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Command Partner W. Ralph Basham was featured in the Washington Post’s July 21st article on Texas Governor Rick Perry’s recent action to send National Guardsmen to the Mexican border in reaction to the influx of illegal immigrants from the Central American region. Under the Bush administration, 6,000 guardsmen were active for two years in several Southern border states under the program Operation Jump Start. While serving as Commissioner of U.S Customs and Border Protection from 2006 to 2009, Basham recalls the importance of a sharply defined role between state law enforcement and federal authorities.

The National Guard was an interim resource as we were literally doubling the size of the Border patrol. Their mission really was as observers. They have no arrest authority.

To read the full article, please go to: Washington Post

Command Consulting Group Partner Thad Bingel was featured on C-SPAN discussing current border security and enforcement challenges. A major issue remains with long-term retention capacity and placement of the undocumented individuals crossing the southeastern border into Texas. In the meantime, the Department of Health and Human Services has been tasked with finding adequate shelter for unaccompanied children while they wait to be seen before a judge.

It’s really a question of both our capacity to process people through our immigration system through immigration ports and our ability to detain and monitor people that we apprehend.

Source: C-SPAN

Command Consulting Group Partner Steve Atkiss was featured in a web discussion by the Huffington Post about the security of the U.S. border. This past month has seen an influx of unaccompanied children across the border, prompting extensive debates about the need for more security.

There is a way to secure every mile of the U.S.-Mexico Border…But it’s a matter of Congress being able to dedicate the resources that are necessary, and we just have to decide as a country whether this is a priority.

Source: Huffington Post

The rush of unaccompanied children to the U.S.-Mexico border was first dubbed a humanitarian crisis. Yet recently, the humanitarian crisis has developed into an issue of national security. Experts believe that the border situation has revealed major vulnerabilities within the border security system, ultimately stemming from a lack of funding and resource allocation to the nations protection.

In a story on the border situation written by Hot Air, Command Consulting Group Partner W. Ralph Basham discusses how the influx of children at the border is on par with an influx of drugs and weapons.

We should certainly consider this surge of drugs and weapons, and now these kids, to be a national security issue.      

To read the full article, please go to: Hot Air