Honest answers to those questions lead to one conclusion; the fence is being stalled as long as possible.
One cannot reason with people who have not reasoned themselves into their position.
Hi Tiger -
Here’s some snips from an article in a Dallas paper talking about the land owner issues in Texas. They do mention that 303 miles of fence have been built. Not sure what the quality of the fence is (single, double, vehicle barriers, etc.)
Also - I was surprised to see that only 670 miles of fence was called for by Congress. That leaves what - 1,653 more miles of open border?
OTOH- Duncan’s fence did cut down on the illegals, crime, drugs, etc. in San Diego where his fence was built. I’m not sure why they just don’t go around the fence and still settle in San Diego. Perhaps it was tougher there all the way around, and no need to travel the extra miles just to be at greater risk of getting caught.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031608dntexborderfence.c243b3.html
02:07 PM CDT on Sunday, March 16, 2008
McALLEN, Texas – South Texas landowners fighting border fence surveys have gained traction in court and could keep the federal government from meeting Congress’ demand for 670 miles of Mexican border fencing by the end of the year.......
The Justice Department has sued more than 50 property owners in Texas this year – a total of 75 along the whole U.S.-Mexico border – after the owners refused to allow workers onto their property for preliminary work such as surveys.
No Texas judge has ruled in favor of the landowners, but a recent ruling from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ordered the government to first try to negotiate the price of access with landowners.
The Department of Homeland Security has won access in 35 of those cases, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Most of the nearly 500 property owners in the fence’s path gave voluntary access to their land and as of Feb. 21, 303 miles of fencing had been built.
Communities along the Rio Grande in South Texas have fought hardest. They fear being cut off from the river and agricultural lands and bristle at the imposition of a plan hatched in Washington, D.C. .....
Hanen, a Bush appointee, has slowed the government considerably from its preferred pace. He has repeatedly denied government motions for immediate access and instead held hearings for property owners to voice their concerns before ultimately siding with the government.......
On March 7, in a 32-page ruling produced after a month of deliberation, Hanen gave the federal government two weeks to prove it had made a bona fide effort to negotiate a price for temporary access to Cameron County landowner Eloisa Tamez’s property.....
The federal government offered $100 Tuesday to Tamez through her attorney, Peter Schey, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. For that, the government would have gotten six months of access to Tamez’s one acre, a remaining piece of a Spanish land grant to her family in El Calaboz. But Schey said they will not agree upon a price until the government defines access. Will it be unintrusive surveying or will a house on the property have to be torn down or moved? ...........
“I’m anticipating that the (Tamez) standard is going to be the universal standard and (Hanen) will apply it to all the cases,” said G. Allen Ramirez, attorney for the Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District. The district sits on a 132-acre campus that extends to the Rio Grande and the fence is likely to cut through its property......