Immigration security

Grounded Surveillance Operation Nabbed 110,000 Illegal Immigrants 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 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 it was revealed that CBP’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, had quietly halted border surveillance flights in Texas’ Laredo district.