Rep. Barber calls on DHS to boost border security near Tucson

Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) on Wednesday called on the Department of Homeland Security to beef up border protection in the Tucson, Ariz., area, in light of a government report that says there is no plan in place for doing so.

"It is unacceptable that my constituents still feel unsafe in their homes and in their communities on and near the border," Barber said. "I call upon the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security to develop smarter strategies and tactics and a better way to measure border security.

"We must work together to shift resources to areas like the Tucson Sector which face continuing heavy illegal trafficking of people and drugs," he said.

Barber was reacting to a December Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that said the U.S. Border Patrol does not have goals or a timeline in place for improving security along the southwestern border.

The report found that border arrests have been dropping since 2006, although it said that matches an economic-driven decrease in known illegal border crossings. But it also found that drug seizures nearly doubled from 2006 to 2011.

Barber said the Tucson sector of the border is just 13 percent of the total border with Mexico, but accounts for more than a third of all drug seizures and apprehensions between the U.S. and Mexico.

Barber said he would hold two briefings on the GAO report in Arizona, on Jan. 28 and 29.

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