America Appoints New Border Czar

Meet Alan Bersin, the new Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Bersin comes into the position with an impressive resume:

• In the 90’s he was a federal prosecutor focussing on illegal immigrants at the California/Mexico border.
  
• He moved into the educational realm, first being the superintendent of San Diego before being appointed the Secretary of Education for California.
  
• More recently he’s been working within DHS on border affairs issues.

And now, he’s the “border czar” – the man overseeing the entire CBP organization.

So what does this mean for the US/Canada border? Potentially not a whole lot. Bersin has been involved in southern US border issues for years and provides more insight into how to handle the southern border issues. Coming from a southern border state, like his boss Janet Napolitano* does, shows that America is serious about dealing with the issues…or at least appeasing the other southern border states that they’re using like-minded people in these government positions. It’s clear his role is to strengthen the border with Mexico.

Which means that he’ll likely ignore the northern border. With the southern border continuing to be such a huge focus, the northern border may continue to see more stringent policies put in place for no reason other than both borders need to be treated as equals.

If there is need to deal with the northern border, it will be interesting to see if he learns the hard lessons that Napolitano has in her short tenure when dealing with northern states and Canada.