Walls, fences and militias:
The latest:
De-Fence, De-Fence.
The government puts the brakes on a problem-plagued "virtual" fence on our border with Mexico. Whatever
happened to the old-fashioned kind? If ever there was a shovel-ready project, this is it.
Napolitano
halts funding for 'virtual fence'. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Tuesday
[3/16/2010] that she has cut off funding for a costly surveillance system billed as a "virtual fence" to
protect the Southwest border.
No
finish in sight for 'virtual' border fence. A multibillion-dollar "virtual fence" along the
southwestern border promised for completion in 2009 to protect the U.S. from terrorists, violent drug
smugglers and a flood of illegal immigrants is a long way from becoming a reality, with government
officials unable to say when, how or whether it will ever be completed.
People From Countries Tied to Terrorism Enter USA through
Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told senators it is a national security
concern that people from countries with ties to terrorism could 'potentially' gain entry into the United States
by crossing the country's southern border. But according to the Department of Homeland Security's own
reports, thousands of people from 14 "special interest" countries already have come into the United States
illegally, including some across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Environmental
laws put gaps in Mexico border security. In the battle on the U.S.-Mexico border, the fight against
illegal immigration often loses out to environmental laws that have blocked construction of parts of the "virtual
fence" and that threaten to create places where agents can't easily track illegal immigrants.
Mr. Obama, Put Up That Fence. According
to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), only 32 miles of the called-for 700 by the Congress in 2006 has
been erected by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This is in direct defiance of the will of the majority
of United States citizens and blame lies directly with Presidents Bush and Obama and the current Secretary of DHS, Janet
Napolitano all of whom favored open borders, free entry for illegal aliens and amnesty for those that are already
within our borders.
Feds Have Built Only 32 Miles
of 700 Mile Double-Border Fence. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has built only 32 miles
of double-layer fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border out of the 700 miles originally mandated by a
2006 act of Congress, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Border Fence is Progressing.
The $2.7 billion border "fence" authorized by Congress to be built along stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border is
just over two-thirds finished — and should be mostly complete by the end of the year. But not
everyone is happy with it.
Texas officials sue US over border
fence. Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday [5/16/2008] alleging
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hoodwinked landowners into waiving their property rights for
construction of a fence along the Mexican border.
Homeland Security Scrapping, Replacing Sub-Par
Virtual Fence Along Arizona-Mexico Border. The government will replace its highly touted "virtual
fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border with new towers, radars, cameras and computer software, scrapping the
brand-new $20 million system because it doesn't work sufficiently, officials said.
'Virtual' Border
Fence Virtually Gone. When Congress mandated that the Department of Homeland Security build a
200 mile fence along the border with Mexico, DHS decided to make 28 of those miles a "virtual
fence" — electronically monitored so that border security would be notified if anyone was
crossing. Great idea. Too bad it's a spectacular failure.
Researchers Fear
Southern Fence Will Endanger Species Further. The debate over the fence the United States is building along
its southern border has focused largely on the project's costs, feasibility and how well it will curb illegal immigration.
But one of its most lasting impacts may well be on the animals and vegetation that make this politically fraught landscape
their home.
Build the Fence Now.
There is an old saying that a good fence makes for good neighbors. This truism has never been more applicable
than with our Southern neighbor of Mexico. A good fence makes good immigration policy too. Unfortunately,
the current Senate Immigration Bill's focus is not on the fence. It is on making people who've broken the
law legal. Unless we want to be dealing with this issue again in five or 10 years, after millions
more illegals have entered our country, the fence must become the focus of any solution.
Katrina Nation:
Building the first 100 miles of "virtual fence" will take Bush longer than it took FDR to win World War II.
The admission of failure comes two years after Bush announced plans for "the most technologically advanced
border initiative in American history."
The
Incredible Disappearing Border Fence. It's an object lesson in gesture politics and homeland
insecurity. It's a tale of hollow rhetoric, meaningless legislation and bipartisan betrayal. And
in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, it's a helpful learning tool as you assess the promises of immigration
enforcement converts now running for president.
U.S.
