Posted on 03/30/2006 7:41:57 PM PST by Libloather
Plans for US-Mexico border fence draw fire
By Tim Gaynor
Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 08:07 CST
TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurling himself over a steel fence into the no-man's-land between Mexico and California, an undocumented migrant sprints across a narrow strip lit by harsh arc lights and watched over by video cameras on tall posts.
Before he can shin up a second barrier of tall concrete pillars topped with seismic sensors and a layer of steel mesh more than an arm's-length wide, U.S. Border Patrol agents close in fast and arrest him .
That scene is repeated dozens of times each day along a 14-mile (22-km) stretch of state-of-the-art fencing separating San Diego, California, from Tijuana, Mexico, that has become a model for no-nonsense policing of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Inspired by the San Diego fence, the U.S. House Representatives voted in December to build a similar barrier to stop illegal immigrants across one-third of the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S.-Mexico border, seen as a weak spot in homeland security since the September 11 attacks.
It is the most controversial proposal in a debate in the U.S. Congress over immigration reform that has split Republicans and sparked protests by Hispanic immigrants in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit.
Although the San Diego fence is seen as a success in cutting illegal immigration, the plan for the bigger barrier is struggling to win further support in Congress.
Critics compare it to the Berlin Wall and say it goes against the American spirit of openness, sending the wrong message to the rest of the world about the United States.
Calif. Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, who authored the fence plan and estimates it would cost about $2 billion, points to a sharp drop in the number of immigrants nabbed heading for the United States through San Diego in recent years as evidence the security barrier works.
In the early 1990s, some 550,000 immigrants were caught every year but with the addition of double fencing, high-tech surveillance systems and more border police, the number plunged to just 138,700 in 2004.
"OVERRUN"
"There is no doubt that its duplication at specific locations along our southern border will be equally successful and bring us one step closer to a border region that is no longer overrun by illegal aliens," Hunter said.
But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the planned barrier, which would run for 698 miles, as a "stupid fence" and said it would most likely be ineffective, while the Mexican government slammed it as a disgrace.
Despite the greater chances of either dying in the desert or being caught while pushing north through the San Diego sector, immigrants at a hostel in Tijuana said they would not be put off from their quest for a better life in the United States.
"Whatever they put there they'll just keep on going over, around or under it," Hugo Uriel, an illegal immigrant from Mexico's Michoacan state said.
"Finding a better life for your family is a powerful incentive," he said at a Tijuana hostel after being caught in the United States and sent back to Mexico.
The fence plan envisages a double barrier made from former U.S. military aircraft landing mats stood on their side on the south and a high-tech steel and concrete wall to the north.
It would run for 22 miles across California, and 361 miles over the sun-blasted Arizona desert, a strip crossed by half of the 1.18 million immigrants nabbed on the border last year.
A remaining 315 miles of fence is proposed to seal three strips between Columbus, New Mexico and Brownsville, Texas, two of them along stretches of the Rio Grande River that became notorious last year as routes for Central American and Brazilian immigrants.
Border police in San Diego warn the fence has also strengthened the resolve of some die-hard immigrants and traffickers who have become wilier and more confrontational.
Attacks by frustrated traffickers on agents are soaring, with 119 gun, knife and rock assaults reported between October 1 and the end of February, more than double the number noted in the same period a year ago, the Border Patrol said.
In an attempt to break through the heavily policed line, traffickers also scooped out four tunnels under the stretch of border this year alone, most of them shallow "gopher holes" used to smuggle undocumented immigrants northward.
Customs and Border Protection sources said immigrant traffickers have also crammed clients into hidden vehicle compartments, including seat backs and even gas tanks, to try and sneak them through the local ports of entry in the sector.
Immigrant welfare groups are also critical of the proposal, and point to the fact that past policing crackdowns such as "Operation Gatekeeper" in the San Diego sector in 1994 only succeeded in rerouting the flow of immigrants to more remote and dangerous areas of the border.
