If I were asked to express my greatest criticism of the Bush Administration, it would be its weakness in dealing with border control. I am talking about the in-fighting among federal agencies and the failure to provide sufficient funds for the expansion of immigration enforcement programs and prevent terrorists from exploiting our border security.

"The southern border is literally under siege and there is a real possibility that terrorists, particularly al-Qaeda forces, could exploit this series of holes in our law enforcement system." So said U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (D-Texas) while testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on immigration and border security.

Both Republicans and Democrats have taken issue with a proposal in President Bush's 2006 budget to hire just 210 new border patrol agents. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act authorized 2,000 new agents in each of the next five years. Of those, 90% were to be assigned to the country's 1,940 border with Mexico. Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) said he was "very disappointed" by the small number of agents that would be hired in comparison to the number authorized by Congress.

At a hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee, witnesses testified that a turf battle between Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were preventing the agencies from sharing intelligence. "A wall has been erected between the people at CBP and the people at ICE," said Michael Cutler, a former senior special agent with the Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS). The INS was dismantled in 2001 and reconfigured into two agencies, CBP and ICE. Both are units of the Dept. of Homeland Security.

I pray that chaos is not the rule of the day regarding our border security.