Senate Turns Back On Border Fence. In a quiet act of defiance, the Senate approved a
$555 billion omnibus spending bill that removed legal requirements mandating the federal government
fund 854 miles of a double layer border fence spanning America's southwestern border. The
funding requirement was codified into law when Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed,
the Secure Fence Act (SFA) in 2006.
A fence we can live with.
A tip of the hat to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for setting aside the environmental laws, as Congress permitted
him to do, to facilitate prompt completion of the remaining 470 miles of fence along the Mexican border. It's good
to see recognition that environmental concerns don't always trump everything else, especially national security.
Hutchison on defensive over border fence
amendment. In an uncharacteristic display of public frustration with party colleagues, Sen. Kay
Bailey Hutchison on Friday [1/11/2008] sharply criticized two Republican congressmen who had accused her of
a stealth effort to derail the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
High-Tech Border
Patrol: 5 New Tricks to Find Smuggler Tunnels. The Department of Homeland Security says
tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border are proliferating as security is tightened aboveground. The
solution? A sensor network that peers through dirt and rock. The technologies to build it are
being developed with funding from the department's advanced research wing.
The
GOP Senate's Collective Contempt For Its Base. The physical fence is the outward manifestation of
an inward conviction to respect the will of the people. The rhetoric about virtual fence is
understood — rightly or wrongly but with certainty — to be a ruse….
Mexican anger over US 'trespass'.
Mexico's Congress has condemned what it says is a border violation by US workers building a controversial barrier
between the two countries. Legislators say workers and equipment building a section of the barrier have
gone 10 yards into Mexico. The alleged border violation comes ahead of a high-level meeting in the
Canadian capital Ottawa.
Texas
Officials Criticize Fence Plan. A new map showing President Bush's planned border fence
has riled Rio Grande Valley officials, who say the proposed barrier reneges on assurances that the
river would remain accessible to farmers, wildlife and recreation.
Texas Cities Block Access to Border Land.
Mayors along the Texas-Mexico border have begun a quiet protest of the federal government's plans to build a
fence along the border: They are refusing to give access to their land. Mayors in Brownsville,
Del Rio and El Paso have denied access to some parts of their city property, turning away federal
employees assigned to begin surveys or conduct other preliminary work on the fence meant to keep out illegal
immigrants.
All talk and no action:
Senate denies funds for new border
fence. Less than two months after voting overwhelmingly to build 370 miles of new fencing along
the border with Mexico, the Senate yesterday [7/13/2006] voted against providing funds to build it.
The
immigration facade: Even if lawmakers had come up with all the funding to pay for the
fencing — and they didn't — barriers only squeeze more illegal immigrants through
those parts of the border that aren't fenced off. In the 1990s, crackdowns in El Paso and
San Diego sent millions of illegal immigrants to crossing points in the Arizona desert.
Funding
for 700-mile border fence falls short. President Bush's budget includes enough money to build only
half the U.S.-Mexico border fence Congress demanded last fall, leaving supporters of a 700-mile barrier seething
Monday and immigration advocates shrugging that it was just an election-year ploy.
Minutemen
building Arizona border fence. Scores of volunteers gathered at a remote ranch
Saturday [5/27/2006] to help a civilian border-patrol group start building a short security
fence in hopes of reducing illegal immigration from Mexico.
Rep. Pelosi criticizes border
fence. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a plan to build fencing along parts of the Mexico border
a "terrible idea" that overlooks local communities. Pelosi made the comments during her trip to the Rio
Grande Valley for the annual Hispanic Engineering, Science & Technology Week conference at the University of
Texas-Pan American.
Lies about the
fence. An earlier Homeland Security appropriations bill earmarked $1.2 billion for border
security, so a down payment on the fence is available, but there is some question as to whether that money
will or won't be used for the fence, which would cover approximately one-third of our border with Mexico.
One thing is certain, however: The fence represents a great divide — not between Mexico and
the United States, but between those who believe in self-defense and those who don't.
The
barrier method works. A Monday story by the Reuters news service should be required reading for
anyone opposed to illegal immigration: "Experts see U.S. border fence plan as impractical" is a stunning
example of the intellectual dishonesty of Big Media and apologists for illegal aliens. And surely the
most stunning, how oblivious both seem to be about it.
