GAO statement describes progress, challenges in securing Southwest border

A recent statement from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes the progress the U.S. Border Patrol has made and the challenges it has faced in securing the Southwest Border.

The statement addresses DHS efforts to deploy and measure the effectiveness of surveillance technologies. GAO found that the Border Patrol has made progress in this area and had completed the planned deployment of select technologies to several states along the border as of October 2017. GAO noted that additional actions are needed to fully implement GAO’s 2011 and 2014 recommendations for assessing the performance of surveillance technologies.

GAO also reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had taken steps to sustain tactical infrastructure along the southwest border. CBP spent approximately $2.3 billion to deploy fencing from fiscal years 2007 through 2015 and had constructed 654 miles of fencing by 2015.

GAO found that CBP has not developed metrics that use data to assess the contributions of border fencing to its mission, as GAO has recommended. CBP has said it plans to develop such metrics by January 2019.

CBP established the Border Wall System Program in response to a January 2017 executive order that called for the construction of a southwest border wall. In April 2017, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave CBP approval to procure barrier prototypes.

The Border Patrol has dealt with challenges in achieving the statutorily-established minimum staffing level from fiscal years 2011 through 2016 of 21,370 agents, GAO said in the statement. As of September 2017, the Border Patrol reported that it had approximately 19,400 agents. In November 2017, GAO reported that Border Patrol officials cited staffing shortages as a challenge for optimal deployment.

The statement is based on three GAO reports issued in 2017, selected updates conducted in 2017 and ongoing work related to DHS acquisitions and the construction of physical barriers. For ongoing work, GAO analyzed DHS and CBP documents, interviewed officials within DHS and visited border areas in California.

Since 2009, GAO has issued more than 35 products on DHS use of technology, infrastructure, and other resources to secure the border. GAO has made more than 50 recommendations to improve DHS efforts, more than half of which DHS has implemented.

DHS has generally agreed with recent GAO recommendations and has actions planned or ongoing to address them.