Walk This Way

Our sieve-like border protection is Coyote ugly. With a couple of thousand miles of “fencing” required to contain our entire border with Mexico, the math of such an undertaking was unsustainable even back in 2007: “The cost of building and maintaining a double set of steel fences along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border could be five to 25 times greater than congressional leaders forecast last year, or as much as $49 billion over the expected 25-year life span of the fence, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.” SFGate.com (January 8, 2007). 700 miles? Oh, and that doesn’t include the cost of acquiring the underlying land, not all of which is public.

$3 billion later, a failed attempt to implement a viable barrier, and where are we? First, that old fence project is over; it just didn’t work. We’re on to “virtual fences” now, with lots of bells and whistles and tracking capability. Phase one of the virtual fence – $1 billion worth – didn’t work a whole lot better. Next. On to phase two: bigger, better and more expensive. You know, cameras, radar, sensors, that kind of stuff (some of the $1 billion dollar “stuff” will survive into the next try). Arizona got 53 miles of that phase one “virtual fence” at a stunning $15 million a mile.

On to the next BIG phase... one little, teeny weenie catch: don’t expect anything working anytime soon. Testifying on March 15^th before a House subcommittee on border and maritime security, Government Accountability Office director of homeland security and justice officer, Richard Stana told the representatives that the full virtual barrier wouldn’t be fully operative for a decade or more, and that the smaller target, Arizona – first on the list – probably wouldn’t be operative until 2015-16... assuming the government does anything on time. Wonder if Arizona’s immigrant-hostile legislation moved them up on the priority list? Government claims that it’s the busiest illicit border-crossing spot in the nation. Squeaky wheel theory and all that.

Texas Republican Mike McCaul asked one heck of a relevant question: “‘You are talking 10 to 15 years. It took us a decade to put a man on the moon,’ McCaul said. ‘I don’t understand why it takes so long. You have a crisis going on down there. Everyone knows it. We know how dangerous it is in Mexico, we know how dangerous it is on the border. Why can’t we ramp up this process?’… Mark Borkowski, Customs and Border Protection assistant commissioner for technology innovation and acquisition, said the new equipment could be bought more quickly if Congress allocated the money — the Arizona project is expected to have a price tag of about $755 million — but where to put what equipment has not been determined.” Washington Post, March 15^th. Wanna bet whether it will cost $755 million? And what’s that I hear… if Congress pays more money, it will happen faster. More money, eh?

No matter what your position on undocumented aliens working in the United States, the plain fact is that a country ought to be able to control its own borders, especially when most of the border reaches of America are oceans and not even other countries! None of the technology is particularly cutting edge, and we know that as it is implemented, it will constantly be in need of “upgrades.” But has our educational system failed so profoundly that we don’t have the know-how to build a solid virtual fence relatively quickly that works… in 2011?

I’m Peter Dekom, and frankly this entire wasteful process is of-fensive!