Border Fence - What's the Latest?

[SHANEA]

Someone probably is in the know about the proposal to construct a huge border fence in Texas that was before the Senate last week.  I haven't had time to keep up with the latest developments  :shock:  what's the latest?  Is the fence being built?  Have they decided where the fence will be built, etc.?  Seeing the picture of the hot spring that BBH posted recently reminded me of the issue and "what will the hot spring" be like
if there is a fence running in front of it.

[rgibson]

Couple of years ago, crossed at Nogales and their fence was in terrible shape.  It had many repairs where the solid metal fence had been cut with sawalls and cutting torches.

Also, understood there were also a number of tunnels connecting houses on each side.

[presidio]

Couple of years ago, crossed at Nogales and their fence was in terrible shape.  It had many repairs where the solid metal fence had been cut with sawalls and cutting torches.

Also, understood there were also a number of tunnels connecting houses on each side.

A barrier is just a challenge to be met and overcome.

[Roy]

Today's Corpus paper.

http://www.caller.com/ccct/state_texas_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_876_5035333,00.html

[Undertaker]

Couple of years ago, crossed at Nogales and their fence was in terrible shape.  It had many repairs where the solid metal fence had been cut with sawalls and cutting torches.

Also, understood there were also a number of tunnels connecting houses on each side.

A barrier is just a challenge to be met and overcome.

After spending a few years in military and involved with serious security, I will never forget the simple words of a training meeting " the more locks a door has, the easier the entry" 8)

[TexasGirl]

Bush signed the bill yesterday.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100401751.html

[presidio]

Bush signed the bill yesterday.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100401751.html

As is the case with the myriad of laws and funding bills passed by Congress, passage does not necessarily equate to viable action.

This (very bad) idea will cost far more than estimated, take far longer to implement than planned, and be far more difficult to accomplish than anyone imagined. While there is no doubt some barriers will be erected in some areas...like portions of AZ and CA, and large amounts of tax appropriations will be spent, in the end this is feel-good legislation like most other homeland security actions: let's do something so it doesn't look like we're doing nothing, even if it won't be effective and does not address the root cause of the problem. Ultimately, it will fail and the idea abandoned after declaring victory.

Like the 'no child left behind' legislation, this program will pick carefully selected statistics to 'prove' that it is effective, when any reasonably well informed person can see that it isn't.

[TexasGirl]

Presidio wrote:

this is feel-good legislation like most other homeland security actions: let's do something so it doesn't look like we're doing nothing, even if it won't be effective and does not address the root cause of the problem.

Amen.  Because God forbid we actually have a thoughtful, thought-provoking public conversation that might offend someone.  

We know Bush doesn't read the news, but here's another headline about a lack of migrant workers already affecting our nation's food production:  http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15681181.htm.

For a party that claims to be in favor of market forces and laissez-faire, the current leadership is being blind to reality.  Wait until lettuce costs $5 and tomatoes are $10/lb.  Potato farmers have already set up a cartel (The United Potato Growers Association of America) to curtail supply and manage market prices, taking a cue from OPEC.  People are starving in Darfur and farmers here are plowing under tons of potatoes.  Obviously you can't ship fresh potatoes to Africa, but THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG.  

It's difficult not to be totally cynical and hopeless about the state of affairs.

[presidio]

We know Bush doesn't read the news, but here's another headline about a lack of migrant workers already affecting our nation's food production:  http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15681181.htm.

Hey, wait a minute! Where are all the displaced US workers that migrant laborers take jobs from?

Hmmm....probably sitting on their dead rears at home waiting for the welfare check to arrive since it's easier to be a drain on society than a productive part of it.

Looks like a job opportunity to me for the xenophobes who rant about immigration. Sad part is, they won't put up or shut up.

[TexasGirl]

:)  Ahhhhh thought-provoking conversation.  I think I love you, Presidio.

[presidio]

:) I think I love you, Presidio.

Oh, MY! I don't know what to say!!!  

[TexasGirl]

At least your mind.  ;)  

Here's the latest in the continuing saga.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501935.html

[presidio]

Here's the latest in the continuing saga.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501935.html

Bill to authorize a wall + bill to deauthorize a wall = no net gain but a lot of energy wasted that could have been applied elsewhere. However, both the proponents and opponents can claim victory. Win-win of the highest order. Lose-lose for reasonable action.

