Federal report says Border Patrol"s drone program doesn"t fly

 ((Photo by Gary Williams/Getty Images))

For nearly a decade, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has touted its drone program as an “effective technology to further enhance operational capabilities,” but according to the agency’s 2014 end of fiscal year report, the results are anything but impressive, fueling new calls for the program to be grounded.

The program has a fleet of 9 Predator drones and the Department of Homeland Security is planning to spend another $443 million for more aircraft to help secure the Mexican border. But a Jan. 6 report from the agency’s inspector general is advising against the expansion.

“Notwithstanding the significant investment, we see no evidence that the drones contribute to a more secure border, and there is no reason to invest additional taxpayer funds at this time,” said DHS Inspector General John Roth. “Securing our borders is a crucial mission for CBP and DHS. CBP’s drone program has so far fallen far short of being an asset to that effort.”

The IG report, the second audit of the program since 2012, found there is no reliable method of measuring the program’s performance and determined that its impact in stemming illegal
immigration has been minimal.

According to the CBP Fiscal Year Report, the drones flew about 10 percent fewer hours in 2014 than the previous year and 20 percent fewer than in 2013. The missions were credited with contributing to the seizure of just under 1,000 pounds of cocaine in 2014, compared to 2,645 in 2013 and 3,900 in 2012. But apprehensions of illegal immigrants between 2014 and 2013 fell despite the flood of more than 60,000 unaccompanied children coming across the border from Central America.

Combined with the decrease in productivity, the OIG report disclosed the staggering costs to run the program, more than $12,000 per hour when figuring fuel, salaries for operators, equipment and overhead.

Eugene Schied, assistant commissioner of the CBP’s office of administration for CBP, said the IG used flawed methods to draw its conclusions.

“The expectations the OIG focused on were based on the program receiving resources that were not obtained, performance measures that were never employed by CBP, or technological capabilities that have been surpassed,” Scheid said. “This context is critical for presenting an accurate assessment of the CBP UAS program’s current performance and achievements.”

Scheid went on to say in his memo that CBP has no plans to acquire additional UAS beyond the one replacement aircraft, nor does the Office of Air and Marine have a contract or funding in place to expand the program.

He said current funding is being used to expand the program’s infrastructure and increase the utilization of the fleet.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) called for patience with the UAS program.

“It’s a lot cheaper to use drones than helicopters and they can stay in the air longer,” Hunter said. “It still comes down to having the manpower on the ground to support the drone missions.”

Hunter said CBP needs to figure out what the need and use of the UAS is but marry that strategy with human resources on the ground. He made the correlation to the limitations other forms of border security technology such as sensors has in that unless there are agents who can respond quickly to the location, they do little good.

“Right now, I’m not sure CBP has the manpower to support the drone missions,” Hunter said.

What he did express concern over, also given the rise in unaccompanied children crossing the border this year was that, “CBP isn’t doing themselves any favor by flying less hours.”

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Federal report says Border Patrol"s drone program doesn"t fly

Koreas "exchange fire over border"

19 October 2014 Last updated at 15:39 The demilitarised zone is one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world North and South Korea briefly exchanged gunfire over their heavily fortified land border, South Korea says.

North Korean troops approached the demarcation line separating the two sides, prompting South Korean soldiers to fire warning shots, officials said.

The North Koreans returned fire, and the sides exchanged shots for about 10 minutes, they added. There were no reports of injuries.

There were similar border skirmishes earlier this month.

It is not clear if the increasingly frequent clashes are the actions of local soldiers in a tense situation, or part of a wider provocation by either side, the BBC’s Stephen Evans in Seoul says.

Last week, military officers from the two sides met at a border village to try to ease tensions, but no agreement was reached.

On 10 October, North Korean troops fired at balloons being released across the border from South Korea, prompting the South to return fire.

Activists released balloons carrying leaflets denouncing the North Korean government on 10 October

Activists in South Korea frequently float balloons carrying leaflets condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the border – a move that angers the North.

Earlier in October, North and South Korean ships exchanged warning shots after a North Korean patrol boat crossed a disputed maritime border, South Korea said.

The two Koreas are separated by the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone.

They have technically been at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

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Koreas "exchange fire over border"

Teens who crossed US-Mexico border entering schools

Sept. 11, 2014: In this photo, teacher Lori Ott, center, of Millsboro, Del., addresses students in the Accelerating Preliterate English Language Learners (A.P.E.L.L) class at the G.W. Career Educational Center in Frankford, Del. (AP)

FRANKFORD, Del. –  The group of mostly Spanish-speaking teenage boys with styled spiky hair and high-top sneakers enthusiastically pecks away on hand-held tablets at the G.W. Carver Education Center, pausing to alert the teacher when stumped.

