Michael Chertoff Border Quotations

As far as my agency is concerned, port security really rests principally with the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection.

It would be enormously difficult if we were to attempt to control illegal immigration at the border without having some legal avenue to address the fact that there is a high demand for non-U.S. people to come in and perform certain kinds of jobs,

Completing the Border Infrastructure System will strengthen our efforts to reduce illegal entry to the United States. Congress provided us the authority to ensure this project is completed, and I intend to use it,

By the end of this year our department anticipates issuing a new inexpensive secure travel card for land border crossings.

We have to continue to use both low-tech and high-tech tools to assist our Border Patrol in patrolling this portion of terrain and protecting ourselves against people who want to sneak across.

This new People Access Security Service, or PASS system card, will be particularly useful for those citizens in border communities who regularly cross northern and southern borders every day as an integral part of their daily lives. We're talking about essentially like the kind of driver's license or other simple card identification that almost all of us carry in our wallets day in and day out.

We cannot hermetically seal 7,000 miles of land borders and keep out 100 percent of illegal crossers, ... But we can create such a high likelihood of interdiction that it will have a strong and unequivocal deterrent effect on those who wish to cross illegally.

This practice acts as an enticement for additional border crossers, ... It's unacceptable.

guidance and efforts have been instrumental in balancing our need to preserve the integrity of our borders without sacrificing the free flow of commerce on which our nation and the global community depends.

I've known Rob for many years; he is an outstanding public servant and will be greatly missed here at the department. I appreciate the commitment and service he has shown in directing our border security efforts.

mapping the entire border to determine exactly what the flow is, where we need to put resources.

The department intends to build an integrated border security system.

We have decided to stand back and take a look at how do we address this problem (of border security) and solve it once and for all, The American public is rightly distressed about a situation in which they feel we do not have control of our borders. ... We need to have a comprehensive solution.