michaelr

By William F. Jasper Published: 2007-07-20 00:17

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:

Congressman Duncan Hunter sponsored legislation, signed into law by President Bush, authorizing and funding the construction of a fence on the border with Mexico. But there is still no fence.

Follow this link to the original source: "Border fence project’s slow pace raises concerns"

COMMENTARY:

Where's The Fence?(tm) National TV Ad

Last year, responding to pressure from angry constituents over our continued open border with Mexico, Congress okayed funding for constructing hundreds of miles of fence along the border. The Bush administration, however, has dawdled and delayed; only a couple miles of fence has actually been built. Only a few dozen miles of our more than 2,000 mile border with Mexico is actually protected by credible fences and barriers.

During June, as the Congressional showdown votes over the Kennedy-Bush amnesty bill for illegal aliens heated up, a border security watchdog group, Grassfire.org, unleashed a humorous national television commercial campaign with a serious message: "Where’s the Fence."

The "Where's the Fence?" ads, which quickly became a YouTube favorite, feature three elderly ladies searching for – and not finding – the fence Congress pledged to build at the border – a take-off on the 1984 Wendy's hamburger ad campaign featuring actress Clara Peller asking, "Where's the beef?"

Ron De Jong, communications director for Grassfire.org, called it "obscene" that only a few miles of fencing has been built over the last year. "They really have no intention of building the fence," he said. "Through this ad, we've basically called them out on that."

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican presidential candidate, has been making the border fence a major point in his campaign. In a July 17 interview with FamilySecurityMatters.org, Rep. Hunter was asked, if elected as president, "How will you deal with our legal and illegal immigration problems?" Hunter, who has scored the Bush administration for not protecting our borders, responded:

You know, I wrote the bill that mandates a border fence that was signed into law by the president. That’s the 850 miles of border fence that is now mandated to be constructed across Arizona and New Mexico and Texas…. They’ve only built thirteen miles of that fence so far…. it’s a double fence with a border patrol road in between … The 854-mile fence is mandated to be constructed across the major smuggler’s corridors in those three states that I mentioned – Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. That will go a long way toward enforcement of the border, which is key not only to the immigration issue, but also to the security issue. But number one – I’d just simply carry out the very law that I wrote as a congressman and that’s the Border Fence Act.

At his Website, Rep. Hunter has helpfully archived photos of the fence being built. Meanwhile, the need for a fence at the border has been demonstrated by recent events. In June, Border Patrol Agents thwarted a drug smuggling operation bringing a large shipment of marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico border near Campo, California. The smugglers used a sophisticated ramp system to drive over the top of the vehicle now in place there.

On June 20, a Border Patrol agent spotted a suspicious looking 2006 Nissan Frontera pickup truck near the border and began following it. The vehicle headed back toward the border, where the agent saw about 20 people setting up the ramps on the U.S. side so that the truck could get back into Mexico. The two occupants of the vehicle bailed out, and with their accomplices, fled back into Mexico, leaving behind the pickup with its load of drugs. While fleeing, one of the suspects turned and pointed a gun at the agent but did not fire.

According to Supervisory Border Patrol agent Richard E. Smith, it is not uncommon for smugglers to use ramps to drive over the relatively small existing barriers. As can be seen from the videos of the smugglers’ ramp operation, the "barrier" is more of an inconvenience than a genuine barrier. That kind of operation is not possible along those few miles where the substantial 15-foot high fences advocated by Hunter and others have been built.

Of course, it is not only drug smugglers who should be of concern. What about terrorist organizations? They are as highly motivated to get into the United States as are the drug cartels. In fact the two "businesses" are heavily intertwined around the world. As Sara Carter, perhaps the best immigration reporter for a U.S. daily newspaper, notes in her December 29, 2006 report for the Ontario, California Daily Bulletin, there is ample evidence of narcoterror cooperation along our border that federal officials are ignoring and even covering up.

The death toll due to the unwillingness of federal officials to protect America’s borders continues to mount. In a scathing column for July 18 entitled, "Alien Criminals: Mayhem at Large," columnist Michelle Malkin points to some of the most recent egregious examples of victims of our open borders.

One of the most tragic is 12-year-old Zina Linnick of Tacoma, Washington, who was abducted and murdered this past July 4 (of all days!), by a convicted sex criminal and multiple felon from Thailand who should have been deported years ago. Malkin reports that "the Department of Homeland Security inspector general reported last year that of an estimated 650,000 foreign-born inmates in prison and jails this year, half will be removable aliens who won't be removed because the detention and deportation office ‘does not have the resources to identify, detain and remove’ them."

While claiming it doesn’t have the funds to perform its essential constitutional duties of protecting America’s citizens, the federal government nonetheless finds the wherewithal for unconstitutional spending to shower billions of dollars in foreign aid on various dictators, as well as fraudulent programs such as the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
http://jbs.org/modules/bio/bio_image...Jasper 200.JPG William F. Jasper

William F. Jasper is Senior Editor for The New American magazine.

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sectionOne

I like Michelle Malkin, she's sharp as shit.

Ausinus

Ironically such a monument would be paradoxical with those existing which are said to stand for liberty and freedom

Berlin Wall anyone?

The good of the People is the highest law.
- Cicero

Zarathustra

The Berlin wall split a sovereign nation in half. A fence would protect American sovereignty.

"The problem with stupid people is that they are the only one who doesn't know."
- Tick (Ironic, isn't it?)

"You do not know what genocide is, do you? It means the irradication of a race to obliviation through death."
- Tick (Tick knows his vocab words)

Freedom for All

And another damn ignorant ass posts a "Berlin Wall" comparison, either not knowing that the BW was designed to keep slaves in, and a border fence is intended to keep invaders out, or arrogantly assuming that we're too stupid to know this basic, self-evident fact.

INTELLIGENT PEOPLE RECOGNIZE THAT GOVERNMENT IS A DANGEROUS SERVANT AND A CRUEL MASTER.

LIKE FIRE, INTELLIGENT PEOPLE DON'T LET THE TINY CANDLE OF WHAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE TO BURN UNWATCHED AND UNCONTROLLED.

Ausinus

Pardon but were East and West Germany more or less seperate political entities at that time?

The good of the People is the highest law.
- Cicero

Zarathustra

FDR was such a pussy that he gave East Berlin to Stalin. They were supposed to have been one country.

"The problem with stupid people is that they are the only one who doesn't know."
- Tick (Ironic, isn't it?)

"You do not know what genocide is, do you? It means the irradication of a race to obliviation through death."
- Tick (Tick knows his vocab words)

Ausinus

What would you rather have? Him challenging the Soviets and thereby starting an international dispute as a precursor to open war? Sometimes it is better to concede upon a matter than face a more dire alternative.

The good of the People is the highest law.
- Cicero

Zarathustra

We could have used our atom bomb monopoly as leverage.

"The problem with stupid people is that they are the only one who doesn't know."
- Tick (Ironic, isn't it?)

"You do not know what genocide is, do you? It means the irradication of a race to obliviation through death."
- Tick (Tick knows his vocab words)

Ausinus

And do you honestly think Stalin would have cared for the millions that would die at American hands? If the first two bombs didnt cause him to cease animosity with the US, there's no chance in hell that another few would.

The good of the People is the highest law.
- Cicero