Lawless Border: Obama Admin Abruptly Grounds Drones

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Lifezette :

Lawless Border: Obama Admin Abruptly Grounds Drones

Texas officials question DHS after agency quietly shuts down aerial surveillance program

 

November 23, 2016

by Mary Lou Lang-Byrd | Updated 23 Nov 2016 at 3:52 PM

 

Three top Texas government officials, including one Democrat, are questioning the Department of Homeland Security’s border security measures after a report showed the agency ended an aerial surveillance program on the Mexican border.

 

Operation Phalanx, which was fully funded through 2017, was quietly shut down by the DHS, according to a recent report by watchdog.org. The aerial surveillance program intercepted illegal crossings and drugs on the border of Mexico.

 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican Sen. John Cornyn, and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johhson requested information on aerial-based border security measures the agency is employing — especially in light of an uptick in migrant crossings this month and this year so far that are reportedly higher than last year’s crossings.

 

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WHY DID OBAMA SHUT DOWN A SUCCESSFUL AERIAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM ALONG THE U.S.-MEXICAN BORDER?

 

President-elect Donald Trump has made the construction of physical barriers along the border with Mexico, immigration reform and the dissolution of sanctuary cities the cornerstone of his campaign but it appears that in its twilight weeks of office, the Obama administration is intent on making that lofty goal as difficult as possible. According to the government oversight group Watchdog.org, the Department of Homeland Security has recently and inexplicably shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program established in 2010 which aimed to interdict drug trafficking and illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexican border.

 

Phalanx authorized the allocation of 1,200 soldiers and airmen from the U.S. Army’s National Guard to assist U.S. customs and border patrol agents along the border. The program also employed advanced UH-72 helicopters to supplement other aerial surveillance platforms.

 

The move to terminate the project is in line with the Obama administration’s lackadaisical approach to illegal immigration and serves to underscore attempts by the administration to make the transition more difficult for the President-elect. In February 2016, the Obama administration cut funding to Operation Phalanx by 50 percent even though the project had been fully funded by Congress and was by all accounts, demonstrably successful.

 

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264945/why-did-obama-shut-down-successful%C2%A0aerial-ari-lieberman

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Grounded Phalanx operation nabbed 110,000 illegals at border

 

While surveillance helicopters were grounded in Texas, the head of Customs and Border Protection called the flights critical to “countering illegal immigration” from Mexico.

 

Records bear that out: a government report obtained by Watchdog.org credited Operation Phalanx with apprehending 110,000 illegal border crossers.

 

CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske stated in a Nov. 16 letter that Phalanx “provided tangible benefits to border security.” His letter to the Department of Defense was sent two days before Watchdog revealed CBP’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, had quietly halted border surveillance flights in Texas’ Laredo district.

 

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, confirmed DHS’ move to shut down Phalanx, and lodged a letter of protest with DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson. The letter was co-signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

 

http://watchdog.org/282803/phalanx-illegals-border/