Ex-Prosecutor Picked for New US ‘Border Czar’

(Associated Press)

The job title — “border czar” — is familiar to Alan Bersin, who more than a decade ago led an effort to fight drug and human smuggling that had mixed results at best.

Bersin was tapped Wednesday to oversee America’s efforts to keep drugs and illegal immigrants from flowing in from Mexico. As a federal prosecutor in the Clinton administration, he headed up a border crackdown that discouraged illegal crossings in the San Diego area but drove migrants to attempt more dangerous treks through the desert. […]

Bersin, now the assistant Homeland Security secretary for international affairs, held a similar title from 1995 to 1998 — Justice Department special representative for the Southwest border. As he will in his new job, he worked with agencies on both sides of the border to help coordinate the U.S. government’s efforts to curb the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Bersin brings a deep understanding of the border, like his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former Arizona governor. He rides horses on his ranch along the San Diego border, near the shanties of Tijuana, Mexico, in an area that was overrun with illegal immigrants until the mid-1990s. Read more here.