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Torches, bungee cords used to breach border fence
The Houston Chronicle ^ | April 11, 2008, 1:17PM | ALICIA A. CALDWELL

Posted on 04/11/2008 12:37:44 PM PDT by BradtotheBone

COLUMBUS, N.M. — Illegal immigrants armed with torches, hacksaws, ladders and even bungee cords are making it around a section of the border fence hailed as the most efficient way to stop them.

In the 10 months since the section was put up, the only method federal agents haven't seen is a tunnel — "Yet," said Victor Guzman, the supervisory Border Patrol agent responsible for the stretch of close-together 15-foot cement-filled steel poles planted three feet into the ground.

Agents responsible for guarding the stretch of border here "almost immediately" started seeing cuts in the fence. The towering gray and rust colored posts are marked with bright orange spray paint in areas believed to have been breached, Guzman said.

Guzman, who has worked in the area for nearly a decade, said agents have found holes cut with acetylene torches, hacksaws and even plasma torches — a high-powered tool that uses inert gas or condensed air to quickly cut through steel and other dense metals.

"We see it once or twice a week," Guzman said of the holes along the 1.5-mile stretch of fencing about 80 miles west of El Paso.

Officials monitoring cameras in the area have seen at least one group using a massive ladder to scale the south side of the fence. The group tried to drop into the U.S. with bungee cords before agents caught them.

But it's not just illegal immigrants worrying the Border Patrol. The fence itself is starting to settle into the ground and gaps between the posts are widening. In one spot, an average sized woman could wedge herself through one of the gaps.

Border Patrol spokesman Joe Romero said the Columbus fencing, built in June, was ordered before the congressional mandate to build 670 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing across the border with Mexico by the end of the year. But its goal is the same: add a layer of security in an otherwise open patch of desert.

Other sections of fencing along the border are being built with panels of woven steel instead of the towering posts.

Detractors have long argued that the fence will do little to stop determined illegal immigrants and smugglers hoping to enter the United States.

Barry Morrissey, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Washington, did not immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press today.

Romero said the breaches are no surprise.

"What we're talking about is our fences are designed to deter people, discourage them from coming in," Romero said. "Combined with the rest of the infrastructure, it's supposed to buy us more time to make an arrest. Even an extra five seconds helps. The goal is, at the very least, it buys us extra time."

Repairing fences is old hat for agents in the Border Patrol's El Paso Sector, which includes the two most western Texas counties and all of New Mexico.

In the city of El Paso, a team of agents is assigned to patrol a stretch of more than a dozen miles of existing fencing, looking for and welding holes. The agents assigned to the task often repair the same sections of fencing daily.

Agents in Arizona and California, where fencing has also been in place for more than a decade, have in the past done the same thing. In some of those areas contractors now help with the daily fixes.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Mexico
KEYWORDS: aliens; border; borderfence; buildawall; fence; illegalalien; immigration
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1 posted on 04/11/2008 12:37:47 PM PDT by BradtotheBone
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To: BradtotheBone

Time to light it up.

BBBBZZZZZZZTTTT


2 posted on 04/11/2008 12:39:32 PM PDT by Slapshot68
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To: BradtotheBone

I guess that the point of this “journalist” article is that the fence can be breached, so why build it? Yup. His house can be robbed, so why lock it.? I’d like him to leave his keys in his car just in case I’d like to borrow it for awhile. Oh, and how about posting his SSN so that I might use if just in case my medical bills get a bit high? Methinks the chinese did a fine job of demonstrating successful fencing a few centuries ago.


3 posted on 04/11/2008 12:43:54 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: BradtotheBone

Is is a double border fence with a border patrol road in between? Didn’t think so.


4 posted on 04/11/2008 12:44:23 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: BradtotheBone
Landmines. That's all that is needed.
5 posted on 04/11/2008 12:44:40 PM PDT by pnh102
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To: Slapshot68
Time to light it up.

BBBBZZZZZZZTTTT

I was thinking of a few well placed machine gun nests

6 posted on 04/11/2008 12:45:06 PM PDT by MAexile (Bats left, votes right)
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To: BradtotheBone
Back the fence up with these.


7 posted on 04/11/2008 12:45:54 PM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: BradtotheBone

This account of how easily the fence is breached should be dragged out every single time one of those environ whacks complains about hampering the migration and mating habits of the North American Curly White sheep and the Sneaky Southern Curly Brown sheep... or whatever critter is in danger of extinction.


8 posted on 04/11/2008 12:51:34 PM PDT by InsensitiveConservative
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To: BradtotheBone

Until the border is defended with LETHAL FORCE — there is no significant downside consequence to making the attempt...

Success — brings access to nearly unlimited taxpayer provided services and a target rich environment for those with CRIME as their vocation..

Failure — simply means returning to GO — do not collect $200 and roll the dice again..

Until we treat it as the invasion it truly is — and fire upon WHOMEVER attempts to illegally cross our border, this nation is on a time clock winding down to less that third world status...


9 posted on 04/11/2008 12:55:32 PM PDT by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: BradtotheBone

We can put men on the moon, but we can’t even protect our borders...


10 posted on 04/11/2008 12:58:02 PM PDT by Tex Pete (Obama for Change: from our pockets, our piggy banks, and our couch cushions!)
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To: BradtotheBone

“Condensed air”? Where do these idiots get their “learnin?”


11 posted on 04/11/2008 1:00:29 PM PDT by P3_Acoustic
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To: Slapshot68
Time to light it up.

BBBBZZZZZZZTTTT

You don’t understand Mexico, there would be extension cords running all the way to Mexico City. Not enough juice left to zap a fly.

12 posted on 04/11/2008 1:08:51 PM PDT by usurper (Spelling or grammatical errors in this post can be attributed to the LA City School System)
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To: P3_Acoustic

I got some condensed water once, but I couldn’t figure out what to mix with it.


13 posted on 04/11/2008 1:11:56 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Just saying what 'they' won't.)
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To: BradtotheBone

Time to apply direct current.


14 posted on 04/11/2008 1:19:59 PM PDT by Neoliberalnot ((Hallmarks of Liberalism: Ingratitude and Envy))
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To: InsensitiveConservative
every single time one of those environ whacks complains about hampering the migration

Here in Idaho last year we had a range fire that took out a three wire barbed wire fence dividing private range land from public BLM land. When it was supposed to be put back up those stupid enviro whackos complained saying it hampered the migration of some species of Grouse...a bird.

15 posted on 04/11/2008 1:26:35 PM PDT by Domandred (McCain's 'R' is a typo that has never been corrected)
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To: Domandred
When it was supposed to be put back up those stupid enviro whackos complained saying it hampered the migration of some species of Grouse...a bird.

And the politicians who believed that have bird brains. Unfortunately, that is most of them.

16 posted on 04/11/2008 1:35:10 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: BradtotheBone

Israel knew full well that any attempt to build a cheap metal fence would quickly be breached.

17 posted on 04/11/2008 1:42:25 PM PDT by Sender (Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom.)
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To: Sender

Now THAT is a fence


18 posted on 04/11/2008 1:43:31 PM PDT by Domandred (McCain's 'R' is a typo that has never been corrected)
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To: Domandred

With guard towers too.


19 posted on 04/11/2008 1:46:01 PM PDT by Sender (Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom.)
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To: BradtotheBone

The problem here is lack of swift armed response. Anyone trying to cut a hole in the Israeli fence will be shot at. We should be doing the same after a warning. But we need a quick response.

Plus sensors and cameras are needed


20 posted on 04/11/2008 1:47:32 PM PDT by dennisw (Superior attitude. Superior state of mind --- Steven Segal)
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