[SHANEA]

http://www.10news.com/politics/10047620/detail.html
NOTE:  Out of San Diago - California.

Congressman Hunter Pushes For Border Fence

POSTED: 6:56 pm PDT October 10, 2006
UPDATED: 7:09 pm PDT October 10, 2006

SAN DIEGO -- Local congressman Duncan Hunter said cross-border smuggling could drop if 700 miles of new border fence is built as soon as possible.

“We need to start production of that fence. We’re going to have obstruction in bureaucracy. Some of the officials in Homeland Security think we need radars and sensors, which you may need, but there is no substitute for impediment. We have to have that fence,” said Hunter.

Hunter said San Diego’s border fence cut smuggling in half and lowered crime rates.

The new fence is planned for the U.S.-Mexico border from California to Texas.

Mexico’s foreign secretary is threatening to take the matter to the United Nations, saying the fence is a bilateral issue.

President George W. Bush has said he would sign the border fence bill into law.
Copyright 2006 by 10News.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[SHANEA]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20061007-9999-7m7fence.html

Not from around here.

"Someone" that is good with some of the photo tools, maybe out festive hat designer, can make up a "creation" of what the hot springs, Santa Elena, Boquillas, the canyons, the river road, etc. - will look like when there is a fence built, hopefully NEVER!  Could be good PR to help PREVENT building a fence in BIBE.  Gosh, that would be horrid.  Don't think "chain link" as what they have started constructing in other areas is a huge steel wall.  What about the river road up between Terlingua and Presidio and beyond?  The river road would no longer be the most outstanding drive in the world.

Border 'fence will be built'

By Chet Barfield
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 7, 2006





JOHN R. McCUTCHEN / Union-Tribune
"It's fine if . . . Homeland Security defines where that 700 miles is built, but it must be 700 miles," Rep. Duncan Hunter told the media yesterday. The House and Senate gave the Bush administration leeway in distributing the fence money.
OTAY MESA – On a windy bluff overlooking Tijuana, Rep. Duncan Hunter yesterday rejected suggestions that high-tech security measures might replace some segments of a 700-mile border fence project newly enacted by Congress.
“The fence will be built,” the Alpine Republican told reporters at a border news conference. “This is not a recommendation. It's a mandate by Congress.”

Hunter was a co-sponsor of the so-called Secure Fence Act, which the House and Senate passed last week and President Bush signed Wednesday. The legislation requires double-layered fencing, similar to that erected in the late 1990s along San Diego County's border with Tijuana, to be installed along huge swaths of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

But congressional and White House officials have said the Department of Homeland Security would have the flexibility of using ground-based radar, cameras and sensors in some areas where fencing might be impractical or ineffective.

Hunter bristled at those notions, saying Congress intended no such wiggle-room.

“These people in the bureaucracy need to reminded that this is a mandate,” he said. “It's fine if the secretary of Homeland Security defines where that 700 miles is built, but it must be 700 miles.”

He gave reporters a copy of a letter he sent to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff yesterday “to clarify the intention of the legislation.”

Hunter acknowledged that Arizona's Tohono O'odham tribe strongly objected to walling off the entire 75 miles of border on its reservation, and said Chertoff would have discretion to leave limited areas unfenced as long as major smuggling routes were secured.

Gesturing toward a nearby gully that was a primary route for illegal immigration from Mexico before 14 miles of double-fencing began being installed a decade ago, Hunter said the high metal barrier has been effective in sealing the border along San Diego.

“Where we're standing right now, before they built the fence, this was a no-man's land,” he said. “We've cut smuggling down more than 95 percent in this area.

But critics say fence construction has not decreased the amount of smuggling, but moved it to more remote and dangerous areas.

Hunter disagreed with critics in the United States and Mexico who say fencing off the border is bad for diplomacy.

“We're just doing what's right for the American people and for border security,” he said.

Shortly before recessing late yesterday, the House and Senate gave the administration leeway to distribute the $1.2 billion allocated for the fence on a combination of projects, including roads and technology. It is estimated the fence will cost about $3 million to $10 million per mile.



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Chet Barfield: (619) 542-4572; chet.barfield@uniontrib.com