Posted on 04/07/2006 9:27:26 AM PDT by bordergal
Morning Edition, April 6, 2006 · As Congress looks to revamp immigration policy, some lawmakers are pushing to extend fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico. Proposals range from beefing up existing fences in Arizona to constructing new fences that would span 700 miles. Those advocating expanded fencing already have a model they can look to: a fence the federal government built more than a decade ago along a 14-mile-stretch in San Diego, Calif., that borders Tijuana, Mexico.
Before the fence was built, all that separated that stretch of Mexico from California was a single strand of cable that demarcated the international border.
Back then, Border Patrol agent Jim Henry says he was overwhelmed by the stream of immigrants who crossed into the United States illegally just in that sector.
"It was an area that was out of control," Henry says. "There were over 100,000 aliens crossing through this area a year."
Today, Henry is assistant chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. He says apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double -- and in some places, triple -- fencing.
The first fence, 10 feet high, is made of welded metal panels. The second fence, 15 feet high, consists of steel mesh, and the top is angled inward to make it harder to climb over. Finally, in high-traffic areas, there's also a smaller chain-link fence. In between the two main fences is 150 feet of "no man's land," an area that the Border Patrol sweeps with flood lights and trucks, and soon, surveillance cameras.
"Here in San Diego, we have proven that the border infrastructure system does indeed work," Henry says. "It is highly effective."
Rancher Carol Kimsey, who lives in a valley near the Pacific Ocean on the U.S.-side of the fence, says the border barrier has improved the quality of life in the area.
"It was pretty seriously bad," she recalls of the prefence days. "They were tearing up everything. They'd just go through fences. They didn't care."
Kimsey says life is more peaceful now, despite the Border Patrol helicopters circling nearby. This is still an active smuggling route, especially for drugs. A stretch of border where there's only one fence is referred to as Smugglers' Gulch. The Border Patrol is moving forward with plans to add a second fence there as well as along the last 3.5 miles to the ocean, which had been held up by years of litigation over environmental concerns.
The extra fencing will cost at least $35 million. But Claudio Smith, an attorney and border activist, says the toll has been much higher in human lives. She says the fencing has simply forced immigrants to take more dangerous routes through the mountains and scorching-hot deserts.
"It didn't stop people from crossing," she says. "It just forced them to cross in the deadliest stretches of the border."
An estimated 3,600 people have died crossing the U.S. border since the fences went up.
It is now harder to cross the border into the United States, and also more expensive. Border crossers say they pay human smugglers, or coyotes, much more than they did a decade ago.
Smith says the fence has actually created a sort of perverse and unintended consequence: It is keeping people in the United States who used to go back to Mexico.
"The men would come for a number of months out of every year and return (to Mexico)," Smith says. "Now, not only are the men staying, but they're bringing their families."
During the last decade, millions of people have continued to cross the border illegally -- mostly in Arizona. That's the next target for those who want to build double- and triple-fencing.
It would seem to me the solution is to fence the entire border, for the safety of the illegals, and in the best interest of the United States.
Yep, and bank vaults are simply forcing bank robbers to take more drastic measures, late in the evening.
"Good fences make good neighbors."
How about some supportive material, you filthy apologist.
The weakness is still the ocean. Anybody can take a boat from Mexico containing anyone and anything and motor it up to the U.S. The Customs agents agree this is a big problem and no practical solution to it has been proposed.
You cannot completely close prevent people from crossing the border. You can however keep making it harder, more dangeous, and more costly to cross, until you've reduced teh flow to a trickle.
An estimated 3,600 people have died crossing the U.S. border since the fences went up.
I am unhappy to hear that these people died as a result of the choice they made. However, they died as a result of their own illegal actions, and the US government has zero responsibility for their fate.
We are seeing evidence that the fences can work, they however need to be expanded.
I'm not convinced that fencing it the best solution in all areas. I also expect that these fences are going to need to be backed up with more manpower once they are expanded and become harder to get around.
However, the evidence shows they work.
Correction:
That fence needs to run the length of the southern border of the US.
I hereby notify the IRS, the Congress and our Eunuch-in-Chief that I am willing to pay an extra 1% in taxes for one year to build a 20 foot high and low [to cut off tunnels] all along the border.
This writer tries to discourage fences in the end with the unintended consequences quote.
Bottom line- The fences work where they are installed.
But a lot fewer would be doing this.
There is a problem: securing the Mexican border will take a lot of money. The only likely way to justify the expense would be to justify it as security against terrorists infiltrating the U.S.
The problem: the terrorists are most likely to enter Canada as refugees, get Canadian citizenship and welfare benefits, and cross the border legally on a Canadian passport...
"The weakness is still the ocean."
Sharks. Sharks w/ lasers strapped to their heads.
No, you're right. I guess we should just `roll-over' then . . .
When Rudy Giuliani took over as Mayor, New York City was widely viewed as being "ungovernable". Crime was out of control, and there was seeminly nothing anybody could do about it.
Giuliani said "Nuts" to that, and proceeded, step by step, to enforce the law and reduce crime. After 8 years, New York City is the model that everybody else in the country follows.
Moral of the Story: Don't believe it when people say that it can't be done. That just means it is going to be more difficult. This job can be done.
Correction: >>That fence needs to run the length of the southern border of the US.
And that fence doesn't have to be more than 10 foot wide strands of razor wire. This could be laid down in a MONTH. Enough gaps need to be allowed for regular traffic and monitoring by Border Patrol agents between existing Ports of Entry. It doesn't make sense to have miles and miles of open fields and a few agents to patrol the whole area. To me, it means that transgressions are a wink and nod. Saying we are going to "beef up" over 5 years, with new agents and drones is insane.
If the borders of Iraq can be made secure, so can ours..
Dolphins are much smarter and easier to train.
Dolphins are much smarter and easier to train.
He's still issuing 1 million tourist visas per year to Mexicans, and those illegals come in even with the most secure fence imaginable - he has to start scanning Mexican visas on entry and confiscating them from the millions that are misusing them
another way to justify it is that it will pay for itself by saving us money on detention facilities, health care, court proceedings, education, law enforcement, English classes, and all the other costs (financial and otherwise) that the illegals bring upon us
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