"Nothing has actually succeeded in slowing down the number of migrants crossing the U.S. border," said Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Tucson-based welfare group Humane Borders.
"The fence is just another gimmick that will just expose migrants to greater danger," he added.
New technology says they won't. Motion sensors and video surveillance will be in your future. Get used to it, Hugo...
I seem to remember when countrys build walls around them that didn't work and a Wise man once told them to tear the walls down.......
What about the "War" on Drugs? Seems the fence would help there as well!
As much as I hate to draw the parallel, The Soviet union did a great job of keeping people inside much longer borders. Anyone saying it will be impossible to keep people out is simply lying.
I believe those were walls keeping people in against their will. This wall is to keep invaders out dumb-ass.
yeah, but that wall was built to keep people IN, not out.
I say they electrify the darn thing.... that way we won't have to deport them back and they will only try and cross it.........once!!
I suspect that it's a lot tougher keeping people in than keeping people out, but regardless of what these people keep saying, those governments did it with quite a bit of sucess.
"an undocumented migrant "
Screw you reuters, you piece of crap excuse for news..
It's an Illegal Alien breaking the law, and it should be a felony to do so....
Sympathizing communist supporting pondscums...
There, now I feel better.
Building the wall Americans refuse to build.
"Critics compare it to the Berlin Wall and say it goes against the American spirit of openness,"
Those Critics didn't have three thousand family members and friends burned up and destroyed by terrorists who were here illegally.
could we move the La Brea tar pits into the land between the barriers ?
Not if we get rid of the incentives for them coming here in the first place -- repeal the anchor baby laws, heavily fine illegal-hiring employers, and don't allow them to live on the welfare teat.
"There, now I feel better. "
Not for very long....A fresh, steaming pile of lib-sh*t will drop any moment now...
Convict and imprison the crimminals who hire illegals.
Berlin Wall was to keep people in.
Ok, has anyone else noticed how ANY idea that is proposed is immediately shot down and not spoken of again? As if illegals from mexico is the ONE thing this country can't so anything about.
"We can't deport 11 million people!" Ok - how about 100,000 a year, how about deporting all of the ones caught from now on??
If China can build a great wall, we can build a small one to keep people out. Finally, - this needs to be turned back to the mexicans - they have resources-o-plenty over there, but their government screws them. FIX YOUR OWN COUNTRY INSTEAD OF RUINING OURS! I guess I'd better see if I can vaccinated for tuberculosis...
Put them on busses that stop at the border. They can do their time (how many years do they deserve?) building our fence for us before we boot them back where they belong.
Critiical difference:
The Berlin Wall was built to keep a population enslaved within; the Mexican Wall would be built to keep criminals/terrorists OUT.
Maybe if we emphasized that one thing illegals bring to the country is diseases which legals would be checked for, some people will come around. But frankly, I think these massive demonstrations are doing a lot of the work for us.
"Critics compare it to the Berlin Wall and say it goes against the American spirit of openness, sending the wrong message to the rest of the world about the United States."
Hmmm I lock my doors to keep strangers out ... they can still ring the bell and I'll answer the door.
That is completely different from locking my family in. The Berlin wall was about locking people in.
Vote to stop illegal immigration by turning on your car headlights all day on April 19th.
To me, the arguments against are a big con job. I think the border could be sealed, fenced, in less than 90 days. Jeez, how much does razor wire and a few highway concrete barricades cost? If there should be something more permanant, let it be built at the slow pace of the Federal Government. As far as more Border personel, let volunteers man the areas deep behind the wire. If the border is fenced.. then we made not any more full time guards AT the border. There was a suggestion to use retired former police and border guards to use behind the patroled area. I agree.. It will not take Billion$ and it will not take as long as they claim. IMHO..
DING DING DING DING DING DING!!!!!
You are correct. Eliminate the REASONS they come here, and they will STOP!!!
And the way to stop our politicians will be to forbid all Illegal aliens and their children from ever VOTING.