With
Senate Vote, Congress Passes Border Fence Bill. The Senate gave final approval last night
to legislation authorizing the construction of 700 miles of double-layered fencing on the
U.S.-Mexico border, shelving President Bush's vision of a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration
laws in favor of a vast barrier.
New fences
protecting fragile areas on border. Only a few steps north of the barbed-wire fence that
separates the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge from Mexico is a chain of steel sawhorses that could
help save a park trampled by illicit visitors and littered with trash and rusting vehicles.
Company donates hi-tech fencing for Minuteman
group. A Washington-based company is donating up to $7 million worth of fiber-optic
security fencing material for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to use in any new barriers the group
erects to try to keep illegal immigrants out of Arizona.
Wall Costs Worth It. Now that
Congress is voting to build fences, punish burrowing illegals, and require Real ID's ofr citizens,
(agri-)businessmen and consumers are aghast that improving border security already costs them. The
added expense isn't just in resources like fence lumber, brick mortar, technology, and security manpower.
No, it's hitting home now that the new efforts to restrict illegal immigration may cause serious economic
disruptions. Have you noticed the cost of lettuce lately?
Senate OKs Border Fence, Mulls
Citizenship. The Senate voted to build 370 miles of triple-layered fencing along the
Mexican border Wednesday [5/17/2006] and clashed over citizenship for millions of men and women who
live in the United States illegally.
Fence or no fence,
what's all the fuss about? History has shown that immigrants in search of freedom and prosperity
will climb over, tunnel under, or circumvent any fence. But if fencing helps pass a broad-based reform
bill, so be it.
Minutemen Gaining in Immigration
Debate. Minuteman organizers say this spring's marches have proved to be an unexpected
recruitment tool for Americans who feel uneasy about the burgeoning immigration movement but may have
considered the organization a pack of gun-toting vigilantes.
Minutemen turn away Arab news
crew. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has canceled plans for an Al Jazeera news crew to
interview volunteers patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border today after volunteers threatened to walk off
their posts.
Border incursions
rattling Arizonans. After long downplaying the number of incursions along the Southwestern
border, top Border Patrol officials now acknowledge such incidents are all too common. Over the past
decade, the Department of Homeland Security has reported 231 incursions along the border, including 63 in
Arizona.
The Official Minuteman Civil
Defense Corps web site.
A wall
is key to any reform. Every sensible immigration policy has two objectives: (1) to
regain control of our borders so that it is we who decide who enters, and (2) to find a way to normalize
and legalize the situation of the 11 million illegals among us. Start with the second. No
one of good will wants to see these 11 million suffer. But the obvious problem is that
legalization creates an enormous incentive for new illegals to come.
Why a 'Virtual Fence' Is a Virtual
Farce: The notion that cameras mounted on Predator drones obviate the need for physical
barrier infrastructure should be dismissed as absurd on its face, yet several senators are promoting it
seriously. Upon examination, however, what they describe as a virtual fence is no such thing. They
do not describe a barrier, they describe a detection system.
Border Fence is
legitimate self-defense. Build a double border fence all the way from San Ysidro to Brownsville,
and patrol it well. Where geography prevents construction of a physical fence, deploy other resources
in sufficient number to shut down illegal crossings.
Highway sound barriers as
border fences? As discussion of erecting a security fence along U.S. borders with Mexico
and Canada heats up, some analysts say it's possible Washington could economically erect thousands of
miles of barrier to keep out illegal aliens, smugglers and terrorists, for about half of what the
Pentagon is spending a month to fight the war on terror.
"Vigilantes" on
the border? Social Security used to be called the third rail of politics but
illegal immigration is the real third rail that both political parties are afraid to touch. Cops
who find illegal aliens are under orders not to turn them in to the feds. And the federal
government's own border guards have their hands tied by the higher-ups as well.
Congress
to vote on bill that waives environmental laws. Congress is
expected to vote next week on a measure that would allow completion of a controversial
triple-fencing project along the U.S.-Mexico border near Imperial Beach [California] without
complying with state or federal environmental safeguards. The triple-fencing
project would run along the westernmost 3.5 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
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