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"The "border" is an unmitigated security disasater. And WHY must we await a bill submitted by a House member before doing something about the border?" - F16Fighter

Our border is *better* today than back in 2000.

I just spent 9 days along the U.S. - Mexico border, including 2 days around Playa de Tijuana and Tijuana itself. Unlike what you'd see 5 years ago, you don't see hordes of illegals running and swimming across the border. You *do* see U.S. border patrols, U.S. Coast Guard ship patrols, helicopter patrols, and a big steel fence that GWB built after 9/11.

Now granted, this increased border security probably isn't perfect, but it irritates me that people are claiming that we've "done nothing" or that our borders are still "wide open" and other such nonsense.

Yes, there are remote desert areas where environmental groups have successfully sued the Bush Administration in order to slow the construction of the steel fence. Yes, those remote areas *are* passable on foot (but you'd better bring a bunch of water and be prepared to hike for miles) for now. So clearly more needs to be done.

But we also have to give credit where it is due, and there has been substantial progress on border security in the last 3 years, contrary to the people who keep writing articles based on pre-9/11 information.

Once easy, Illegal Immigration Now Risky:President Bush Builds 12 ft Tall Steel Fence Along Mexican Border From The Pacific Into Arizona, Plus Around Major Populated Areas In Arizona and Texas

Illegals Deported By The Planeload Now

Stick the finger in the dike one place, and it puts more pressure on it elsewhere. There is no coherent plan. Bush didn't want one. But he has got the message. Rove has told him it is time to tack. The Bush policy has changed. It changed very recently. Something vaguely sensible about border maintenance is now in the third trimerter, with a partial birth abortion increasingly unlikely. You can write that down.

Our border is *better* today than back in 2000.

This is a stretch. When President Bush took office there were 6 to 8 million illegals in the USA. Now there are some 10 to 20 million illegals. Depending on the numbers you believe, that is between a 20% and 100% expansion. From the article you posted:

The Operation Gatekeeper philosophy has thrived and spread along San Diego County's 66-mile border with Mexico and into adjacent Imperial County. It also has taken root along urban sections of the border in Texas and Arizona.

and

In fact, some immigration experts say, though crossings are down in Imperial Beach and other urban areas, the number of people who enter the United States illegally each year has not declined.

First, there is no steel fence from the Pacific to Arizona as your link implies. And secondly, the number of illegals crossing the border has not been reduced so it is difficult to claim that anything is better.

Your post implies that Bush has improved something on the borders since 9/11 but actually Operation Gatekeeper was a Clinton initiative. President Bush has done little to expand border security on his watch. Manpower has gone up by perhaps 10% and is nowhere close to adequate. Despite being seriously undermanned, the Bush Administration in its recent budget only requested 200 of the 2000 new Border Patrol Agents authorized by Congress last year. And under the Bush Administration interior enforcement actions against employers of illegals has dwindled from about 1000 per year under his father and 500 per year under Clinton to about 15 per year.

Since you are asking us to give credit where credit is due, I would say that President Bush is due damn little credit with respect to securing our borders.