Executive Order 13767

On Jan 25th, the current president issued Executive Order (EO) 13767.  There have been a number of analyses on this, but I have taken to tracking to see what reports are issued as a result of the numerous orders and memos that have been written.  Just today, there are reports circulating that the Washington Post has obtained a copy of a report required by section 15 of the EO.  However, let's go through and look at all of the reports that are required.

Reports, reports, reports...

After having read through a number of the EO's that have been signed by the current president, it was pretty clear that often there were lots of words, the mandating of some reports that were to research some topic or aspect and then ultimately not a lot of action.  Truly, this EO did have some real action to it as we have seen how the DOJ has, over the last 2 months, taken very aggressive actions on immigrants who have overstayed their visas or who have unlawfully entered the country.
This EO requires several reports.  First in Section 4(d), there is a requirement to:

Produce a comprehensive study of the security of the southern border, to be completed within 180 days of this order, that shall include the current state of southern border security, all geophysical and topographical aspects of the southern border, the availability of Federal and State resources necessary to achieve complete operational control of the southern border, and a strategy to obtain and maintain complete operational control of the southern border.

This report is not yet due, I am sure it is being worked on.  The purpose is to have an understanding of what the border areas are like and determine what obstacles exist to build the wall.  Note the assumption at the end that currently we do not have complete operational control of the southern border.  What does "complete operational control" even mean?  So to stab at this in the dark, I would submit that this means that there is some kind of continuous monitoring as well as the ability to act to intercept anyone crossing the border.  I think I read somewhere that the southern border is about 2000 miles long.  I would suggest that one border agent per mile would assure complete operational control.  But you have to have the agents there 24/7 which means you need some 6000 agents standing guard on the border.  Really?
In Section 9, there is a requirement that:

The head of each executive department and agency shall identify and quantify all sources of direct and indirect Federal aid or assistance to the Government of Mexico on an annual basis over the past five years, including all bilateral and multilateral development aid, economic assistance, humanitarian aid, and military aid. Within 30 days of the date of this order, the head of each executive department and agency shall submit this information to the Secretary of State. Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall submit to the President a consolidated report reflecting the levels of such aid and assistance that has been provided annually, over each of the past five years.

The 30 day deadline passed some time ago.  The 60 day deadline was fairly recently.  However, I have been looking and have not been able to find a copy of this report.  The purpose of this report was to see what money, if anything, could be diverted from existing programs that benefit Mexico to construction of the wall so as to be able to claim that Mexico paid for a portion of the wall.  I suspect that these reports end up being tiny amounts as well as programs that end up being problematic to cut such as humanitarian aid to nuns or something.
In Section 14 there are reporting requirements as follows:

The Secretary shall, on a monthly basis and in a publicly available way, report statistical data on aliens apprehended at or near the southern border using a uniform method of reporting by all Department of Homeland Security components, in a format that is easily understandable by the public.

This is a Public relations move.  Essentially they want to measure and issue numbers to convince people how bad the problem is.  From what I have read in the news, such as this story, the numbers have been compiled and released all along.  I think that this has been a problem for so long that people are no longer interested.
Finally in Section 15, there are reporting requirements as follows:

Except as otherwise provided in this order, the Secretary, within 90 days of the date of this order, and the Attorney General, within 180 days, shall each submit to the President a report on the progress of the directives contained in this order.

This is just a progress report.  However, the 90 day report is coming due soon (April 25), but it looks like the government got it issued out early (or it may be draft state).