For anyone interested in the truth, As most of us have read in various mainstream media reports, watched on television interviews and you tube clips, Rick Perry, in context has said time and time again he opposes a real fence. He supports a ‘smart fence’ which is not a fence at all. It is a system of electronics that Democrats came up with to turn off when they need more voters coming across unopposed...which was of course prior to the current method of simply standing down the border patrol and bussing them in directly with no GOP opposition.
Perhaps it is a new thing that Perry can make a definitive statement multiple times on camera and somehow the words “I oppose the border fence” followed by mocking conservatives who support it with 35 foot ladder ‘jokes’, mean something other than the fact he opposed a border fence. Such a conclusion can only be obtained through interpretative dance. Because it has nothing to do with factual honesty.
Secondly, To believe that the No Border Wall group has no connection to LaRaza, dispute sharing resources, members, backing the same cause in the same area, posting each others articles and more, one would logically have to believe that groups like ACORN had/have no association to the Democrat party.
Third, both the southern Cal border Patrol office assigned to the fence in the San Diego sector credits it with a massive reduction in illegal crossings. Half a world away, Israel’s border fence had a reported high 90% effectiveness rate. In both cases that translates to massively fewer illegals crossing the border. As above, a quick search of google or any other search engine will yield literally tens of thousands of articles regarding the successes and effectiveness of these fences.
Lastly, when someone posts information claiming wall/fences do not work from groups whose sole agenda is to facilitate illegal immigration, it speaks for itself.
A massive reduction? Let's examine the numbers, shall we?
The double pedestrian fencing in the San Diego sector was complete in 2005. So let's look directly at the Border Patrol apprehension data from 2005 to 2012, when the current surge began due to Obama's announcement of no deportation for minors.
| Year | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Bend | 10,536 | 7,520 | 5,536 | 5,391 | 6,360 | 5,288 | 4,036 | 3,964 |
| Del Rio | 68,506 | 42,636 | 22,920 | 20,761 | 17,082 | 14,694 | 16,144 | 21,720 |
| El Centro | 55,722 | 61,465 | 55,883 | 40,961 | 33,521 | 32,562 | 30,191 | 23,916 |
| El Paso | 122,679 | 122,256 | 75,464 | 30,312 | 14,999 | 12,251 | 10,345 | 9,678 |
| Laredo | 75,346 | 74,840 | 56,714 | 43,658 | 40,569 | 35,287 | 36,053 | 44,872 |
| Rio Grande Valley | 134,136 | 110,528 | 73,430 | 75,473 | 60,989 | 59,766 | 59,243 | 97,762 |
| San Diego | 126,904 | 142,104 | 152,460 | 162,390 | 118,721 | 68,565 | 42,447 | 28,461 |
| Tucson | 439,079 | 392,074 | 378,239 | 317,696 | 241,673 | 212,202 | 123,285 | 120,000 |
| Yuma | 138,438 | 118,549 | 37,992 | 8,363 | 6,951 | 7,116 | 5,833 | 6,500 |
As you can see, San Diego's apprehensions went up not down from 2005 to 2009. Nearly every other sector's apprehensions, the ones without double fencing or any fencing at all, went down.
From 2009 to 2011, San Diego's apprehensions went down significantly. So did nearly every other sector's apprehensions. Remember, those sectors don't have double fencing. Some have no fencing. So the double fence in San Diego had been there for four years. Did the fence suddenly become a substantial deterrent?
What happened in 2009 that caused such a drop in apprehensions, not just in San Diego, but all across the southern border? Well, from 2005 to 2009, we increased the number of Border Patrol agents from 11, 264 to 20,119, of whom 17,399 are deployed to the southern border. And we increased technological detection and enforcement capabilities, such as cameras, radar, sensors, and towers. (i.e. your dreaded "smart fencing")
Then, in 2012, apprehensions jumped all across the southern border when Obama announced he wouldn't bother with deporting minors.
In short, Norm, the attribution of apprehension reductions in San Diego to the double pedestrian fencing is a myth.
By the way, Rick Perry is not the only one who supports strategic fencing. Here's what The Heritage Foundation has to say about border fencing:
In some areas, erecting fences is the best way to tackle the illegal-entry problem. But the cost makes it important to use fencing only in areas with a low "melting point." The melting point is the time it takes for an individual to cross the border and "melt" into a landscape unnoticed. In urban border communities, spending money on physical barriers makes sense because individuals can easily cross the border and sneak quickly into the urban landscape (for example, one can hide in a building or steal a car and drive away). But in other areas, like the middle of the desert, the barren landscape makes it easy for Border Patrol agents to detect border crossers.