Posted on 04/26/2007 3:07:05 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY — A high-tech "virtual wall" will detect more than 95 percent of illegal crossings at the busiest jumping-off point along the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. Border Patrol chief said today.
In a videoconference with reporters in Mexico, David Aguilar predicted the so-called "virtual wall" of lights, ground sensors and cameras — reinforced by more agents — will essentially halt illegal crossings along the Arizona border, the busiest section for clandestine entries.
Officials expect to complete 28 miles of the high-tech system in Arizona by June, and by next year it should run into New Mexico and parts of Texas.
Eventually, the integrated system will cover sections along the entire border, from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas.
"We will be able to identify, detect and classify more than 95 percent of illegal entries with the virtual wall," Aguilar said.
Detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border already have dropped by 30 percent from October 2006 to this week, compared to the same period last year, Aguilar said — a reduction officials attribute to fewer attempted crossings. In 2006, 1.1 million migrants were detained.
He attributed the fall to President Bush's deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the border, the addition of more than 700 Border Patrol agents this fiscal year and new strategies.
Along a 210-mile stretch in west Texas, detentions have dropped 65 percent since the start of a federal project called Operation Streamline, which jails and prosecutes any illegal immigrant caught crossing there.
Aguilar said far fewer immigrants have been seen at traditional staging points in Mexico and that agents have not seen a shift to new crossing areas along the border.
Congress has approved 700 miles of fence for the border and has allowed officials to decide whether to build metal fences or virtual walls.
Aguilar expects most of the distance will be covered by the virtual barrier, with metal walls kept to a minimum.
The U.S. government is adding 70 miles of metal walls this year and 225 miles next year. The barriers are being built primarily in Arizona, which has seen the largest flow of illegal migrants since a U.S. crackdown in Texas and California more than a decade ago funneled people into its remote desert.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has likened the barriers to the Berlin Wall.
They have to find them so they can give them their “Welcome to America” goodie bag, and the list of the best welfare states.
My first thought too...
What good is it to detect them? We won’t stop them anyway....
My reaction exactly.
You’re right on!
The Minutemen will tell you that illegal crossings have NOT decreased at all!
There are as many as ever out there all day and all night long trying to find a way to sneak through. The National Guard on the border has done nothing to deter them.
Big freaking deal. We don’t do anything once they’re here anyhow so how is this anything other than a huge waste of money?
It kept East Berliners in. People from the West were free to come and go. I lived four years in Berlin and had no problem going to East Berlin for lunch if I wanted to.
From JFK's famous speech in Berlin:
"While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your mayor has said, an offence not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together."
"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.
We are building the wall to keep people from illegally entering the US along the southern border where 500,000 to 1 million enter the US annually.
If the wall were to keep people in, it would be constructed by Mexico. That was my point. This wall is not like other walls. All walls are not created equal. Do you get it yet?
I get it, but Mexican leaders like Fox and Calderon have compared the proposed wall to the Berlin Wall. It is clearly not. The US is building it and we are not trying to keep Americans in. Walls are built for different purposes. We have a right to delineate and control our border using a wall.
The opponents have used the Berlin Wall analogy to discredit and discourage our building the wall. The point of my comment was that this was no Berlin wall. The analogy is misleading and dead wrong. Get it?
How about a virtual amnesty?
Well, that's a start. How do you plan to detain those who are detected?
Ayuh, that's what I thought.
Detain? Ya direct them to the Drivers lic. place. Unless of course you brought enough with you.
“Detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border already have dropped by 30 percent from October 2006 to this week, compared to the same period last year,”
Can you say “Nana is Suspicous”?
Every time I see comments along these lines I just think, less illegal aliens getting caught...
Maybe we should roll our tanks into Mexico and make it a satellite nation like Russia did. Then there would be no need for a wall.
As Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese Christian who lived through jihad as a child, wrote “Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America. ....
“There are practicing Muslims and a non-practicing Muslims. I think it is a better description than “moderate” and “radical.” A practicing Muslim goes to mosque, prays five times a day, doesn’t drink, believes God gave him women to be his property — to beat, to stone to death. . . . He believes Christians and Jews are apes and pigs because they are cursed by Allah. He believes it is his duty to declare war on the infidels because they are Allah’s enemies. That is a practicing Muslim. A non-practicing Muslim no longer goes to mosque or prays five times a day, has an occasional glass of wine and believes that a woman is equal to a man. . . . He believes he cannot murder his wife just because he wants to. He does not believe in taking four wives just for sexual pleasure. . . . He no longer believes that, as a Muslim, it is his duty to kill the apes and pigs that have been cursed by Allah. A non-practicing Muslim is educated, an intellectual who believes the Koran — written in the 7th century — doesn’t apply to today’s standards, and Islam needs to be reformed. Those Muslims do exist and live in the West. However, they are such a minority — we estimate about 2 percent — they are irrelevant because it is the majority that is causing the problem now.
We must “Shut our borders. We have terrorists coming through our borders. Al Qaeda is working with the MS-13 gang [El Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha], smuggling al Qaeda terrorists into the country. Hezbollah is doing the same. . . . We estimate thousands have already been smuggled into America. . . . Hamas is here. . . . They have cells in over 40 states. . . . We also need to reform our immigration and visa programs. We need to monitor who is coming into our country and why. . . . We need to increase human intelligence. . . .To get that human element that gets you the information, it takes years to establish trust with the enemy in order to get the secrets out of them. . . . As for profiling, I want everyone who fits the terrorist profile to be profiled. We have men between the ages of 16 and 40 who have committed terrorist acts around the world in the name of Islam. They are not little old ladies from Ohio with blue hair. They are not children going to Disney World on their Easter vacation.”
I heard on one of the talk shows a few days ago, that we have lost 1500 of our Border Patrol..and who can blame them after the job this Administration has done on some of their members and the orders they have to operate under. It was also stated that the agents had signed a petition stating they no longer have any faith in David Angulars’ leadership, as he is another “yes man” for the President...like Gonzales is, I assume.I don’t know how valid this is, but observing how things are playing out at the border, and this nonsense about a virtual fence being the way to go,I think it is a bunch of gov. BS as far as I’m concerned.
Recently fifteen untrianed civilians took up positions between NG Posts, in that 6 mile area, in 3, three hour shifts, they have been responsible for the apprehension of 22 Illegal Aliens, and causing 12 to return to Mexico, all of whom had slipped through the virtual fence, reinforced by the National Guard.
Violence on the border is increasing. Last night there were three shots fired from Mexico, a couple of hundred yards from my position There were no bullets flying in our area. Gun shots in that area are not uncommon, so we positioned ourselves where we couldn't be seen from Mexico. It was obviously an intimidation attempt, it wasn't the first, and won't be the last.
We will detect them but the government doesn’t want to stop them!
Whre did this guy come from....he promised me the tooth fairy....I am still waiting
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