Where U.S.-Mexico border fence is tall, border crossings fall | csmonitor.com:
"The triple-and double-layered fence here in Yuma is the kind of barrier that US lawmakers – and most Americans – imagined when the Secure Fence Act was enacted in 2006.
The law instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to secure about one-third of the 1,950-mile border between US and Mexico with 700 miles of double-layered fencing – and additionally through cameras, motion sensors, and other types of barriers – by the end of the year to stem illegal immigration.
Bankrolled by a separate $1.2 billion homeland security bill, the Secure Fence Act would, President Bush said in 2006, 'make our borders more secure.' By most recent estimates, nearly half a million unauthorized immigrants cross the border each year.
On the ground, though, things have turned out differently.
The DHS scaled back its ambitions early on, trimming its end-of-2008 target down to 300 miles of vehicle barrier and 370 miles of pedestrian barrier.
As of February, 302 miles of barrier have been constructed mostly on federal land in Arizona, New Mexico, and California, and slightly over half of this has been built under the new law.
. . .
Only a fraction of the new barriers resemble anything like the images of formidable fencing – the Berlin Wall or the bleak monolith that divides Israel and the West Bank – envisioned by the initial proposal. Most of the new fencing is not a double wall, but a combination of regular vehicle blocks and pedestrian barriers that range from metal mesh and chain link to traditional picket fences.
. . .
In Yuma, at least, the fence seems to be preventing illegal border-crossings.
Bernacke, the patrol agent, says that since the triple fence was finished in October, there has been a 72 percent decline in illegal migrant apprehensions in the 120-mile swath of the US-Mexican border known as the Yuma sector. Eight hundred people used to be apprehended trying to cross the border here every day. Now, agents catch 50 people or fewer daily.
The 1.5-mile strip of triple fencing that cuts through suburban San Luis is the most impenetrable, says Bernacke.
That's because the three walls are separated here by a 75-yard "no man's land" – a flat, sandy corridor punctuated by pole-topped lighting, cameras, radio systems, and radar units, where unauthorized migrants can be chased down by border agents.
The triple-layer fencing begins at the San Luis port of entry, one of a handful of formal checkpoints where cars and trucks from Mexico line up, waiting for the US border patrol to inspect them for illegal contraband or migrants before they cross over. One-and-a-half miles east of San Luis, the triple fencing gives way to double fencing for about five miles, after which come another 39 miles of so-called "primary fencing" – a combination of steel mesh and steel panels fitted over bollards, or small metal and cement pillars, that stick up from the ground.
"Back in 2005 when President Bush came here, newspapers were writing that Yuma was the most dangerous place to live – and he came in and said, 'I am going to fix this' and he did," says Yuma Mayor Larry Nelson.
Conversations with residents and business owners in this town suggest the fence is not such a hot-button issue. But, violent drug smugglers aside, neither has the flow of illegal immigrants been a big issue, observers say.
That's partly because the migrants are headed through to Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and the Midwest.
Still, most residents support the idea of a barrier, says Terry Ross, editor of The Sun, a daily newspaper in Yuma, but also feel that "the wall is a temporary measure that won't solve the problem [of foreign workers] in the long run."
Border security has been beefed up considerably during President Bush's tenure, reflecting heightened security and immigration concerns. The budget for border security has more than doubled in this time, as has the number of border patrol agents, which is anticipated to top out at 18,000 agents by the end of this year.
But as with 1994's Operation Gatekeeper – when the Border Patrol's San Diego sector beefed up fencing, agents, and technology to keep out border-crossers from Mexico only to find they entered the country elsewhere – critics say Yuma's apparent success does not necessarily translate into a permanent solution.
Strengthening border security in Yuma may be diverting illegal immigration to rural and desert areas.
"For the Yuma sector, the numbers are telling us that the wall has had a dramatic effect," says Ken Rosevear, president of the Yuma Chamber of Commerce. "But we all know that once you shut down a pipeline in one area it merely diverts the traffic to somewhere else."
In this case, the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation and Saguaro National Monument to the east are seeing a rise in foot traffic, he says."
Not securing our borders just invites criminals and terrorists to come here and commit mayhem.
Once our borders are secure, we need a guest worker program that verifies who an immigrant is, where they're going to be, and where they are working. In return, we get improved security, and the immigrants will probably get better wages, benefits, and the ability to contact police without fear of deportation.
Emphasis added.
No comments:
Post a Comment