Border Security
Federation for American Immigration Reform
The United States has approximately 7,500 miles of international land border; about 1,954 miles along Mexico and another 5,525 miles along Canada. In addition, the U.S. maintains over 95,000 miles of maritime border on the east and west coasts, Hawaii, Alaska, and other territories.[1]
Maintaining the security of land, sea and air borders is essential to the sovereignty of any nation. Without secure borders, illegal immigrants, criminals, gang members, terrorists and dangerous narcotics can enter and cause havoc in our communities.
The agencies that protect our borders are housed within the Department of Homeland Security. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the main agency responsible for securing our borders. CBP includes the U.S. Border Patrol, the Office of Field Operations and Air and Marine Operations. The Border Patrol is responsible for patrolling territory between[2] official ports of entry and 2,000 miles of coastline surrounding the Florida Peninsula and the island of Puerto Rico. The Office of Field Operations is responsible for guarding 328 official ports of entry[3] to the United States. Ports of entry may be located along our land borders or maritime borders (i.e., seaports). Other ports of entry are located in the interior of the U.S. – namely at international airports, such as JFK airport in New York City.
Border Security may be measured in several ways. One important measure of border security is the number of aliens who are caught illegally entering the United States. Pre-COVID, the agencies categorized this number in two ways. The Border Patrol would report on the number of illegal aliens “apprehended”, and the Office of Field Operations would report on the number of “inadmissible” aliens who showed up at the ports of entry. Despite the two terms, both represent the same thing: aliens who have crossed into the U.S. illegally. Then in 2020, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of the Title 42 expulsion authority, the agencies began to group apprehensions, inadmissibles, and Title 42 expulsions (which technically were not “apprehensions” or “inadmissbles” because they were not conducted under the authority of Title 8) under the umbrella term “encounters.”[4]
https://www.fairus.org/issues/border-security
