Border Security: Partnership Agreements and Enhanced Oversight Could Strengthen Coordination of Efforts on Indian Reservations
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is coordinating in a variety of ways with tribes, such as through joint operations and shared facilities and Operation Stonegarden--a DHS grant program intended to enhance coordination among local, tribal, territorial, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in securing United States borders. However, the Border Patrol and tribes face coordination challenges. Officials from five tribes reported information-sharing challenges with the Border Patrol, such as not receiving notification of federal activity on their lands. Border Patrol officials reported challenges navigating tribal rules and decisions. Border Patrol and DHS have existing agreements with some, but not all, tribes to address specific border security issues, such as for the establishment of a law enforcement center on tribal lands. These agreements could serve as models for developing additional agreements between the Border Patrol and other tribes on their specific border security coordination challenges. Written government-to-government agreements could assist Border Patrol and tribal officials with enhancing their coordination, consistent with practices for sustaining effective coordination. DHS established an office to coordinate the components' tribal outreach efforts, which has taken actions such as monthly teleconferences with DHS tribal liaisons to discuss tribal issues and programs, but does not have a mechanism for monitoring and overseeing outreach efforts, consistent with internal control standards. Such monitoring should be performed continually; ingrained in the agency's operations; and clearly documented in directives, policies, or manuals to help ensure operations are carried out as intended. Implementing an oversight mechanism could help enhance DHS's department-wide awareness of and accountability for border security coordination efforts with the tribes while identifying those areas that work well and any needing improvement.
Why GAO Did This Study
Individuals seeking to enter the United States illegally may attempt to avoid screening procedures at ports of entry by crossing the border in areas between these ports, including Indian reservations, many of which have been vulnerable to illicit cross-border threat activity, such as drug smuggling, according to DHS. GAO was asked to review DHS's efforts to coordinate border security activities on Indian reservations. This report examines DHS's efforts to coordinate with tribal governments to address border security threats and vulnerabilities on Indian reservations. GAO interviewed DHS officials at headquarters and conducted interviews with eight tribes, selected based on factors such as proximity to the border, and the corresponding DHS field offices that have a role in border security for these Indian reservations. While GAO cannot generalize its results from these interviews to all Indian reservations and field offices along the border, they provide examples of border security coordination issues. This is a public version of a sensitive report that GAO issued in December 2012. Information that DHS, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) deemed sensitive has been redacted.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that DHS examine the benefits of government-to-government agreements with tribes and develop and implement a mechanism to monitor border security coordination efforts with tribes. DHS concurred with our recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Homeland Security | To enhance DHS-tribal coordination on border security on Indian reservations, including DHS's monitoring and oversight of these coordination efforts, the Secretary of Homeland Security should examine, or direct CBP to examine, as appropriate, the potential benefits of government-to-government written agreements with tribes facing border security threats. | In December of 2012, we reported on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) efforts to coordinate with tribal governments to address border security threats and vulnerabilities on Indian reservations. Among other things, we found that Border Patrol--DHS's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) component charged with securing U.S. borders--and tribes face coordination challenges, such as information-sharing challenges. While Border Patrol has existing agreements with some tribes to address specific border security issues, these agreements could serve as models for developing additional agreements between the Border Patrol and other tribes on their specific border security coordination... challenges. As a result, we recommended that DHS examine the benefits of government-to-government agreements with tribes. In response to this recommendation, between March and October 2014, CBP's State, Local and Tribal Liaison Office and DHS officials met with approximately 20 federally recognized tribes that may be affected by border security threats, including the Saint Regis Mohawk and Tohono O'odham tribes, to discuss any need for and the potential benefits of government-to-government written agreements to address border security threats. DHS reported two key lessons learned from these meetings: (1) there is no overwhelming demand from the tribal governments to enter into written agreements with the U.S. government, and (2) tribal governments understand their rights as sovereign nations to request written government-to-government agreements with the U.S. government to address border security threats and other issues. These actions are consistent with the recommendation and we consider the recommendation closed as implemented.
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| Department of Homeland Security | To enhance DHS-tribal coordination on border security on Indian reservations, including DHS's monitoring and oversight of these coordination efforts, the Secretary of Homeland Security should develop and implement a mechanism to monitor DHS's department-wide border security coordination efforts with tribes. | In December 2012, we reported that DHS and tribes use a variety of methods to coordinate border security such as conducting joint operations and participating in a border security coordination program, but establishment of an oversight mechanism could enhance the effectiveness of DHS's border security coordination with tribes. In response to this recommendation, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) monitors department-wide consultation with the tribes, including border security coordination, through a variety of mechanisms. The IGA's Tribal Affairs Program began holding monthly teleconferences with the tribes in August 2014 to ensure that...
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