Free Republic

In his speech in El Paso on immigration reform on May 10, 2011, President Obama declared that the fence along the border with Mexico is "now basically complete." ... the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was passed by a Republican Congress and signed by President George W. Bush. It authorized the construction of hundreds of miles of additional fencing along the border with Mexico. The act specified "at least two layers of reinforced fencing." But the law was quietly altered in a significant way the following year. Responding to urging from the Department of Homeland Security -- which...

Thursday during debate on the Senate floor about an amendment offered by Republican Senator John Thune requiring 350 miles of double-layer fencing along the southern border, Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu called the fence "dumb" and claimed South Dakota is a border state. Thune's amendment backs up the 2006 Secure Fence Act (which Landrieu voted for) requiring 700 miles of double layer fence along the southwest border with Mexico, of which only 36 miles have been completed. I’m going to speak about this amendment for just a minute, but I’ld like to respond to Senator Thune, and I wish that we...

Andy Beale’s goal was to create a photo project comparing the fence between the U.S. and Mexico and the wall between Israel and Palestine. On June 6, 2014, Beale arrived at the Santa Teresa border checkpoint in New Mexico with a friend to take pictures of the fence. As Beale started taking pictures, a Federal Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) officer drove up and asked Beale what he was doing, and for identification. ICE agents then escorted Beale and his friend inside the immigration building, and promptly handcuffed the two of them to a bench. For the next three hours,...

Update 10:58pm Eastern: Yeah, I’m watching C-SPAN. The motion to concur in the House amendments to HR2764, the omnibus spending bill, just passed…76-17, with 1 present. More here. Update 10:20pm Eastern. Sen. Jim DeMint is on the Senate floor right now blasting the omnibus bill for gutting the fence, removing the ban on sanctuary cities, and funding illegal alien lawyers. Hear, hear. Update 1:20pm Eastern. Omnibusting links the section of the bill containing the border-gutting. Update 10:20am Eastern. The fence gets robbed, but the spending bill gives $10 million in “emergency” funding for attorneys of illegal immigrants?!!?! *** fencewhatfence.jpg Fence?...

Do you know the story of the Incredible Disappearing Border Fence? It's an object lesson in gesture politics and homeland insecurity. It's a tale of hollow rhetoric, meaningless legislation and bipartisan betrayal. And in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, it's a helpful learning tool as you assess the promises of immigration enforcement converts now running for president. Last fall, Democrats and Republicans in Washington responded to continued public outrage over border chaos by passing the "Secure Fence Act." Did you question the timing? You should have. It's no coincidence they finally got off their duffs to respond just before...

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...

Illegal Immigration: The government puts the brakes on a problem-plagued "virtual" fence on our border with Mexico. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned kind? If ever there was a shovel-ready project, this is it. The much-ballyhooed "virtual" fence that was supposed to monitor and control illegal immigration doesn't work and is being scrapped as we evaluate alternatives and rely on existing technology. After years of delay and billions of dollars already spent, Secretary Napolitano on Tuesday halted work on SBInet. The system involves cameras, sensors and radars designed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on computer monitors...

By Michelle Malkin  •  August 20, 2008 11:52 AM It’s your Fence In Name Only alert. Remember all that talk of how the Secure Fence Act allowed DHS to speed up construction with a special waiver process? Well, the waiver process — like the non-existence fence — is full of holes. And it’s another Bush administration agency that’s standing in the way: Work on “virtual fences” planned for Arizona’s stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border has been brought to a halt.The Interior Department has not granted the Homeland Security Department permission to use the land for constructing the surveillance towers that form...

McALLEN — U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials have rejected demands from leaders along the border with Mexico for a face-to-face meeting, signaling the government’s continuing resolve to build a border security fence. David Pagan, a liaison with Homeland Security, said in a letter to Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster that border fence construction would not be delayed to allow department officials to meet with Foster and other local leaders along the Texas-Mexico border. “We appreciate your support for securing our borders and welcome any additional input from local communities in Texas that will not require delays to the timeline...

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) reintroduced the Secure Fence Act Wednesday, which requires the construction of double-layered fencing along America's Southern land border within six months. "Securing our Southern land border remains one of our nation's greatest priorities," said Hunter, who dropped out of the presidential race on Saturday. "When the Secure Fence Act was enacted more than one year ago, the American people were pleased to see that the necessary steps were finally being taken to secure the dangerous and problematic smuggling corridors that exist along our border with Mexico," he said. "Instead of adhering to the law and building...

MAXWELL, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The omnibus Consolidated Appropriations bill includes a little-known provision that guts the major provisions of the Secure Fence Act of 2006. This provision -- buried on page 123 of Division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act - contradicts the Secure Fence Act’s specific mandate of a double-layer fence covering 854 miles of the U.S-Mexico border. Grassfire.org has been tracking this provision which was first introduced quietly by Sen. Hutchison this summer as S.Amdt. 2466 to H.R. 2368 (the DHS appropriations bill). “The Hutchison amendment gives DHS virtually total discretion over how and where the fence is built,” says...

Hours after a massive immigration bill collapsed in the Senate, lawmakers and lobbyists began seeking ways to pass bits and pieces of the measure important to their constituents. In an interview earlier this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. _ a backer of the sidetracked immigration bill _ said the one-at-a-time approach may prove impossible, even for tougher border-enforcement measures that now seem popular. "The only way we're going to get Ag jobs or DREAM Act" or pathways to legal status for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, Graham said, "is to do it together. This idea of 'Just do the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) today commented on tomorrow's White House signing of the Secure Fence Act passed by the Republican Congress. "Our borders constitute the first line of defense in protecting the American people from terrorists. Last July I met with border security agents and other federal and local officials during my visit to the border, and I promised them we would address this national security crisis. The Republican Congress has responded to the American people's demand for a secure border by increasing the physical barriers and infrastructure along the...

Mexico's foreign secretary said Monday the country may take a dispute over U.S. plans to build a fence on the Mexican border to the United Nations. Luis Ernesto Derbez told reporters in Paris, his first stop on a European tour, that a legal investigation was under way to determine whether Mexico has a case. The Mexican government last week sent a diplomatic note to Washington criticizing the plan for 700 miles of new fencing along the border. President-elect Felipe Calderon also denounced the plan, but said it was a bilateral issue that should not be put before the international community....

More on Fence Rumors [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Captain Ed thinks Kaus is paranoid: I checked with a source on the Hill yesterday, who says that we have nothing to worry about on the Secure Fence Act: Yesterday I analyzed the possibility that the lack of a presidential signature on the Secure Fence Act (HR 6061) might be an attempt at a pocket veto. President Bush has never given very enthusiastic support to any border solution that didn't include a plan for normalization for illegal immigrants already inside the US. Mickey Kaus started counting the days since Congress passed the bill...

Border patrol officials will be required to evaluate the actions and training of their agents in the field as part of an amendment to the border fence bill passed by the House on Thursday. The amendment was attached to the bill this week by House members questioning internal law enforcement policies that prohibit Border Patrol agents from pursuing fleeing suspects in vehicles. The Section 5 amendment was in response to circumstances surrounding the conviction of two Texas Border Patrol agents who violated their department's pursuit policy when they chased a fleeing drug smuggler on Feb. 17, 2005. El Paso Border...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) today issued the following statement after passage of , Secure Fence Act of 2006. The bill passed 283-138-1 with 131 Democrats voting against the measure. "Every year, nearly one million illegal immigrants cross into America. This is a clear threat to our safety. Some of these people are coming for work, but countless others are drug dealers, gang members and some are even terrorists. That is why building this fence is common sense. And if we build the fence, it will be harder for them to...