Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Republican lawmakers press DHS on border fence
A group of House Republicans on Tuesday called on the Homeland Security Department to build 700 miles of double-layered fencing along the border with Mexico, as required under a 2006 law.
Leading the group, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has introduced legislation that would place such a mandate on the department. Congress removed the requirements in the 2006 law as part of the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill.
But the Republicans said they are committed to seeing the fencing built. "This to me is a matter of national security," Jones said during a news conference. "We believe sincerely that this issue cannot be delayed."
Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff told reporters Monday that the department plans to have 670 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers constructed along the border by the end of this year.
But that is unacceptable to Republicans like House Homeland Security ranking member Peter King, who introduced the 2006 law. "I'm not satisfied with that answer," King said of Chertoff's remarks. He said the department only plans to build 370 miles of physical fencing, of which a small fraction will be double-layered.
Chertoff also said he believed the border would be secured by 2011. But the secretary said it could be secured sooner if Congress passed comprehensive immigration reform that includes a guest-worker program.
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The politicians who voted for the Secure Fence Act were primarily interested in the symbolism of a wall, not its substance, otherwise they would have checked to see if the original San Diego border wall had worked. In fact, it hadn’t. The Congressional Research Service concluded that the border wall “did not have a discernible impact on the influx of unauthorized aliens coming across the border in San Diego.” Recent Border Patrol statistics bear this conclusion out. Fiscal year 2007 saw a 7% increase in illegal crossings in the San Diego sector. In contrast, during the same year crossings border-wide dropped by 20%. The Del Rio sector, which like the rest of Texas east of El Paso has never had a wall, saw a 46% drop. The unwalled Rio Grande Valley saw a 34% drop, bringing illegal entries in that sector to a 15 year low. Even Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff recognized the border wall’s ineffectiveness, saying, “I think the fence has come to assume a certain kind of symbolic significance which should not obscure the fact that it is a much more complicated problem than putting up a fence which someone can climb over with a ladder or tunnel under with a shovel.”
At the rate our economy is being destroyed, in 10 years' time the US government will be using that fence to keep Americans from escaping to Mexico.
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