The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report on U.S. Border Patrol’s Consequence Delivery System (CDS), a process that identifies what practices are most effective and efficient to deter illegal border activity, and how useful the system is for assessing department effectiveness.
The report found that Border Patrol’s methodology did not account for illegal migrant’s apprehension history beyond one fiscal year. The agency also did not account for nor exclude apprehended individuals with no record of removal after arrest and those who may have remained in the United States without an opportunity to be sent back to their home countries.
When considering all factors, GAO found a 29 percent recidivism rate, compared to Border Patrol’s reported 14 percent recidivism rate. The report noted that Border Patrol could more accurately assess recidivism and CDS effectiveness by strengthening its recidivism rate methodology, including using an undocumented immigrant’s apprehension history beyond one fiscal year and excluding aliens for whom there is no previous record of removal in the United States.
In response, GAO offered a series of recommendations to improve Border Patrol’s recidivism oversight. Recommendations included strengthening the methodology for calculating recidivism, collecting information on the effectiveness and efficiency of the the CDS program, and establishing guidance and controls to monitor field implementation of CDS guidelines.
Additional recommendations include ensuring consistent and accurate methodologies for estimating border costs and monitoring progress in meeting performance targets and communicating performance results to Border Patrol headquarters.