The new border bills drafted by Republican
leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing
between Mexico and the United States. The border bills also only require for
the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the
2,000-mile border. “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is
going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border
fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes
the leaders’ bills. “Where the double-layer fence has been put in, it has
worked spectacularly. The public is with us 80, 90 percent on this issue,” he
added. Extra fencing would be a waste of money, according to Texas Rep. Michael
McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.??
“The
bill matches resources to needs, putting 27 more miles of fencing where fencing
is needed, and technology where technology is needed,” said the statement.
“In our conversations with outside groups,
experts and stakeholders, we learned that it would be an inefficient use of
taxpayer money to complete the fence. … We are using that money to utilize
other technology to create a secure border,” said the statement.
A House staffer said the McCaul’s bill
doesn’t require a major fence because of advocacy by Heritage and Grover
Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform.
Dan Holler, communications director for
Heritage Action for America, told The Daily Caller that Heritage did not
recommend against fencing.
ATR has joined with wealthy advocates — such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — to call for
increased use of foreign workers and residency for illegal immigrants.
Senate committee staffers declined to offer
any reassurances that Senators would modify the bill to fund more fencing and
to block Obama’s catch-and-release policy, prior to a Senate vote in a few
weeks.
“We’re going to be looking at everything,”
said a committee staffer. “We can’t give any detail beyond that.”
The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Arizona
Sen. Jeff Flake, who co-sponsored the Senate’s 2013 immigration bill.
“We introduced the McCaul [House] bill [in
the Senate] as is and plan to update and improve it as we study the issue
through [House] briefings and hearings,” said the staffer, who works for the
Senate’s homeland security committee. The committee is chaired by Wisconsin
Sen. Ron Johnson.
The public strongly supports a border
fence. An April 2013 poll by Rasmussen shows
“that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States should continue building
a border fence, while 29% disagree.” Support for the fence is much higher among
the GOP-leaning voters that provided the votes for the GOP victory in November.
A 2006 law required the construction of 700
miles of double-layer fencing along the 2,000 mile border. However,
Congress quietly modified the bill in 2008 to allow the construction of simple,
ineffective fences in place of the required double-layer fencing.
Officials claim that just over 600 miles of
the border now have obstructions, including barriers. But those barriers
include lines of bollards to stop vehicles, plus single-layer “landing mat
fencing” and only 36.5 miles of double-layer fencing.
The leaders’ bills call for the replacement
of anti-pedestrian mat fences by anti-vehicle bollards.
The bollards will allow migrants to be driven
up to the border, and then walked over to a pick-up vehicle on the U.S. side.
“Not later than 18 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall replace, at
a minimum, each of the following: (A) Thirty-one miles of landing mat fencing
with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. (B) Five
miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s
El Centro sector. (C) Three miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style
fencing in the Border Patrol’s Yuma sector. (D) Twenty-five miles of landing
mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector.
(E) Two miles of landing mat fencing with bollard style fencing in the Border
Patrol’s El Paso sector,” says a section on page 12 of the House bill, HR 399.
Comments
Desi Arnez says “Republicans have some
“spleenin” to do, Lucy.”
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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