INS REPORT SAYS BORDER FULL OF HOLES

A federal report has found that Immigration and Naturalization Service
agents along the Canadian border are so overworked, and stations so
understaffed, that criminals can practically walk into the U.S. undetected.

The border is so porous, the report added, that the INS can't even
assess the level of criminal activity.

The report was issued by Robert Asbaugh, acting inspector general with
the Department of Justice.

Asbaugh said he restricted access to the report, published in
February, because it "identifies significant and specific gaps in
INS's northern border operation and could compromise the safety of
(agents) stationed along the northern border."

The INS said it agreed with most of Asbaugh's findings and will
prepare a plan this year to address the issues.

Asbaugh's report found that, between 1993 and 1998, agents along the
northern border were 14 times more likely to encounter someone
smuggling weapons and nine times more likely to encounter someone
smuggling drugs than agents along the southwest border.

Yet more than 90 percent of the agency's Border Patrol officers are
assigned to nine Border Patrol sectors in the Southwest.

The internal report, leaked to the news media, follows a decision by
INS to send Washington state's two Border Patrol aircraft to Arizona
to help patrol its border.

The move was ordered despite a pledge made by INS Commissioner Doris
Meissner in December to halt the transfers.

Meissner promised to stop the moves unless there was an unforeseen
situation, said INS spokeswoman Nicole Chulick, and ". . . this
situation (was) unforeseen and critical."

She said the pilots and planes, part of Operation Skywatch, are being
sent south for the next three months because of the intense Southwest
heat wave killing people trying to sneak across the border.

In June alone, 18 died in the busy Tucson sector.

This year, Border Patrol agents have rescued nearly 900 migrants in
the Tucson area, many suffering from dehydration and heat stroke, said
the INS. The planes help agents spot people in distress.

But the transfer angers Border Patrol agents in the Northwest, who
accuse Meissner of going back on her word.

"We thought this was over with. We want to stay here and keep the
Ressams of the world out," said Keith Olson, president of the Border
Patrol agents' union in Blaine, referring to suspected terrorist Ahmed
Ressam, who was arrested in Port Angeles in December with a carful of
explosives.

Such transfers have long been a sore point with local agents, who
claim the nation can't afford to have the northern border stations
raided for the southern ones.

The Justice Department report seems to substantiate their
complaints.

"We conclude the 311 Border Patrol agents along the northern border
sectors cannot adequately patrol the approximately 4,000-mile border
with Canada," said Asbaugh in the report.

"Shifts with no Border Patrol coverage leave the northern border wide
open to criminal activity," the report adds. "These criminals know the
times when the fewest (agents) are on duty, and they plan their
illegal operations accordingly."

Specifically, Asbaugh's report found:

At least 70 percent of the cocaine smuggled into Canada each year is
destined for the United States.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is an easy avenue for smuggling, yet the
Port Angeles Border Patrol station does not have a boat.

Heroin from Asia is being shipped to Vancouver for transport to the
U.S.

There is one Border Patrol agent for every quarter-mile along the
Mexican border; along the Canadian border, it's is one agent for every
12.8 miles.

Border Patrol agents have long complained about their inability to
stop the flow of high-grade, British Columbia marijuana, "BC Bud."
Olson said agents at the Blaine border crossing have seized nearly
2,000 pounds of marijuana this year, compared to 1,200 pounds in all
of 1999.