SAN LUIS, Ariz. — The federal government's border fencing effort has accelerated rapidly in recent weeks with barriers rising in towns from California to New Mexico and workers completing the longest stretch of continuous fencing on the U.S.-Mexico frontier. The Department of Homeland Security reached its goal of completing 70 miles of new fencing by the end of this month, nearly doubling the length of barriers on the border to about 145 miles."When we make a commitment, we will carry through on the commitment," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who went to Arizona on Friday to mark the progress and welded part of the fence in the town of Douglas.
| Sure, okay Mike. I confess to being a little impressed, though, because I figured they'd just blow the money on 'virtual' fences, doing no one any good except Boeing. The physical fence going up is (by the picture accompanying the story at the link) really nothing more than a single layer of tube steel and chain link, and not the sort of fence that some Burgers believe is necessary, but I'm still a little amazed that ANY fence is being built. |
Fleets of tractor-trailers loaded with fence posts and steel tubing have been crossing remote highways and deserts. Crews of National Guard troops spend hours welding raw materials under tarps. In some areas, contractors are installing the barriers at a pace of about half a mile per day.
| That's a pretty good pace. I doubt it can be sustained in rough territory and in urban areas, but it does suggest that a good portion of the fence could be done in a year -- something the critics said could never happen. |
"This is going to be a rude awakening for the crowds [of immigrants] that come in the fall," said Welby Redwine, a Boeing Co. engineer overseeing work in a canyon crisscrossed by smuggling trails in the Tinajas Altas mountains, 40 miles from the nearest town. "When they see it they're going to say, 'Wow, what happened?' "
In the vast Altar Valley, where hundreds of immigrants have died of dehydration over the years trying to reach Tucson 70 miles away, a 15-foot-high steel-tube fence is rising.
| Which in and of itself is a humanitarian service, stopping the 'coyotes' from dumping people in the desert without so much as a bottle of water. |
In Calexico, Calif., the same style of fencing will block a 7-mile stretch where smugglers have had easy access to launch boats across the All American Canal into California. Other fencing has been built in the Arizona border towns of Naco and Douglas, and in Columbus, N.M. And the government plans to break ground in coming months on new projects from California to Texas.
The progress marks an abrupt turnaround from one month ago, when the Homeland Security Department reported having completed only 15 of the 70 miles promised by Sept. 30, drawing criticism from many Republicans and activists against illegal immigration.
The Secure Fence Act, which President Bush signed into law last fall, called for 700 miles of new fencing. The administration set a goal of completing nearly 300 miles by the end of 2008. The project got off to a slow start because of environmental assessments, land acquisition and fencing design that had to be completed before the start of construction, officials said.
The recent rapid pace of fence construction has been welcome news to federal border officials whose broader security plan -- called the Secure Border Initiative -- has experienced setbacks in recent weeks. An Arizona project to line the border with camera towers as part of a high-tech "virtual fence" is behind schedule. Chertoff has suspended funding to project overseer Boeing Co. until progress is made.
New barriers have had an effect in San Luis, once one of the busiest crossing points in the nation. Immigrants by the hundreds would jump over the steel-mat fencing and disappear into nearby neighborhoods. That route is now blocked by two new layers of fencing: a 15-foot-high steel-mesh secondary barrier and a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.
| Now that sounds like a fence. |
Border experts say it is too soon to determine the overall success or failure of the effort, pointing out that previous fencing projects, most notably in San Diego, shifted immigrant traffic elsewhere.
| Which is why we'll need a fence eventually from San Diego to Brownsville. But one point of a fence is to channel people to areas where the Border Patrol can have a stronger presence. |