help thwart cyberattacks

11/15/12:  The Washington Post reports President Obama has signed a secret directive that effectively enables the military to act more aggressively to thwart cyber­attacks on the nation’s web of government and private computer networks. Presidential Policy Directive 20 establishes a broad and strict set of standards to guide the operations of federal agencies in confronting threats in cyberspace, according to several U.S. officials who have seen the classified document and are not authorized to speak on the record. The president signed it in mid-October. The new directive is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an “offensive” and a “defensive” action in the rapidly evolving world of cyberwar and cyberterrorism, where an attack can be launched in milliseconds by unknown assailants utilizing a circuitous route. For the first time, the directive explicitly makes a distinction between network defense and cyber-operations to guide officials charged with making often-rapid decisions when confronted with threats.

Speaker 'confident' of deal with White House on immigration

11/09/12:  The New York Times reports fresh off an election in which Hispanic voters largely sided with Democrats, Speaker Boehner said Thursday that he was “confident” Congress and the White House could come up with a comprehensive immigration solution. Immigration reform is “an important issue that I think ought to be dealt with,” Mr. Boehner said. “This issue has been around far too long,” he said, “and while I believe it’s important for us to secure our borders and to enforce our laws, I think a comprehensive approach is long overdue, and I’m confident that the president, myself, others, can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all.”

Outrage in Texas after airborne police sharpshooter kills two

11/06/12:  The New York Times reports as a red pickup truck believed to be carrying drugs raced down a rural road near this border town last month, a state police helicopter that joined the pursuit warned units on the ground to keep their distance. An officer with a high-powered rifle in the helicopter opened fire, but after the truck came to a stop, the authorities discovered that the sharpshooter had made a tragic mistake. The truck’s cargo was not drugs but people. Illegal immigrants from Guatemala being smuggled across the border had been hiding in the bed of the truck, covered by a dark blanket. Two of them were killed by the sharpshooter from the state’s top law enforcement agency, the Department of Public Safety.

Executive Order: Homeland Security Partnership Council

10/26/12:  The White House released today an Executive Order establishing the White House Homeland Security Partnership Council.

New Zealand to resettle Afghan interpreters

10/26/12:  The BBC reports New Zealand says it has offered to resettle 23 Afghan interpreters and their families who fear being targeted by the Taliban after troops leave. Some translators reportedly received threats from the Taliban.  The fate of Afghan interpreters for coalition troops has been the subject of considerable scrutiny.  On Wednesday an Afghan interpreter who worked with British forces in southern Afghanistan won his fight to remain in the UK.

Lawmaker warns sequester will weaken border protection

10/24/12: The Washington Times reports more than 8,500 US Customs and Border Protection officers and Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) personnel face termination in January under the automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect next year in a bid to attack the spiraling fiscal deficit.  The job losses, in the wake of massive efforts by the Border Patrol to significantly beef up security along the US-Mexico border, would be the result of a “sequestration” in the federal budget, automatic spending cuts of 9.4 percent in 2013 for discretionary defense appropriations and 8.2 percent in 2013 for discretionary nondefense spending.  Representative Norman D. Dicks (D-Wash.) noted in a letter earlier this month that the scheduled cuts at the Department of Homeland Security would roll back “significant progress” in securing the nation’s borders.

Chamber of Commerce and others push to eliminate 9/11 Commission security regulation

10/15/12: The Hill reports the US Chamber of Commerce and other business groups want Congress to overhaul a rule that all cargo shipped to the United States from foreign ports be scanned for security.  The groups argue the requirement, a key element of the 2007 law implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, will raise costs for businesses by slowing international trade and could harm the US economy.  They also argue security measures already in place make the scanning unnecessary.  Supporters of the mandate say it is the best safeguard against the nightmare scenario of a ship sailing into the Globe Marine Terminal in Jersey City or another busy port with a dirty bomb or other devastating weapon.  It passed Congress overwhelmingly five years ago, 85-8 in the Senate and 371-40 in the House.

TSA put inspection notices in luggage it didn't inspect

10/10/12: CNN reports the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General (IG) announced Tuesday that a number of incidents took place in 2010 in which Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials placed notices in checked luggage indicating that it had been inspected without actually performing an inspection.  The incidents led to the firing of thirty-six screeners at Honolulu International Airport.  The IG’s report said a whistle-blower triggered investigations when he came forward with video showing some TSA officers skirting procedures.  Thousands of bags went on commercial jets unscreened, risking the safety of the traveling public.  The IG concluded that while the screeners in Honolulu were ultimately responsible for the failures, the situation “might not have occurred” if TSA leaders had more thoroughly evaluated protocols before changing them and provided better oversight, adequate staff, and screening equipment.

Israeli jets shoot down drone in its airspace

10/07/12: The Miami Herald reports Israel scrambled fighter jets Saturday to intercept a drone that crossed deep into Israeli airspace from the Mediterranean Sea, shooting the aircraft down over the country’s southern desert.  Nobody was hurt in the incident, which marked the first time in at least six years that a hostile aircraft has penetrated Israel's airspace, and Israeli officials said they were taking the incident seriously.  It was not immediately clear who launched the drone, but suspicion quickly fell on the Lebanese Islamic militant group Hezbollah.  The Iranian-backed group is known to have sent drones into Israeli airspace on several previous occasions.  Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said Israeli ground systems detected the drone, which flew over the Gaza Strip but did not originate there, Saturday morning.

