I suppose that statement might have some truth to it. The law breakers are getting more desperate. On the other side of the coin I tried using that in Iraq. Does the level of violence mean we have success or are nearing success? Either way I am not sure the Agents really want more of this type of success for Chertoff. In the meantime the border needs to be tightened. We guard the rails and airports but our borders are like a cheese cloth.
(CNSNews.com) - Violence against Border Patrol agents — including attempts to run them over and behead them with wire — increased by almost a third in 2007, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Friday.
He interpreted the increased violence as an indicator that the border is becoming more secure, a point he also made three years ago in the face of escalating violence.
At a joint press conference with Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Chertoff said his department would put a priority on building border fences near U.S. “transportation hubs” as a “protective measure for the Border Patrol,” but that in some other places the department might deploy only surveillance technology.
Chertoff pointed to the number of aliens intercepted coming across the Mexican border, which declined 20 percent last year, as another indicator that the border is becoming more secure.
“There is one last metric that shows success,” he said, “and it’s an unfortunate metric: an increase in violence against the border patrol, up 31 percent last year. As I have reluctantly but consistently predicted, as we strike at criminal businesses, they are going to strike back.”
In a November 5, 2005 speech in Houston, Texas, Chertoff made this same point.
“We have begun to make progress against the criminals and thugs who operate the human trafficking rings on our borders,” he said then. “But, as a result, we are beginning to see more violence in some border communities and against our Border Patrol agents as these traffickers — criminal predators — seek to protect their turf.”
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