Posted on 01/21/2015 3:43:04 PM PST by MarchonDC09122009
New GOP Border Security Bill Removes Border Fences The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between Mexico and the United States.
The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border.
“It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills.
“Where the double-layer fence has been put in, it has worked spectacularly. The public is with us 80, 90 percent on this issue,” he added.
Extra fencing would be a waste of money, according to Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“The bill matches resources to needs, putting 27 more miles of fencing where fencing is needed, and technology where technology is needed,” said the statement.
“In our conversations with outside groups, experts and stakeholders, we learned that it would be an inefficient use of taxpayer money to complete the fence. … We are using that money to utilize other technology to create a secure border,” said the statement.
A House staffer said the McCaul’s bill doesn’t require a major fence because of advocacy by Heritage and Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform.
Dan Holler, communications director for Heritage Action for America, told The Daily Caller that Heritage did not recommend against fencing.
ATR has joined with wealthy advocates — such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — to call for increased use of foreign workers and residency for illegal immigrants.
Senate committee staffers declined to offer any reassurances that Senators would modify the bill to fund more fencing and to block Obama’s catch-and-release policy, prior to a Senate vote in a few weeks.
“We’re going to be looking at everything,” said a committee staffer. “We can’t give any detail beyond that.”
The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who co-sponsored the Senate’s 2013 immigration bill.
“We introduced the McCaul [House] bill [in the Senate] as is and plan to update and improve it as we study the issue through [House] briefings and hearings,” said the staffer, who works for the Senate’s homeland security committee. The committee is chaired by Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.
The public strongly supports a border fence. An April 2013 poll by Rasmussen shows “that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States should continue building a border fence, while 29% disagree.” Support for the fence is much higher among the GOP-leaning voters that provided the votes for the GOP victory in November.
A 2006 law required the construction of 700 miles of double-layer fencing along the 2,000 mile border. However, Congress quietly modified the bill in 2008 to allow the construction of simple, ineffective fences in place of the required double-layer fencing.
Officials claim that just over 600 miles of the border now have obstructions, including barriers. But those barriers include lines of bollards to stop vehicles, plus single-layer “landing mat fencing” and only 36.5 miles of double-layer fencing.
The leaders’ bills call for the replacement of anti-pedestrian mat fences by anti-vehicle bollards.
The bollards will allow migrants to be driven up to the border, and then walked over to a pick-up vehicle on the U.S. side.
“Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall replace, at a minimum, each of the following: (A) Thirty-one miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. (B) Five miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector. (C) Three miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s Yuma sector. (D) Twenty-five miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector. (E) Two miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s El Paso sector,” says a section on page 12 of the House bill, HR 399.
Only liberals oppose the fence. Not one of these ‘patriots’ EVER produced a rancher that said ‘no friggin way’.
...and replaces them with.......what?
Personal story...I stopped at a truck stop on my way home from a trip and I heard NO English whatsoever...and LOTS of Spanglish. Got me kinda hot!!
I felt like I had just been transported to a foreign country not 60 miles from my house!
No I agree should have been more clearer. Pass a bill with the fence and then put it on to bozo’s hand and then say he is the one who does not want border security and immigration reform.
Maybe you did—I was rooting for Grimes in Kentucky from the time McConnell won the primary on. Even if you have a majority in both houses, without at least one decent leader in place, one is going nowhere.
>>>So yes. You DO owe America an apology<<<
Uh, no. I was just asking you a question.
I don’t apologize for Voting against Democrats, I relish it. BTW - I live in CA. I didn’t Vote for Boner or Turtle.
I Voted for Reagan and he gave Millions of Illegals Amnesty.
Should I apologize for that Vote as well?
Calm down Norm. You’re holier than thou attacks on your fellow FReepers act is getting a bit old IMHO. We’re done.
Forgot one thing Norm. We both agree that we should have a Southern Border Fence from the Gulf to the Pacific.
Good Night.
Not holier than anything. Its true or it isn’t. If it isn’t, it’s an excuse.
Why? So the senate can twist it to give Barry more? Playing that game only works with 2 opposing teams. And we can’t trust anyone in power to not side with the libs. they proved that.
No bill. Enforce the current law.
I concur.....Stay Safe !!
And you as well.
Amen brother. You know what to say.
Are these the fences that were already voted on, funded, but never built?
WHY BOTHER?
AT THIS POINT........
**Why do we even bother pretending to have borders? We don’t defend them to any real effect.**
No border equals no Nation. America is no more. Wake up people!
We are going to lose. Let’s do it with a third party!!
Land mine’s would be a better choice.
Land mine’s would be a better choice.
Doesn’t even take that. If our immigration laws were enforced all across the country they would stop coming. If they were turned in and deported every time they came in contact with anyone in government from the smallest town all the way up to Feds we would not have an illegal alien problem.
Well thats what the libs here demanded. Lesser evil. And they sent so much of it to power it became greater than the sum of it’s parts.
All of the blame is theirs. A L L O F I T. They voted GOP when many told them what would and DID happen. This is not a DEM problem. This is not a principled conservative problem. None of us sent these idiots to DC. It’s a RINO compromising GOP sycophant problem. They elected them knowingly and with ‘lesser evil’ as their guide.
I think it’s hilarious they now scream/are ‘offended’ about being responsible when clearly they and they alone are.
Better to lose with dignity than lose with none.
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