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| Bush Quietly Backing Border Fence |
| 2005-05-03 |
| In a move that could undermine his plan to extend limited amnesty to illegal immigrants, President Bush is quietly backing the completion of a security fence along the California-Mexico border. The border fence provision is part of the REAL ID Act of 2005, which is attached to the House's emergency supplemental appropriations package to finance military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure would speed up completion of a 3.5-mile gap in the fence between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, according to Tuesday's Los Angeles Times. In a letter to Congress last week, the White House said, "The administration strongly urges [congressional] conferees to include the REAL ID Act of 2005 in the final version of the bill." The legislation also includes a ban on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Democrats are bristling over the Bush endorsement, with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid saying he was "disappointed." "The fact of the matter is Republicans did this in a very tricky way," Reid Spokeswoman Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli told The Associated Press. "They knew that if they included REAL ID in the [military spending bill], it would be very hard to strike it out." An older border fence constructed from scrap metal in 1993 was credited with an 88 percent drop in illegal immigration along the 14-mile length of border it protected. In the 12 years since, however, the 10-foot-tall fence has deteriorated, leaving substantial gaps through which illegals now enter. The White House-backed measure would finish construction of a much more formidable 14-foot-tall secondary fence, which was previously blocked due to environmental concerns. The completed project would feature an impenetrable security zone framed by two access roads, three fences, bright lights and high-tech surveillance devices. |
| Posted by:Anonymous5089 |
| #3 In most countries defending ones boreder is a military job, I don't know were we got the idea that a law enforcement agency should be doing that. TSA should have no part of it. Screw the treaties with Mexico that are against it. This is the new USA. Mexico is a fart away from a revolution. We need a fence and military defending the border. This is the right bill for that item. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-05-03 10:03:04 PM |
| #2 What are we talking about here? 1500 miles in need of a fence? Let us say $500/ft. Do the math. 1500 miles x 5280 ft/mile x $500/ ft = $4 billion Cheap at twice the price. Lets get building and cut the BS. [/real world math lesson] |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-05-03 21:58 |
| #1 Good. Next extend it, first with re-used scrap metal, then properly, along both southern and northern borders. And I don't think it's inappropriate to make this a military expenditure -- defence of the Nation should include protecting the borders from invasion. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-05-03 20:12 |