LatinaLista — Yesterday, President Bush signed what is officially known as the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act.
To the rest of us – it’s the Fence Bill.
True there are a host of other things all bundled into this one bill which is now law, but Pres. Bush focused on what it does for immigration enforcement when he signed it yesterday in Arizona.
Pres. Bush signs border fence bill
In Bush’s own words:
The bill I sign today includes nearly $1.2 billion in additional funding for strengthening the border, for new infrastructure and technology that will help us do our job. It provides funding for more border fencing, vehicle barriers, and lighting, for cutting-edge technology, including ground base radar, infrared cameras, and advance sensors that will help prevent illegal crossings along our southern border. That’s what the people of this country want. They want to know that we’re modernizing the border so we can better secure the border.
As to be expected, protests over the building of the fence are beginning to be voiced. From environmentalists who detail how the fence will harm the natural environment in the area worse than trespassing immigrants to border ranchers to Brownsville businessmen to Mexican officials, everyone sees the fence for what it is — an inadequate response to a problem that will never go away with an enforcement-only approach.
The only question now is how much money will be wasted before it’s realized that we can’t build a fence high enough, monitored enough or long enough to deter people who think they have a chance to make more money in a few months than in their whole lifetime back home.
The money would be well spent on gathering the best thinkers in the nation to come up with a way to meet our security concerns and satisfy our labor needs while providing the jobs wanted by a group of people who have already proved they will move heaven and earth to get here — so a fence is nada.