Government settles with deported US citizen

10/06/12:  The Miami Herald reports lawyers say the federal government has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a mentally disabled U.S. citizen who was deported to Mexico and spent four months wandering Central America. Court documents show that a federal judge in Georgia issued an order dismissing the case this week after lawyers for Mark Lyttle and the federal government said they'd reached the settlement. 

Border patrol agent was probably killed by friendly fire, FBI says

10/06/12: NPR reports that the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent along the Arizona-Mexico border may have been the result of friendly fire. The FBI said a preliminary investigation indicates the death of one agent and the injury of another "were the result of an accidental shooting incident involving only the agents."  Law enforcement officials have acknowledged they are investigating whether one or more border patrol agents fired their weapons at each other in the mistaken belief that they were being fired upon by other.

Los Angeles police revise immigrant detention policy

10/05/12:  The New York Times reports The police in this city will soon stop turning over illegal immigrants arrested for low-level crimes to federal immigration officials for deportation, Police Chief Charlie Beck announced on Thursday.  Under Secure Communities, a federal program that began in 2008, local law enforcement agencies share with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials the fingerprints of everyone they arrest. But Chief Beck said the program had impeded efforts to keep the city safe by eroding trust between the Police Department and the communities in Los Angeles.

Senate panel report criticizes post-9/11 federal-state "fusion centers"

10/03/12: The LA Times reports a two-year Senate investigation has found that a federal domestic security effort to help state and local law enforcement catch terrorists by setting up more than seventy information-sharing centers around the country has threatened civil liberties while doing little to combat terrorism.  The so-called fusion centers were created in 2003 after the September 11 Commission concluded that federal, state, and local law enforcement should collaborate more in counterterrorism efforts.  Homeland Security Department officials have credited the centers for helping uncover terrorist plans, including a 2009 plot to bomb the New York subway.  But the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, reviewing intelligence reports for thirteen months in 2009 and 2010, “could identify nothing that uncovered a terrorist threat [or] a contribution any fusion center made to disrupt an active terrorist plot.”

Supreme Court won't hear challenge to TSA full-body scans

10/01/12: The Miami Herald reports the US Supreme Court won’t hear a Michigan man’s attempt to challenge the use of full-body scanners at airports.  The Court on Monday denied the petition of Jonathan Corbett, which had sought to review a judgment of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit dismissing his challenge to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)’s use of full-body scanners or enhanced pat-downs at airport security lines.  A federal District Court in Florida dismissed the suit, holding it could only be filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  The 11th Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari.  The TSA started allowing the use of the advanced imaging technology in October 2010.

Lawyer says Ahmadinejad cameraman defects to US, seeking asylum

10/01/12: The Miami Herald reports a lawyer for a cameraman who was accompanying Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations General Assembly in New York says his client has defected to the United States.  Hassan Gol Khanban’s lawyer confirmed Sunday that his client is seeking asylum in the US.  He provided no other details; it wasn’t immediately clear when Khanban defected or his current whereabouts.  The Iranian mission to the UN has not yet commented.

Arizona sheriff Arpaio loses appeal of injunction against immigration checks

09/26/12: The Miami Herald reports a federal appeals court on Tuesday denied an Arizona sheriff’s request to reverse a lower-court decision barring his deputies from detaining people solely on the suspicion that they’re illegal immigrants.  The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling focused only on the limit the US District Court for the District of Arizona placed on sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration powers and doesn’t confront the case’s ultimate question of whether deputies in Arizona’s most populous county have racially profiled Latinos on their patrols.  The Court held that District Jude Murray Snow didn’t abuse his discretion in granting the order and said the ruling didn’t impair the sheriff’s ability to enforce state and federal criminal laws.

Drone industry antsy about Fed delays on test sites

09/25/12:  The Washington Times reports the drone industry joined with state officials Tuesday in pressuring the federal government to stop dragging its feet and begin setting up vital test sites for unmanned aerial vehicles. The Federal Aviation Administration was to have established by Aug. 12 the six locations where drones could be tested and studied in preparation for their eventual commercial and personal use. Six weeks later, it still hasn’t happened, and many fear the U.S. could fall behind its competitors in aerospace technology if delays continue.  At least 30 states have expressed interest in hosting the locations. While states would bear the costs of setting up the sites, hundreds if not thousands of government and aerospace industry personnel would move into the area for a period of years, greatly boosting local economies.

Drones subject to GPS spoofing, privacy ‘abuses,’ GAO report warns

09/25/12:  Wired reports the Government Accountability Office is warning Congress that its push for drones to become commonplace in U.S. airspace fails to take into account concerns surrounding privacy, security and even GPS jamming and spoofing. The GAO, Congress’ research arm, was responding to the FAA Moderniazation and Reform Act of 2012, which among other things requires the Federal Aviation Administration to accelerate drone flights in U.S. airspace.