“If you don’t know what you’re supposed to write on the line, look at my examples, OK?” she tells one of them.

The students are eager but face barriers. Many crossed the U.S. border. Some can barely read or write in their native language.

U.S. schools are now dealing with the fallout from the dramatic spike in the number of children and teenagers who crossed into the United States unaccompanied by family; the Supreme Court has ruled that they have an obligation to educate all students regardless of their immigration status.

The teenagers at the G.W. Education Center ride a school bus, practice food names with the school cafeteria manager and recite the names of body parts in gym class — all part of an English immersion newcomers program. The Indian River School District scrambled to develop it after about 70 immigrant students, most from Guatemala, enrolled unexpectedly toward the end of the last school year.

The district’s goal is to get them assimilated, and after a semester or more, if necessary, back into a regular high school. There, they can earn a diploma, even if that means participating in adult education programs and going to school until they are 21.

“They just crave it, and they will come and ask questions,” said Lori Ott, their English language teacher, after her students cheerfully waved goodbye for the day. “How do you say this? And, how do you say that? They just participate and you can’t say enough about them.”

Large numbers of these students have moved to metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C., Miami and Houston, but also to communities of all sizes in nearly every state, according to federal data. That’s because most typically go live with a relative or guardian while their case makes its way through the immigration courts system — a process that can take years.

In Delaware’s Sussex County, the community long has attracted immigrants, partly because of work in chicken factories, and soybean and corn fields. The district’s population is more than one-quarter Hispanic, and for years has offered an early learning program for non-English speakers.

Still, officials were caught off guard by the number of new students — part of the wave of unaccompanied minors crossing the border — enrolling last year, mostly at Sussex Central High School.

Donald Hattier, a school board member, said advance warning would have helped with planning. The federal government, he said, “just dropped this on us.” He wonders what’s next.

“The kids are still coming across the border. This problem has not been solved,” Hattier said.

Educators in Delaware and elsewhere say many of these students, who fled poverty and violence, have yearslong gaps in schooling. For teenagers, learning in English can prove more difficult than for younger students. They also may be living with relatives or others they didn’t know, and the workings of an American school can be confusing.

Others experienced trauma, either in their home country or while crossing the border, and may need mental health help.

“It’s a new culture and they already feel that they are alone. … Some of them don’t have their parents here,” said English language instructor Alina Miron at Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The school has about a dozen of these students enrolled

In districts such as Miron’s, the influx has meant hiring new English language instructors. The Delaware district is creating special classes to more quickly assimilate these students.

Two foundations donated money to the Oakland Unified School District in California to help fund a person to connect about 150 unaccompanied students with legal and social services; many didn’t have legal representation at immigration hearings.

“We feel that we have moral obligation to serve these students as long as they are in the United States,” said Troy Flint, a district spokesman. “Until their fate is decided, we’re responsible for ensuring they get an education and we embrace that opportunity.”

In Louisiana, the Broadmoor principal, Shalonda Simoneaux, said attending high school and learning English is a motivating factor for teenagers who want “want to blend in.”

“Whatever is being said, whatever is going on, they are really learning more from listening from other teenagers, even more so than from the teachers because it’s high school,” Simoneaux said.

For cash-strapped districts, providing for these students’ needs can be arduous, particularly if they arrive after student headcounts are taken to determine school funding.

In Miami, the school board voted to seek federal help at the urging of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho after 300 foreign-born students, many from Honduras and traveling alone, enrolled toward the end of the last school year.

Margie McHugh, director of the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration, says it’s critical that children given permission to stay in the United States are integrated into American life and are educated.

Indian River School District officials say that’s their plan.

“We do have a very open heart and an open mind and any student who comes in our system, we’re going to give the most appropriate services that we can,” said the Delaware district’s superintendent, Susan Bunting.

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Teens who crossed US-Mexico border entering schools

US, allies hit ISIS in Syria near Turkey border - British planes prepare for first mission against ISIS

BEIRUT –  U.S.-led coalition warplanes struck Islamic State fighters in Syria attacking a town near the Turkish border for the first time Saturday, as well as positions in the country’s east, activists and a Kurdish official said.

The Islamic State group’s assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani has sent more than 100,000 refugees streaming across the border into Turkey in recent days as Kurdish forces from Iraq and Turkey have raced to the front lines to defend the town.

Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, said the strikes targeted Islamic State positions near Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, destroying two tanks. He said the jihadi fighters later shelled the town, wounding a number of civilians.

