Homeland Security Sec. Chertoff Speaks About Immigration

SPEAKERS: MICHAEL CHERTOFF, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

RANDY MEIER, MSNBC ANCHOR

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MEIER: People across America are talking about President Bush and his plan to address the immigration issue in this country with proposals ranging from a guest worker program to National Guard troops on the border. A lot of people are wondering exactly how it'll all work.

Joining me now is one of the men who would make it a reality, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. 

Secretary Chertoff, thanks for joining me. 

CHERTOFF: Good to be here. 

MEIER: I want to go through a couple numbers here. 

President Bush wants 6,000 National Guard troops on those borders, serving two or three weeks at a time in stints like that. That means up to 156,000 troops would serve on the border over the next two years or so. And people are asking, "Are we asking too much of the National Guard? We have troops in Iraq; we have troops in Afghanistan; we have a hurricane season coming up. Can they do all of this?" 

CHERTOFF: Well, Randy, there are about 450,0000 total members of the National Guard. And all that would be serving at any one time, at most, would be 6,000. So the National Guard's comfortable that this is not going to interfere with the other important missions that the guardsmen do. 

MEIER: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger calls the National Guard plan a Band-Aid fix. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also said this is a short-term fix. 

Without the support -- and they have been pretty vocal about it -- of those border states, how do you make this a reality? 

CHERTOFF: Well, I'm sure the border states are going to support the effort here, which is to use the National Guard as a bridge while we get the Border Patrol recruiting process to the point that we can add 6,000 more permanent Border Patrol to the border. 

The president's program at the end of the day is over the next two, two and a quarter years to bring the Border Patrol up to over 18,000. But he also wants to make sure that we can immediately, on a short-term basis, start to address this need for additional resources by using National Guard to support those Border Patrol agents on the border. 

MEIER: Mr. Secretary, who will be in charge down there? 

You've got National Guard troops, you've got border police, you've got local police. Who will be making the call? 

CHERTOFF: Well, the lead agency is going to be the Border Patrol. They are the experts. They will set out the mission assignments and then the National Guard and any local police that want to participate will execute those mission assignments as determined by the Border Patrol. 

And we've actually done this over the last 20 years. We've had the National Guard down at the border working on all kinds of missions under the leadership of the Border Patrol; fighting drug dealers, for example. 

MEIER: Let me ask you about something the president also talked about, the high-tech I.D. card for that guest worker program. Let's listen to the president and I'll have you respond to it further on the backside. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamper-proof. A tamper-proof card would help us enforce the law and leave employers with no excuse for violating it. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MEIER: How difficult is it, Mr. Secretary, to get a card like that out into circulation? And it sounds expensive. 

CHERTOFF: Well, of course, this kind of card exists. And it's the basis for what we're doing in our program now to develop transportation worker identification credentials at the ports. 

So we have the technology. Obviously, it would take a significant amount of effort and money over a period of time to enroll literally millions of people in this temporary worker program. 

But we have the capability. We have the technology. And we're busy now designing the system that would be employed if and when Congress passes this legislation. 

MEIER: I want to ask you, Mr. Secretary, because you're one of the men charged with keeping our borders safe: The president spoke mostly last night about immigration reform, border security, but does any of this address terrorist threats in our country? 

CHERTOFF: Well, of course, we are constantly focused on terrorism, using a layered defense. And the first layer is our intelligence, our ability to detect a threat overseas even before it comes into the country. 

And, of course, our border defenses themselves are yet another layer, as is our FBI and all of the other intelligence and defense apparatus that we have. 

But I think border security is about more than just terrorism. It's about the right of the people of this country to expect that we do have control of the border. And it's our desire to make sure that we get that full control so that we can then go about assuring our citizens that they have a secure environment. 

MEIER: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. 

Secretary Chertoff, thanks for joining me. I appreciate it.

CHERTOFF: Good to be here. 

END

Source: CQ Transcriptions
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