Alan Bersin, Smile, You’re The New Federal Border Czar

Shit is hairy in Mexico, so Barack Obama has created a new position to try to keep it at bay. One day before Obama leaves to visit that country, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is expected to announce the appointment of Alan Bersin to the newly created post of “federal border czar,” which will be charged with protecting America’s borders from drug violence and illegal immigration. Good luck, son, you’ll need it.

Bersin, whose appointment is expected to be announced during a scheduled Napolitano visit to El Paso, is a former Justice Department official who served as U.S. Attorney in San Diego and as Attorney General Janet Reno’s border czar from 1995-1998.

During that post, Bersin came under fire from immigrant groups for his role in a federal operation to crack down on illegal immigration along the westernmost portion of the U.S.-Mexico border–a program called Operation Gatekeeper. The program reduced illegal immigration there, but illegal activity simply shifted east while increases occurred in immigrant deaths in the desert and on highways.

Later, Bersin was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as Secretary of Education for that state after having served as superintendent of San Diego City Schools, the eighth largest school district in the nation.

Bersin attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar with Bill Clinton and he got a J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 1974.

So, he’s very smart, but will he be able to tame the wild west? We shall see.

Obama set to announce ‘border czar’ [Politico]

Alan Bersin [Wikipedia]