Posted on 03/15/2011 9:41:23 PM PDT by pissant
U.S. Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) Tuesday introduced bipartisan legislation, the Unlawful Border Entry Prevention Act, to allow for additional infrastructure to be built along the Southwest border.
The bill provides the Secretary of Homeland Security with full discretionary authority to build as much as 350 miles of additional infrastructure on the border.
The legislation is co-sponsored by congressmen Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), Vista’s Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Ted Poe (R-Texas).
It follows a report by the Government Accountability Office, stating that only 44 percent of the Southwest border is under operation control, while only 15 percent of the border is air tight.
Under existing law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was given until December 2008 to identify specific locations on the Southwest border for infrastructure construction. There is currently no legitimate legal authority for DHS to build additional infrastructure in the event it is needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at sddt.com ...
Ping!
That same language jumped out at me. This is the administration that cancelled even a virtual fence. Ain’t gonna be no discretion exercised in this administration to stop the hemorrhage at the border.
This is the administration that cancelled even a virtual fence.
The virtual fence was useless and probably just a political payoff to Boeing.
Why would it give them discretion?
Exactly!
I would have included language "mandating" same, but even then, this Admin and the Fat, Useless, Beeatch, would probably simply ignore that as well.
For all the people that flap their gums about securing the border, it always seems that it is a Hunter who actually tries to get the legislation through.
Here in Florida we have already had Rick Scott and the GOP wimp out on an Arizona type of bill. The GOP better get over its fetish of Illegal Aliens...or people will stay home in 2012.
Obama has called for budget cuts in the SBInet funding by almost $300 million.
But Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said during the House hearing that a “dire situation” that exists on the U.S.-Mexico — with drug gang murders in Mexico and illegal immigration — leaves no time for delays on SBInet.
“There is a war going on,” McCaul said, referring to roughly 6,000 murders in Mexico last year, most of which are suspected of being drug-related. “We cannot afford any more timeouts.”
The porous border between the United States and Mexico made it nearly certain the drug violence would spill over into the United States, he said.
Congress decided to investigate problems with the virtual fence after the Government Accountability Office pointed out cost overruns and delays in a report on SBInet.
Roger Krone, Boeing’s president of network and space systems, said SBInet would get better as the glitches are worked out of the first parts of the system, according to the GAO report.
“It is giving border patrol a significant tactical advantage, especially in nighttime operations,” Krone said during his testimony before the Congressional committee.
Goodbye SBInet, hello Integrated Fixed Tower system?
DHS seeks vendor input on new border protection technology
By Alice LipowiczJan 27, 2011
SBInet was initially conceived in 2005 to bring integrated cameras and sensors to the entire United States-Mexico land border. The contract was awarded to Boeing Co. in September 2006 and a 28-mile prototype began operating in February 2008. Construction on a 53-mile permanent segment is nearing completion.
However, SBInet has been plagued by cost overruns, delays, technical glitches, user complaints and management problems.
On Jan. 14, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano canceled the remainder of SBInet after a year-long reassessment. The existing 53-mile segment will remain in operation in Arizona while future development will be halted and alternative solutions will be deployed in the nine sectors along the remainder of the U.S.-Mexico border to fit terrain in each sector, she said.
The RFI provides a number of details on the requirements of the system, including listing the types of objects to be detected and specifying that the system must operate under adverse weather conditions.
The agency, in an addendum on Jan. 25, said it anticipates awarding a competitive contract for the Integrated Fixed Towers under a contract that is separate from the SBInet contract.
http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/01/27/goodbye-sbinet-hello-ift-at-border.aspx
Plug the leak before our ship sinks completely!
Yay, Dunc! Wanna run for President?
The problem will never be solved till the US goes after employers of illegals and the ever-increasing burden of every imagineable kind of welfare for the border-hoppers.
Why does this band-aid bill excite everyone so much....altho I'm sure there may be some effectiveness in that particular stretch of earth. I guess I'd be much more thrilled if some legislators went after the root problems. Just wondering.
Leni
What is the point of giving Janet Incomepetanto extra money to build a fence she didn’t want to build in the first place? She didn’t build it when she was under orders to build it the first time around. This makes no sense at all.
Nothing, repeat nothing is going to happen to control the US/Mexican border until we elect a President who is not in the pocket of Big Business and the NWO crowd.
Ridiculous that this has to be done; read Art 4 Sec 4 of the U.S. Constitution.
The very same guy who is proposing new fencing has been proposing all the enforcement legislation as well.
Leni
The money quote of the day.
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