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Not only are the numbers of migrants entering the United States at the lowest levels in a generation, but they are now largely Central American. Four out of five border-crossers detained in South Texas are Guatemalan, Honduran or Salvadoran. They are driven by violence and poverty in their home countries and the desire for family reunification.

Alan Bersin

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Alan Bersin
Age: 78
Born: 1946
Born: October 15
International Lawyer
Lawyer
Brooklyn
New York
Four
Countries
Border
Country
Five
Generation
Largely
American
South
Entering
United
Poverty
Lowest
Generations
Texas
Family
Levels
Central
Reunification
Desire
Numbers
Borders
Detained
Home
Violence
Driven
Migrants
States

More quotes by Alan Bersin

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The image and the costs of a Berlin-like wall or a Great Wall of China is something that the American people have not accepted to date.
Alan Bersin
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The Mexican people are increasingly middle class, and Mexico has substantially become a middle-class society. This is true despite the significant poverty, and the class and geographic inequality that have deep historical roots.
Alan Bersin
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In the course of 25 years, we have developed a constructive relationship with Mexico that was nonexistent before. During the last eight to 10 years there have been continued efforts which have resulted in a strategic alliance with the Mexicans and improved safety and security at the border.
Alan Bersin
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If you build a 50-foot wall, you'll soon be confronted with a 51-foot ladder.
Alan Bersin
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People should remember that Mexican migration is now at a net negative. More Mexicans are leaving through deportation and voluntary return than are entering the United States legally and illegally.
Alan Bersin
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Walls and barriers alone are insufficient to insure security.
Alan Bersin
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In the last two years, the Mexicans have detained nearly 400,000 migrants whose intent was to come to the United States. The Mexicans return the detained Central American migrants by bus or by air to the countries they come from.
Alan Bersin
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People in our so-called Rust Belt have lost out, and politics and society have not been responsive either in providing the kind of additional support they need or to retrain them for jobs that are being created in the new economy.
Alan Bersin
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Our security in a global world must be looked at on a continental basis.
Alan Bersin
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America should be working more with the Mexicans to prevent the flow of guns going south into Mexico that have fueled so much of the violence there, and the smuggling of cash and the money laundering that transnational criminal organizations have instituted in North America, including in the United States.
Alan Bersin
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The idea was to restore the rule of law, to bring order to a chaotic situation. The results became more and more apparent. Crime rates went down in the border region. Today, the number of migrants crossing is at a 30-year low. That's because of years of bipartisan work on this issue.
Alan Bersin
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The law change during the Bush administration gave the Department of Health and Human Services a central role in relocating Central American minors in the United States.
Alan Bersin
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Homeland security is inherently transnational today. There's hardly anything adverse that happens in our homeland that doesn't have a cause or effect that's generated abroad. Increasingly, we must rely on our allies and foreign governments to share information and data to secure our country.
Alan Bersin
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In today's digital online world, those who don't share information will be isolated and left behind.
Alan Bersin
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Until we have a legitimate labor market between Mexico and the United States, people will attempt to come here to work.
Alan Bersin
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There have been enormous advances since 9/11 to build a very robust set of targeting procedures and watch lists to screen travelers coming to the United States. The National Targeting Center in Virginia run by Customs and Border Protection checks the background of every traveler who seeks to enter the country.
Alan Bersin
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Mexico has become a robust democracy with a robust press and an active legislature. It has gone from being a sending country for migrants to a transit country, and increasingly a receiving country for migrants in its own right.
Alan Bersin
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As former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano pointed out, if you build a 50-foot wall, you'll soon be confronted with a 51-foot ladder. You need a strategy that involves layered defense: deployed patrols, sophisticated sensor equipment, and surveillance from the air. That is what has had a positive impact over the last generation.
Alan Bersin
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We should be wary, particularly with our closest friends and allies, of breaking down the trust and confidence that lie at the foundation of relationships.
Alan Bersin
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We can't defend the country by looking at the borderline as the first line of defense rather than as the last line of defense. We have to secure the flow of goods and people by engaging with foreign entities. We assure our security by securing the flows as early as we can before they arrive and as far away from our borders as we can.
Alan Bersin