Excerpt:
[Wolf] BLITZER: All right, what do you say to Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security?
[Duncan] HUNTER: Yes, I would say Secretary Chertoff is absolutely wrong, Wolf. It's been six months since I passed that legislation. It passed the Senate 80-19. The president signed it last October 26th.
That's about six months ago and, to date -- I checked the other day -- you have a grand total of 11 miles of a single layer. They haven't even built the second layer. Now, if you work that out, that means it will be 20 years before we finish the border fence.
And Secretary Chertoff's own undersecretary said they were going to build a little bit of fence, and then wait and watch it. You've got individual ranchers in Texas who have built more fence than the federal government. And the idea that it takes six months to survey a piece of land or to prepare it by grading it for the fence to be constructed is absolutely being naive. What you do is you take multiple contractors, you start them at multiple points across the fence.
And I will tell you this: When I'm elected president, I will finish the border fence from start to finish in six months. It's very easy. It can be done.
And in reality, the administration held the border fence back and didn't construct it because they wanted to pair part of it -- that is, the 370 miles they now propose that is proposed in the Senate amnesty bill, they wanted to couple that with the amnesty so they would have both enforcement and amnesty walking forward at the same time.
“You’ve got individual ranchers in Texas who have built more fence than the federal government.”
Wow. Most men in my family have built more fence than the federal government. Better too. My redneck brother-in-law fenced this place using sixteen foot fences with cameras & sensors: http://www.dreammountainresort.com/
He didn’t get $3M/mile.