SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 14: The new intelligence law mandates 10,000 additional border patrol agents to chase thousands of illegal immigrants every day and secure US land boundaries.

However, many experts are sceptical that the new measures will stem flow of more than six million illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Immigration was a central issue in the intelligence reform legislation, which finally cleared Congress on December 8. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner wanted the bill to include a provision forbidding states from issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, among other things.

In the end, the driver-license section was not included. But the legislation still contained important immigration-related changes. Under terms of the new law, the US is to add 2,000 Border Patrol agents and 800 immigration and customs agents every year for the next five years.

The intelligence bill orders tests of advanced sensors, videos, and unmanned aircraft surveillance along the nation's northern border, and mandates creation of a plan to survey the more-porous south-western border with unmanned aerial vehicles. It also strengthens visa application requirements.

T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council in San Diego, believes increasing the number of Border Patrol agents by 10,000, 20,000, or even 200,000 is not going to be the solution.

"No amount of added security at the border is going to solve the problem until Mexican migration is redefined and dealt with primarily as a labour-market regulation issue rather than exclusively as a border-security issue," says Peter Andreas, a political scientist at Brown University. Many experts agree the way to lessen illegal border crossings is not to militarize the border, but to enforce immigration laws already in place.