Jeffrey: Where Obama's Border Lies

To President Barack Obama, securing the border is a laughing matter -- and a lying matter.

When Obama spoke in El Paso, Texas, yesterday, he claimed that (1) the federal government has now "basically" completed the border fence that security minded Republicans wanted built and (2) El Paso and other border communities are "among the safest in the nation."

"They wanted a fence. Well, the fence ... is now basically complete," said Obama. "Maybe they'll need a moat," he added. "Maybe they want alligators in the moat."

"El Paso and other cities and towns along this border are consistently among the safest in the nation," said Obama.

In 2006, Congress passed -- and President George W. Bush signed -- the Secure Fence Act, sponsored by House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y.

King explained it on the House floor. "It provides over 700 miles of two-layered reinforced fencing," he said. "It also mandates that the Department of Homeland Security achieve and maintain operational control over the entire border through a virtual fence, deploying cameras, ground sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles, integrated surveillance technology."

The original law left little to interpretation by the homeland security secretary. It said "'operational control' means the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States."

It defined the type of fence to be built: The "secretary of Homeland Security shall provide for least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors."

So, did the secretary seek to gain operational control of the entire border? Did the secretary build over 700 miles of two-layered reinforced fencing?

As noted in this column last week, Richard Stana, director of homeland security issues for the Government Accountability Office, informed the Senate Homeland Security Committee in March that there are only 129 miles of the 1,954-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border where the Border Patrol can prevent or stop an illegal entry from taking place at the border itself. There are another 744 miles where it can stop an illegal entry at "distances of up to 100 miles or more away from the immediate border."

That leaves at least 1,081 miles of border where Homeland Security has anything but "operational control."

In written testimony presented to the committee on May 4, 2010, Stana said Homeland Security had built 646 miles of border fence (of 652 miles it intended to build) as of April 2010. This generally was not the "2 layers of reinforced fencing" described in the Secure Border Act. Three hundred forty-seven miles was what the GAO described as "pedestrian" fencing, and 299 miles was "vehicle" fencing.

"Pedestrian fencing is designed to prevent people on foot from crossing the border and vehicle fencing consists of physical barriers meant to stop the entry of vehicles," Stana testified.

This March, Stana told the committee that Homeland Security had increased the total length of border fence to 649 miles -- an increase of 3 miles in a year.

Given that Stana also said there were only 129 miles of border where the Border Patrol could prevent or stop an illegal entry at the border, that means there must be at least 520 miles of fencing erected by Homeland Security that does not stop or prevent people from crossing the border.

How did Homeland Security get away with not building the type of double-fencing expressly mandated in the Secure Fence Act?

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, slipped language into the 614-page omnibus spending bill enacted at the end of 2007. This language essentially repealed the Secure Fence Act. It said: "Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location."

Are border cities like El Paso truly rated among the safest in the nation? President Obama did not say whose rating he was using. But they are not the safest, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The latest annual statistical report of the Executive Office for the United States Attorneys -- which was published in 2010 and covers fiscal 2009 -- made a special point of highlighting violence on the border.

"Violence along the border of the United States and Mexico has increased dramatically during recent years," the report said. "The violence associated with Mexican drug trafficking organizations pose(s) a serious problem for law enforcement."

"Illegal immigration provides the initial foothold with which criminal elements, including organized crime syndicates, use to engage in a myriad of illicit activities ranging from immigration document fraud and migrant smuggling to human trafficking," said the report. "Federal prosecution of border crime is a critical part of our Nation's defense and federal jurisdiction over these offenses is exclusive."

As noted in this column last year, the report pointed out that when measured by the number of criminal defendants charged during fiscal 2009, the five most-crime-ridden U.S. judicial districts were all on the Mexican border. These included: Southern Texas, Western Texas, Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico.

According to Obama's Justice Department, there were more then two-and-a-half-times as many criminals (8,435) charged in federal court in Western Texas, where El Paso is, than in the combined districts of Southern New York (1,959), which includes Manhattan and the Bronx, and the Eastern New York (1,377), which includes Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

We know the Democrats lie about nearly everything, and Obama is certainly a profligate practitioner of the art, but they usually have enough sense to lie about things that require at least a little research to determine the truth.

But lying about the existence of a fence on our southern border? Lying right into the faces of Americans whose lives near the border have become a nightmare of theft, assault, burglary, and murder? His contempt for Americans is stunning.

“Maybe they’ll need a moat,” he added. “Maybe they want alligators in the moat.”

You sooooo funny grass hoppa!....

"They wanted a fence. Well, the fence ... is now basically complete," said Obama. "Maybe they'll need a moat," he added. "Maybe they want alligators in the moat."

Good joke. Almost as funny as securing the border. Illegals are here because they are employed. Drive employers out of business with fines and imprisonment, and presto; no jobs, no illegals. No one has the guts to propose the real fix, so the issue is not worth discussing.

“They wanted a fence. Well, the fence ... is now basically complete,” said Obama. “Maybe they'll need a moat,” he added. “Maybe they want alligators in the moat.”
Not a durn thing funny about that one. It would be a good idea, crocs would be better though.

“El Paso and other cities and towns along this border are consistently among the safest in the nation,” said Obama.
Now THAT’s funny! It's such an outragous lie!
We need a leader not a court jester.

Funny thing about politics, it makes you unfunny. I hate to admit it, but there was a time when Bill Maher was actually funny...about 20 years or more ago. Too bad he lost his humor and his mind when he decided to become a shill for the Left. Believe it or not Al Franken was funny once upon a time. Find some 35 year old Saturday Night Live episodes and you can see that he used to be humorous. Not he just throw spitballs in Congress and Poll-parrots Saul Alinskyisms.

*Every time this...man opens his mouth some sort of lie emanates.*
He can’t tell the truth, even accidentally. Did Reid and Mothra..erm, I mean Pelosi, put a microchip in his head that causes him to ONLY lie?

Good article. The two-layered border fence as outlined in the Secure Fence Act has never been completed. And Obama and Hillary both voted for it a month before the 2006 midterms.

How did Homeland Security get away with not building the type of double-fencing expressly mandated in the Secure Fence Act?

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, slipped language into the 614-page omnibus spending bill enacted at the end of 2007. This language essentially repealed the Secure Fence Act. It said: "Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location."

There is plenty of blame to go around.

Every day I feel more hopeless about the media in America. The fact that Obama, Reid and Pelosi can tell incredible whoppers without being challenged is an outrage. Meanwhile, conservatives find their truthful statements twisted and distorted by the press.

Given the media bias, I am always amazed that there are any Republicans in elected office.

Massachusetts reported five or six new cases of measles...highly contagious, of course, esp. if those infected are working in the food industry. (CBS Boston early am news never mentioned the probability that illegals could be carrying and therefor spreading measles. God forbid. Never mind, in that case it’s our/the USofA’’s duty to inoculate the third world against any and all diseases, as well as caring/educating/feeding/housing them from cradle to grave. So it would be our fault.

The dems won’t care unless or until one of their icons dies because he/she was infected or murdered/killed by an illegal, and if they can blame it on the VRWC or cops, they will.

Did you know that the patron saint of abortion (the late great Margaret Sanger), called blacks ‘weeds’? I wonder what she’d think of Obama in the White House.

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