(The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that in the first year of operation, its biometrics-at-sea program has been a success and accomplished its intended goals.
In its first 12 months, the program collected biometric data from 1,368 migrants, prosecuted 90 of those migrants, and helped reduce the flow of illegal migration by nearly 50 percent in the waters between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Stephan: Okay. Well, folks, thank you very much. It's been an exciting day for me. I refer to this day as my appendectomy. I'm getting Appendix A out and there's quite a lot of national and international attention on this.
It is an important event, because this is the next step in a very complex process that was begun with the authority we received for our 2007 appropriations act to develop and implement a very comprehensive security framework, security regulatory framework for high risk elements of the chemical sector of the United States. It’s never been done before.