"tear walls down---"
also remember that wall was to 'keep people in'---we don't stop anyone from leaving this wonderful nation (few do), we just want those who come in to do it under our laws---vast difference and nothing to do with your post
Well, first off, if it does expose them to greater danger, then fine. Maybe that will deter 5-10% of the illegals.
Second, build a fence along the lines of what the Israelis have done. Their fence WORKS and we are talking about what could be considered a war zone, with rocket, mortar and small arms attacks.
Third, technological surveillance can limit tunnels and crossings in wide open, sparsely populated areas.
Will these things stop all of them? Of course not. But, it can make a significant dent and you have to start somewhere. It does not have to be all or nothing at the beginning.
Senator McLame is a prime example of a Senator who thinks we are stupid. Today he said there are not enough buses, trucks, trains, etc., to round up and deport 12 million people.
Is he serious?
That statement implies that we must catch and deport all 12 million (I believe it is much more) AT THE SAME TIME. Ridiculous.
Start with deporting just a few thousand a month. Build from there.
My God, I am outraged that our representatives, that we unfortunately elected, have no confidence in their country, in their law enforcement agencies to do the job. All we hear is it is impossible so give them amnesty.
Of course, ALL of this is a smokescreen from both parties to see who can get the most latino votes in the next election.
"Patriot's Day commemorates the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The Revolutionary War began there on April 19, 1775.
Vote to stop illegal immigration by turning on your car headlights all day on April 19th."
Isn't that also Waco and Oklahoma city?
Well, there haven't been as many bombings in Israel since it went up, IMHO.
They may need to be higher and better - eh?
For which we get a big middle finger from the rest of the world. A small price to pay for being the greatest nation on Earth, IMNSHO.
Thank you. Besides the incredibly stupid "Berlin Wall" comparison, other nonsense we don't need to hear on this issue includes:
1) Do you want to pay more for lettuce? (Gasp!)
Answer: Yes, if it means less of my tax dollars going to illegal aliens' medical care, education, welfare and law enforcement costs.
2) Ilegal aliens are not criminals. They're just trying to find a better life.
Answer: Yes, they are criminals. They're here ILLEGALLY.
3) A wall won't keep them out.
Answer: Tell that to the Israelis. They're building damn good walls right now, which have been highly effective at keeping out most of the criminals trying to get in.
as a mid 80's WW2 vet, I have already volunteered to spend 6 mos. a year as a guard at the .50 cal gun towers on a wall---if other vets come forward that will help keep the cost down to true American citizens--personally, I think it is terrible that people have to leave the land of their birth to make a decent living BUT we cannot allow 'illegals' to thubm their noses at those who follow the law and wait for admission---it is an insult to honest, law abiding immigrants
"Well, first off, if it does expose them to greater danger, then fine."
The fence thing reminds of the movie THX1133. The main character (Robert Duvall) is trying to escape the antiseptic world and falling in love and the chrome faced police are chasing him around. He finally reaches the top of the ladder to an escape hatch with a chromeface right behind him, and a small computer voice says to the chromefaced cop, that the credits spent on the pursuit "have far exceeded the budget." The chrome faced cop then stops climbing and goes back down. And Duvall escapes.
How much money is our country willing to spend chasing illegals, and/or shipping them out?
"I seem to remember when countrys build walls around them that didn't work and a Wise man once told them to tear the walls down......."
The difference was that wall was built to keep Germans IN the country that built the wall. Any comparison to the Berlin Wall is thus as silly as comparing America to Mexico. Mexico building the wall would make the Berlin Wall an apt one. Instead, their government certainly won't stand in the way of emigration, even encouraging it.
"personally, I think it is terrible that people have to leave the land of their birth to make a decent living"
I agree. These folks need to make their OWN country a decent place to live. They need to stop being cowards and rise up against the corruption in their OWN government.
oops. THX 1138.
double oops. George Lucas.
Aaaaaaaaaaah. A work of art.
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