Illegal firearms.
Another aspect of illegal immigration is weapons. Illegal immigrants bring guns and other weapons across the border, but there is also a growing trade in illegal firearms, obtained in the United States, traveling back into Mexico and being used in criminal activities there, especially by powerful drug cartels. The annual report states, "ICE launched Operation Armas Cruzadas in FY08 to provide a targeted law enforcement focus on arms smuggling between the United States and Mexico" (Torres, 2009). The problem has gotten so bad that the U.S. issued warnings to travelers to stay away from the country during the recent spring break season. The agency has had some success with stopping cross-border smuggling activities, but they have not had as much success as they would like, and the situation remains volatile on both sides of the border.
Gangs and Gang Activity
Recently, ICE has stepped up gang enforcement in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies in an attempt to stop illegal gang activity and gang violence around the country. Many illegal aliens become members of street gangs after they come to the United States, and many of these gangs deal in criminal activities such as drug trafficking, robbery and burglary, and gun violence. They say, "Operation Community Shield (OCS), launched in 2005, targets criminal transnational gang organizations that have grown to become a serious threat in American communities across the nation -- not only in cities, but increasingly in suburban and even rural areas" (Torres, 2009). Gang-related activities, such as graffiti or "tagging" costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year in damage to personal property, and the human costs of drug addiction and violent crime are nearly unimaginable. While workforce enforcement is still a top priority for the agency, gang-related activity has been moved up as a priority, especially in communities where many gangs are present and they have a large following.
Illegal Immigration Reforms
There have been talks of creating illegal immigration reforms that would create more opportunities for illegal immigrants to gain a legal foothold in the country. Many proponents would like a program that creates a system for long-term illegal residents to pay a fine, work a certain amount of time, and then gain legal status. Others believe this is not fair...
Beginning in October of 2005, organizational arrangements for emergency management functions on a federal level were put into place, in the reorganization begun by Secretary Chertoff. Pros and Cons about the Homeland Security Program There are good things about the Homeland Security Program in the U.S. A list of positives would include the fact that some safeguards must be implemented in order to keep the country safe. Local and national law
Homeland Security Strategies The United Sates Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Strategic Plan outlines the Department's vision for homeland security as outlined in the Department's Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR). The plan is a unified, strategic framework for homeland security missions and goals. The Bottom-Up Review (BUR) compliments efforts to align DHS's programmatic activities and organizational structure to better serve the department's goals and missions. The plan enables the Department to
On the other hand, the Department in itself was projected to deal with a large number of aspects surrounding homeland security. The arguments supporting the idea were focused on the principle that the citizens must be protected from foreign threats, such as terrorism, and they must be given the help needed to face the treacheries of nature. In aiming to accomplish the latter, the Federal Emergency Management Directorate was established.
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At the same time, officials report an uptick in corruption-related investigations. Since October 2004, 136 Customs and Border Protection employees have been indicted on or convicted of corruption-related charges." (Becker, p. 1) And on a broader institutional level, there is significant evidence that DHS, constructed to respond to threats of terrorism, has been used to justify the use of military and federal resources for preventing immigration along our shared border
National Incident Management System: NIMS has been designed with the sole purpose of integrating emergency practices on all levels of government. These practices include mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and NIMS provides the single platform where all these practices would merge in order to better respond to national terrorist crises. The strengths of the program are: 1. It provides standards for organizational structures, processes and procedures 2. It also offers standards for planning,
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