Nation’S Other Border At Risk, Say Senators Algerian’S Arrest Calls Attention To Need For More Border Patrol, Customs Agents

Two months after the arrest of a terrorism suspect who crossed the border into Washington state, senators called for heightened security along the vast frontier with Canada.

“Understaffing at our northern border is jeopardizing the security of our nation, not to mention border personnel,” said Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.

The Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration is examining border security needs since the Dec. 14 arrest of Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian national who was stopped at Port Angeles, Wash., after driving from British Columbia. Inspectors found bomb-making materials in the trunk of his rental car.

Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., who chairs the immigration subcommittee, said the apprehension of Ressam has focused renewed attention on security along the northern border.

Abraham said the U.S. Border Patrol is “significantly understaffed” in the north, with about 300 agents responsible for more than 3,000 miles along the Canadian border.

Charles Winwood, the acting deputy commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, told the Senate panel that more personnel are needed.

“Because of the dangers and threats we have, we need more people,” Winwood said. He said the Customs Service would present to Congress an analysis of how many new agents are needed and where they should be stationed.

The Customs Service processes people and cargo coming into the United States; the Border Patrol monitors the frontiers for illegal immigrants.

The brunt of the Border Patrol is concentrated on the border with Mexico and has been bolstered in recent years to stem the flow of narcotics and illegal immigration.

Abraham said many of the best employees who work on the border are leaving their jobs because of poor benefits and pay.

“This committee is committed to providing our federal agencies with the support they need to stop terrorists,” he said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Canada has become a haven for “virtually every terrorist group in the world.” Canada has some of the world’s most lenient immigration laws.

She said the northern border is full of holes and requires more security and “more cooperation with Canada.”

Feinstein also said that terrorists who are based in Canada “are more sophisticated than the average illegal alien” who travels across the southern border.

Winwood testified that the number of passengers traveling across the U.S. border has increased 10 percent to 15 percent per year, while trade has doubled, straining Customs agents, whose numbers have remained constant for five years.

There are about 6,400 U.S. Customs inspectors, with about three-quarters of those on the southern border and one-quarter on the northern border. Traffic across the borders, both north and south, has risen dramatically since the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994.

* Northern exposure * Connection: Business as usual