Border security is the linchpin of the immigration debate. In the blueprint outlined on Monday, Republicans agreed to the Democrat requirement that any bill needs a pathway to citizenship. But there was one caveat. This pathway is "contingent upon securing our borders."
We’ve been asking if it’s even possible to ‘secure’ our borders?
A recently revealed study suggests that the border agency may be struggling with more than crossers, but also with internal corruption.
The Center for Investigative Reporting dug into an internal study that's been kept under wraps for more than a year. Here’s some interesting facts from journalist Andrew Becker’s story:
Since Oct. 1, 2004, 147 agency officers and agents have been charged with or convicted of corruption-related offenses, ranging from taking bribes to allow drugs into the country to stealing government money. About a dozen of those cases came to light in 2012.
The department’s inspector general has withheld information, neglected investigations and accumulated a backlog of investigations that at one point reached more than 1,000 corruption cases.
Check out their interactive feature: Customs and Border Protection agents and officers are increasingly becoming the target of corruption investigations. Here are some recent cases. Click on the photos to see more information about each one. Note: Some photos were unavailable.
