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The Incredible Disappearing Border Fence
Michellemalkin.com ^ | 12/19/13 | Michelle Malkin

Posted on 06/20/2013 7:18:19 AM PDT by cotton1706

Do you know the story of the Incredible Disappearing Border Fence? It's an object lesson in gesture politics and homeland insecurity. It's a tale of hollow rhetoric, meaningless legislation and bipartisan betrayal. And in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, it's a helpful learning tool as you assess the promises of immigration enforcement converts now running for president.

Last fall, Democrats and Republicans in Washington responded to continued public outrage over border chaos by passing the "Secure Fence Act." Did you question the timing? You should have. It's no coincidence they finally got off their duffs to respond just before the 2006 midterm elections. Lawmakers vowed grandiosely to keep America safe. The law specifically called for "at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors" at five specific stretches of border totaling approximately 700 miles.

GOP leaders patted themselves on the back for their toughness. President Bush made a huge to-do in signing the bill into law. Never mind the lack of funding for the fence and the failure to address many other immediate reforms that could have been adopted immediately to strengthen immigration enforcement, close deportation loopholes and provide systemic relief at the border without the need for a single brick or bulldozer.

On the very day the bill was signed, open-borders politicians were already moving to water it down. Texas Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn pushed for "flexibility to choose other options instead of fencing, if needed." Six months after passage of the Secure Fence Act -- now interpreted by Washington as the Flexible Non-Fence Act or, as I call it, the FINO (Fence in Name Only) Act -- 700 miles shrunk to "somewhere in the ballpark" of 370 miles. A 14-mile fence-building project in San Diego was stalled for years by environmental legal challenges and budget shortfalls. The first deadline -- a May 30, 2007 requirement for installation of an "interlocking surveillance camera system" along the border in California and Arizona -- passed unmet. GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter, one of the few Republican presidential candidates to walk the talk on border security, blasted the Bush administration for suffering from "a case of 'the slows' on border enforcement."

More than a year after the law's passage, the citizen watchdog group Grassfire reports that just five miles of double-layer fencing has been built in the first 12 months of implementation of the act. Five lousy miles. The Government Accountability Office claims 70 miles were erected -- but most of that fencing failed to meet the specifications of the law.

Is Congress up in arms? Will there be accountability? Don't make me snort. Instead of demanding that the law be enforced, the pols are sabotaging the law. As part of the omnibus spending package passed this week, House Democrats incorporated Senate Republicans' provisions to remove the two-layer fencing requirements and the specific target list of fencing locations.

GOP Rep. Peter T. King, who sponsored the Secure Fence Act, told the Washington Times: "This is either a blatant oversight or a deliberate attempt to disregard the border security of our country. As it's currently written, the omnibus language guts the Secure Fence Act almost entirely. Quite simply, it is unacceptable."

But so totally, totally predictable.

GOP Majority Leader John Boehner tried to blame the House Democrat majority: "The fact that this was buried in a bloated, 3,500-page omnibus speaks volumes about the Democrats' unserious approach on border security and illegal immigration," he said. "Gutting the Secure Fence Act will make our borders less secure, but it's consistent with the pattern of behavior we've seen all year from this majority." But it's border state Republicans who've been gunning to undermine the law while the ink was still fresh.

To add insult to injury and homeland insecurity upon homeland insecurity, Congress failed to adopt a ban on federal aid to sanctuary cities that prevent government employees and law enforcement officers from asking about immigration status; voted to stall implementation of stricter ID standards at border crossings; and miraculously found enough money to provide $10 million in "emergency" funding for attorneys of illegal aliens.

Next time you hear a leading presidential candidate try to woo you with his nine-point immigration enforcement plan or his secure ID plan or his Secure Borders platform, point to the Incredible Disappearing Border Fence. Poof! That is what happens to election-season homeland security promises. Why would theirs be any different?


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: 2006; aliens; amnesty; borderfence; bordersecurity; borderwars; immigrationbill; malkin; michellemalkin; securefenceact

1 posted on 06/20/2013 7:18:19 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

Sorry, Correction, this was published on 12/19/07.


2 posted on 06/20/2013 7:18:49 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

Thanks for the correction since the potential time warp was affecting my equilibrium...LOL!!


3 posted on 06/20/2013 7:22:07 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: cotton1706
What do you call politicians who hold the door open for invaders, with the intention of changing their nation's demographic for political gain?

Traitors. Quisling traitors.

Treason is the reason.


4 posted on 06/20/2013 7:29:09 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

The globalist Republicrats and cheap labor goons of the Chamber of Commerce have domestic blood on their hands already. Now, it’s just a matter of degree.


5 posted on 06/20/2013 7:33:56 AM PDT by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
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To: cotton1706

“GOP Majority Leader John Boehner tried to blame the House Democrat majority: “The fact that this was buried in a bloated, 3,500-page omnibus speaks volumes about the Democrats’ unserious approach on border security and illegal immigration,” he said. “Gutting the Secure Fence Act will make our borders less secure, but it’s consistent with the pattern of behavior we’ve seen all year from this majority.” But it’s border state Republicans who’ve been gunning to undermine the law while the ink was still fresh. “

Because they’re in the pockets of businessmen who want the cheap labor.


6 posted on 06/20/2013 7:44:53 AM PDT by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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To: TADSLOS

We have reached the point where the anchor baby born in a Texas or Arizona hospital today is more important to our elites than any natural born middle class citizen.


7 posted on 06/20/2013 7:44:58 AM PDT by Soul of the South (Yesterday is gone. Today will be what we make of it.)
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To: Soul of the South

Of course. Like feedlot cattle. They are the born and bred low information voting taker class to keep the ruling political class in power.


8 posted on 06/20/2013 7:48:13 AM PDT by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
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To: Travis McGee

INDEED!!!

...and just look at the indignant uprising of the populace./s


9 posted on 06/20/2013 8:58:28 AM PDT by wita
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