Stop Illegal Aliens Before They Reach The

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 000826

SIPDIS

FROM CHARGE PIERCE TO DHS/ICE A/S MICHAEL GARCIA
STATE FOR S/CT, PRM, G/TIP, DRL/PHD, AND DRL/IL
STATE FOR WHA/PPC, WHA/CEN, INL/LP, DS, AND CA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SMIG KJUS PTER PHUM SNAR PINS PGOV PREL HO
SUBJECT: Stop Illegal Aliens Before They Reach The
Homeland: Fund Latin American Repatriations of Third Country
Nationals



1. This is an action request. Please see para. 13.


2. Summary: Post believes reinstating funding for the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Immigration and
Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Program for the Return of Third
Country National (TCN) Migrants Intercepted in the Latin
America & Caribbean Region (Project 057) is critical to U.S.
homeland security goals. It would demonstrate that the U.S.
is a responsive and credible partner in the regional effort
against alien smuggling and terrorism. It would also have
the added benefit of muting a growing chorus of Central
American concerns that the U.S. is not assisting its
regional allies in our combined efforts against alien
smuggling, trafficking in persons, special interest aliens,
and potential terrorist infiltration routes through the
region. Funding for Project 057 expired at the end of FY04.
DHS/ICE cited budget constraints and questioned the value of
the program. While Post was not involved in any evaluation
of the program, we believe the decision to end this program
needs to be re-evaluated due to its demonstrable negative
impact on our regional allies' ability to assist us in an
area of growing importance to the global war on terrorism in
the Western Hemisphere. End Summary.

Why Project 057 Advances U.S. National Interests
-------------- ---


3. By applying U.S. resources to our regional allies'
efforts to fight a common problem, Project 057 strengthened
collaboration against alien smugglers and traffickers
throughout the Western Hemisphere. Repatriation costs of
intercepted TCNs en route to the United States represent a
daunting and very significant financial challenge to
resource-strapped host country migration services. Such
costs act as a disincentive to vigorous interdiction actions
against smuggling/trafficking operations and document
falsification organizations. Without resources, local
immigration services resort to less effective control
measures, such as dumping TCNs at the nearest border, which
fail to address the problem of illegal migration and
trafficking in persons, and often place the welfare of
migrants in peril.


4. Without U.S. funding, our migration law enforcement
counterparts point out that the U.S. is, in effect, cost-
shifting an unfunded mandate to impoverished immigration
services. These under-funded migration law enforcement
services already cannot effectively do what is needed to
disrupt international criminal smuggling organizations.
Project 057 demonstrated to our regional partners that the
U.S. understood (1) that alien smuggling is big business and
(2) that corruption is rife within local immigration
services. Project 057 was a tangible sign of U.S. support
to honest migration law enforcement officials' efforts to
overcome a culture of indifference and corruption. Without
Project 057, the organized criminal syndicates will outbid
underfunded (our interlocutors would say "unfunded") law
enforcement interdiction efforts every time.

How Project 057 Works
--------------


5. Project 057 is designed to:
-- Deter and disrupt alien smuggling/trafficking and illegal
migration activity in the Western Hemisphere by providing
support to governments in the region that are seriously
combating alien smuggling/trafficking and transmigration of
undocumented or fraudulently documented migrants through
their national territories;
-- Reduce the risk of abuse or other violations of the basic
rights of the migrant by traffickers/smugglers through a
timely return of the intercepted migrant to his/her country
of origin or last habitual residence;
-- Strengthen host country cooperation with the U.S. in
detecting and dismantling alien smuggling/trafficking
organizations by disrupting these operations (including the
activities of traffickers and smugglers, fraudulent document
lithographers and vendors) and by prosecuting principals in
the U.S. or outside the U.S.;
-- Avoid expensive incarceration and legal costs for the
U.S. when trafficked/smuggled migrants are detected and
apprehended at our borders or in the interior of the United
States; and
-- Prevent potential criminal activity and the associated
costs of that criminal activity inside the United States.

So What? Why Bother?
--------------


6. Project 057 resources facilitate acquisition of
intelligence information regarding alien smuggling
organizations and traffickers that can be extremely valuable
to anti-alien smuggling/trafficking initiatives, especially
those efforts related to gathering information about special
interest aliens, outside and within the U.S. Several known
alien smugglers have been identified in joint U.S.-Central
American investigations, leading to the disruption of
significant illegal alien smuggling networks. Such
information acquisition and cooperation should be the
foundation of U.S. efforts to prevent possible infiltration
of the homeland by terrorist organizations seeking to move
their members into the U.S through these networks.