The United States and five Arab allies launched an aerial campaign against Islamic State fighters in Syria early Tuesday with the aim of rolling back and ultimately crushing the extremist group, which has created a proto-state spanning the Syria-Iraq border. Along the way, the militants have massacred captured Syrian and Iraqi troops, terrorized minorities in both countries and beheaded two American journalists and a British aid worker.

The latest airstrikes came as Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV that airstrikes alone “will not be able wipe out” the Islamic State group. Speaking from New York where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly, al-Moallem said in remarks broadcast Saturday that the U.S. should work with Damascus if it wants to win the war.

“They must know the importance of coordination with the people of this country because they know what goes on there,” al-Moallem said. The U.S. has ruled out any coordination with President Bashar Assad’s government, which is at war with the Islamic State group as well as Western-backed rebels.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the coalition’s strikes near Kobani came amid heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and members of the Kurdish force known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPK.

The Britain-based group, which relies on activists inside Syria, had no immediate word on casualties from Saturday’s strikes. The Observatory reported Friday that 13 civilians have been killed by the strikes since they began.

Kurdish fighter Majid Goran told the Associated Press by telephone from Kobani that two bombs were dropped over the nearby village of Ali Shar, at 6 a.m. (11 p.m. Eastern Friday), but that the positions they struck were empty.

Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported Saturday that the sound of heavy fighting could be heard from the Turkish border village of Karaca. The agency said Kurdish forces retook some positions they had lost to the Islamic militants a few days ago. It did not cite a source for the report.

Dozens of people wounded in the fighting arrived in Turkey for treatment on Saturday, it said.

Another Kurdish fighter, Ismet Sheikh Hasan, said the Turkish military on Saturday night retaliated after stray shells landed on Turkish territory, firing in the Ali Shar region. He said the Turkish action left Kurdish fighters in the middle of the crossfire.

He said that on Friday, the Islamic militants were attacking the Kobani area from the east with tanks and artillery, advancing on Ali Shar and Haja. He said some 20 people were killed, including Kurdish fighters and civilians, while another 50 people were wounded.

The fighting around Kobani sparked one of the largest single outflows of refugees since Syria’s conflict began more than three years ago. The Syrian Kurdish forces have long been one of the most effective fighting units battling the Islamic State, but the tide has turned in recent weeks as the Islamic militants have attacked with heavy weapons likely looted from neighboring Iraq.

The Observatory said other coalition airstrikes targeted Islamic State compounds in the central province of Homs and the northern regions of Raqqa and Aleppo. The group said 31 explosions were heard in the city of Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital, and its suburbs.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said the strikes in the east hit the province of Deir el-Zour as well as Raqqa. The LCC also said the coalition targeted grain silos west of Deir el-Zour city.

It was not immediately clear why the silos were targeted.

Max Blumenfeld, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said the U.S. airstrikes “don’t target food or anything else than can be used by the civilian population.” But he said that until the military reviews images from planes that participated in the strikes, he could not rule out that silos were hit.

He said the airstrikes are aimed at specific Islamic State targets such as command and control centers, transportation and logistics, and oil refineries, “but not food that could have an impact upon the civilian population.”

“Our targets are structures that combatants would use,” he said.

Blumenfeld later said the U.S. did target what he called an Islamic State grain storage facility on Tuesday near Boukamal, a town close to the Iraqi border which was seized by the Islamic State group earlier this year.

In recent days coalition warplanes had struck oil-producing facilities in eastern Syria in a bid to cut off one of the Islamic State group’s main revenue streams — black market oil sales that the U.S. says generate up to $2 million a day.

The coalition striking Syria includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan, and the strikes are an extension of the U.S. campaign in neighboring Iraq launched in August.

Near the capital Damascus, Syrian troops meanwhile entered the once rebel-held northeastern suburb of Adra after days of clashes, Syrian state TV said. The advance came two days after troops captured the nearby Adra industrial zone.

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US, allies hit ISIS in Syria near Turkey border - British planes prepare for first mission against ISIS

Venezuela soldiers allegedly beat several Guyanese at border

Guyana, Venezuela (Credit: Caribbean360/Bigstock)

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Monday June 30, 2014, CMC - A number of Guyanese were reportedly beaten by Venezuelan soldiers at the north-western border Guyana shares with its Spanish-speaking neighbour days ago.

While offering no comment on reports of the assault on the Guyanese, the Guyana Defence Force’s Chief of Staff, Brigadier Mark Phillips, was Saturday quoted assuring that it was not a clash of armies as no Guyanese soldiers were involved in the alleged incident, Friday.

“We have some reports of an altercation that we are investigating… nothing to do with Guyanese soldiers. There are no Guyanese soldiers stationed there,” he told one local media house.

According to a number of media, reports are that ‘rogue’ Venezuelan soldiers crossed the border and assaulted a group of men and women miners in an area called ‘Bruk- up Falls’, located on the Guyana side of the bordering Amakura River, in the North West District.

“They were taken from Bruk-Up Falls after more than two dozen armed soldiers attached to the Venezuelan military descended on the location and proceeded to beat and handcuff the Guyanese men who were in the area at the time” one report stated.

There have so far been no further reports on the location and well-being of the Guyanese.

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Guyana has a decades-old land dispute with Venezuela, which has laid claim to a significant portion of the CARICOM country. During the rule of late Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, he agreed with Guyana authorities to have the issue settled through a United Nations-appointed ‘Good Officer’. A process which continues.

But since his passing there have been several incidents between the two countries on land and in the territorial waters, with the latest being an incursion of Venezuelan soldiers into Guyana last year.

Observers believe that the 2013 incursion and other similar incidents were instigated by forces opposed to the Government of Chavez’ successor, President Nicholas Maduro, hoping to soil his declared continued friendly relations with Guyana.

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Venezuela soldiers allegedly beat several Guyanese at border

Ecuadorean soldier killed on border

9 August 2013 Last updated at 00:02 One army officer from Ecuador has died and a soldier has been injured in clashes with an armed group near the Colombian border.

Five Colombian rebels also died in the fighting.

Local media said it was likely that the rebels mistook the Ecuadorean soldiers for a Colombian army patrol and attacked them.

The gunmen are believed to be from Colombia’s largest guerrilla movement, the Farc.

“We are outraged”, said Ecuador’s Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patino. “The Colombian government must reinforce the border to prevent illegal armed groups from entering our country.”

The minister also warned Colombian rebels that Ecuador would be relentless in the defence of its territory.

For his part, the head of Ecuador’s armed forces, General Leonardo Barreiro, said the soldiers had been on patrol in the region of Sucumbios when they surrounded the rebels.

“They asked them to surrender on the banks of the San Miguel river, but they responded with fire,” he told reporters.

General Barreiro said another group of rebels on the Colombian side of the river attacked the Ecuadorean troops with rifle-launched grenades and sharpshooters.

Several armed groups, including leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs, operate along the Colombian border with Ecuador.

In 2008, Colombian security forces crossed into the same region of Ecuador and killed a top FARC commander, Raul Reyes, in one of several jungle camps that the rebels operated just across the border.

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Ecuadorean soldier killed on border

Push for border control worries Haitian vendors

JIMANI, Dominican Republic – IN swirling dust and sweltering sun, hordes of Haitian merchants impatient for the official opening squeezed through the battered border gate and swarmed to the myriad rickety stalls and shipping containers where Dominican wholesalers bartered off crates of juice, pasta, cooking oil and other goods.