7. By assisting transit countries in returning interdicted
TCNs, Project 057 funds work to reduce the attractiveness of
those countries to traffickers/smugglers and migrants as
transit or staging venues. Project 057 funds reduce the
risk of dangerous "border dumping," (the practice of cross-
border return of extra-regional migrants). TCNs border-
dumped in Central America have suffered only a minor
inconvenience in their northward journey and are highly
likely to continue their illegal journey to the U.S.


8. Project 057 funds allow resource-starved host country
migration services to devote available budgets to other
enforcement goals, such as investigations of special
interest alien smuggling networks/routes, rather than to the
administrative cost of transporting illegal aliens. In our
Country Team's unanimous opinion, Project 057 is a powerful
tool for enforcement, deterrence, and cooperation that
demonstrates tangible U.S. support to our allies in this
war. There also are additional compelling budgetary reasons
to reinstate Project 057.

Saving Taxpayers Money
--------------


9. Interdictions of trafficked/smuggled migrants and other
intending illegal migrants outside the U.S. significantly
reduces budgetary costs to the U.S. The specific travel
costs to return removable migrants from the U.S. or a
country in the region are essentially the same,
notwithstanding occasionally higher airfares resulting from
the requirement for indirect routings avoiding U.S.
territory when returning a TCN from another Latin American
country. Even in the absence of accepted estimates of the
actual costs to DHS/ICE of apprehending, detaining, and
removing TCNs once in the U.S., it is still possible to
estimate the potential budgetary savings that Project 057
can make to U.S. interdiction operations. Using DHS/ICE's
own estimated cost figures from the 1990s and not accounting
for inflation, Post believes that total processing costs
(apprehension, detention, litigation, and return costs)
conservatively approach approximately USD 30,000 per alien.
According to available Project 057 data, from FY91 through
FY97 Project 057 expended about USD 2 million. Based on
this data, Post estimates that the return for each USD 1
invested in the program is between USD 12 and USD 18. This
financial windfall is a compelling fiduciary reason to renew
the program and save U.S. taxpayers significant outlays.

Background on Project 057
--------------


10. The Third Country National Return Program (Project 057)
began operations at Embassy Mexico City in April 1991. This
program evolved from Binational Commission Working Group
discussions in 1990. Former U.S. INS Commissioner Gene
McNary responded favorably to a request from Mexican
Undersecretary of Government, Miguel Limon Rojas, for
financial assistance in sustaining the Government of
Mexico's (GOM) enforcement efforts against TCN migrants and
traffickers/smugglers. These individuals used Mexican
territory for illegal entry to the United States. In
February 1991, the Senate and House Appropriations Committee
authorized the reprogramming of USD 350,000 from USINS
detention and deportation funds to permit financial support
of select repatriations from Mexico during FY91.


11. Project 057 received strong support from the
Appropriations Committees and from INS Headquarters each
year, except for an interruption in funding for FY94. In
FY97, Project 057 was expanded to support other cooperating
governments in the Western Hemisphere. Numerous other
procedural and policy changes have occurred over the years
including:
-- Authorization to use Project 057 resources to repatriate
nationals of the Peoples Republic of China,
-- Authorization to fund escort officers of the cooperating
country migration and police services, and
-- The requirement for collection of more detailed
information on each migrant detained for repatriation
support.


12. Funding for Project 057 ended at the end of FY04.
DHS/ICE's rationale was apparently budget constraints and
questions about the value of the program.

A Call to Reinstate Funding for Project 057
--------------


13. COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST: Post strongly urges DHS/ICE
reconsider its decision against funding Project 057 and to
reinstate funding as soon as possible. Post believes
Project 057 is a cost-effective program that directly
advances U.S. homeland security priorities by disrupting the
alien smuggling operations of international criminal
syndicates. This program makes it harder for undocumented
TCNs to reach the U.S. illegally and disrupts potential
terrorists infiltration routes to the U.S. through the
region. In addition, it also demonstrates that the U.S. is
a responsive partner that shares Latin American concerns
about joint efforts to combat alien smuggling and
trafficking in persons. Absent funding for Project 057,
TCNs, including special interest aliens, have an easier time
reaching the U.S. illegally. Finally, our regional partners
point out that the U.S. is, in effect, cost-shifting an
unfunded mandate to their impoverished immigration services
to repatriate these U.S.-bound interdicted illegal aliens.
Restarting Project 057 will help address all these issues
and is a cost-effective way to make our homeland more
secure. END COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST.

Pierce