After making their purchases, the shoppers headed back across the border into Haiti — an impoverished nation that produces little to meet the needs of its people. Haitian women carried boxes of pasta on their heads, men pushed wheelbarrows piled with bags of rice and cereal boxes, and smoke-belching trucks roared down the road crammed with food and consumer goods.This may be the Western Hemisphere’s most open border, and it’s been that way for years along the little-policed line between the two nations that share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. But officials in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic want to control the chaotic flow of commerce and people, and their proposals are straining bilateral relations.Tensions flared in June when Haiti banned imports of Dominican poultry and eggs, saying avian flu existed on the other side. The Dominican Republic, along with the World Health Organization, has vehemently denied any avian flu problem, while critics say Haiti was in fact trying to protect a local producer.Dominican merchants closed the border markets one day in June to protest the avian flu declaration, while the country’s president, Danilo Medina, threatened retaliation, saying, “We might have to take drastic measures.”Haiti’s government now wants to cut the number of days that Dominican tax-free border markets operate from two a week to one so that it can better handle the flow of commerce. Haiti also wants to boost revenue by getting tougher on collecting import duties on goods from the markets, which the country still charges even on market days.Medina, for his part, wants to negotiate a free trade agreement that would eliminate tariffs and better regulate trade with Haiti. That would primarily benefit the Dominican Republic, which exports far more goods.Haiti’s efforts to control the border worry both Haitians and Dominicans whose meagre livelihoods depend on the border markets. Vendors fear any restrictions will only heap more hardship on some of the hemisphere’s poorest people.So far, Haiti has increased inspections of cars and trucks passing near the border, looking for contraband.“If the street merchants don’t come here we can’t survive,” said Enel Floristal, a 45-year-old Haitian merchant who sells Dominican eggs to vendors from his homeland. “We can’t sell anything to the buyers and so we can’t feed our children.”Merchants say Haiti’s moves to collect more taxes will drive up prices for consumer goods, making it harder to sell to Haiti’s overwhelmingly poor residents.Although such customs duties are low, they can still make up to 20 per cent of an item’s value. And some goods aren’t supposed to be brought into Haiti at all, such as pornography, military equipment and narcotics, but they still make it in.The northern Dominican town of Dajabon is home to the biggest border market, attracting some 30,000 visitors on market days, and its merchants worry that their families will suffer if the number of those days is reduced.“We quite simply can’t get by, much less our families,” said Wilbert Contreras, who with his wife, Belkis, sells sandals to Haitian vendors. He said he earns only 15 pesos, or 37 cents, for each pair of sandals that he sells for 130 pesos, or US$3.25.The Dominican government’s Centre for Export and Investment estimates the 14 border markets host more than 50,000 vendors and says Haiti’s informal merchants earn about US$165 million a year reselling the goods back home. That’s in addition to the country’s US$1.1 billion in formal exports to Haiti.A meagre US$10 million in goods from Haiti goes the other way, the Dominican government says. Dominican traders sell a wide range of products, while Haitian merchants export only a limited amount of used clothing, perfumes and liquors.The Dominican government opened the markets in the early 1990s, when a military regime ruled Haiti and the UN imposed an embargo. The markets have since bustled because Haiti’s ports are notoriously expensive and rife with red tape and poor infrastructure. Meanwhile, Haitian import tariffs, the lowest in the Caribbean, ensure imports flow across the border into Haiti.Officials in both countries acknowledge that controlling cross-border trade is one of their biggest challenges.“The significant problems that we have to address clearly, and looking into each other’s eyes, are immigration and trade,” said Fritz Cineas, Haiti’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic in July. “And we have to sit down and face them and discuss them with an open heart.”The winding, 227-mile (366-kilometre) border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic has long seen food, consumer goods and contraband pass freely with little official interference. A US State Department report earlier this year said Haitian authorities maintain only “loose control over the principal land border crossing points.”On a recent market day, Associated Press journalists watched dozens of people climb over the concrete walls on the Haitian side of the border in Malpasse to get to the Dominican market. Once back on Haiti’s side, young men openly discarded cardboard boxes as they shifted newly bought goods into unmarked bags to elude customs agents who are empowered to confiscate items that aren’t declared at the border.Rose-Marie Jean, a 39-year-old street vendor and mother of one, said increased inspections are making her work tougher. Haitian customs agents busted her in June as she tried to sneak in boxes of spaghetti without paying duty. She had to borrow 2,500 gourdes, or about US$60, from friends to retrieve the pasta.“Everybody is complaining that the taxes are too high,” said Jean, a merchant who’s among the thousands of Haitians who take the bus to the border each week to buy Dominican goods in bulk to sell in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.The crackdown on the market imports has also raised complaints that the government is unfairly targeting the poor in its tax collection attempts while it gives generous tax breaks to hotel owners so they can build lodging and attract tourists.“The only people paying taxes are the street merchants. The big shots aren’t paying them,” said Mario Joseph, a lawyer whose clients have been critical of the Martelly government.Haitian Commerce Ministry spokeswoman Axelle St Cyr referred the AP to two government officials who didn’t respond to phone calls seeking comment about the tax issue, or about tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic over border commerce.After Haiti banned Dominican poultry and eggs, travel operators in the Dominican Republic responded by cancelling a meeting with Haiti’s tourism minister, who is trying to attract more visitors to her country.Haitian President Michel Martelly has defended the avian flu declaration.“There will always be problems,” Martelly said, according to Haitian daily Le Nouvelliste. “Here, it’s a health issue, protect the population, to understand and to have good information.”Still, the trade in poultry and eggs doesn’t seem to have slowed at the border. In both Dajabon and Jimani, hundreds of Haitian merchants line up on market days to buy eggs from Dominican wholesalers despite the threat of confiscation by Haitian officials.People will keep looking for ways to get around any government prohibition or restriction, Haitian vendor Sese Chery said with a smile.“If there’s a way to bring the goods here, they will,” she said.Workers sell chayotes to Haitian merchants at a market in the border town Dajabon, Dominican Republic.

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Push for border control worries Haitian vendors

VIDEO: On drugs patrol at US-Mexico border

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VIDEO: On drugs patrol at US-Mexico border

VIDEO: On drugs patrol at US-Mexico border

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VIDEO: On drugs patrol at US-Mexico border