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 News from Around the Americas | September 2006 
US Congress Votes to Build Border Fence with Mexico
 Charlotte Raab - AFP
| | People talk through the border fence in San Ysidro, California. The US Congress has taken a symbolic step toward resolving the problem of illegal immigration by approving a bill that calls for building a fence along more than one-third of the US-Mexican border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. (AFP/Sandy Huffaker) |
The US Congress has taken a symbolic step toward resolving the problem of illegal immigration by approving a bill that calls for building a fence along more than one-third of the US-Mexican border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.
By a vote of 80-19, the Senate approved the measure that President George W. Bush was expected to sign into law soon.
The House of Representatives on September 14 passed the same bill that calls for the 1,200-kilometer-long (700-mile) fence.
The fence that will be partially financed from the budget of the Homeland Security Department was one of the components of a comprehensive immigration reform plan debated by Congress earlier this year.
The plan triggered the most massive demonstrations by immigrants in US history.
The current bill falls far short of ambitious reform goals set forth by the president, who, in addition to border security measures, wanted to offer legalization to some of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States and create a system that would regulate the flow of illegal immigrants.
The plan, however, ran into opposition from the conservative wing of his Republican Party.
"We can build the tallest fence in the world, and it won't fix our broken immigration system," Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement. "Nor will it strengthen security at our borders. To do that, we need the comprehensive reform that the Senate passed earlier this year."
Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist said the measure calling for the fence was just the first step on the way toward comprehensive immigration reform.
On September 15, Bush promised to continue efforts toward immigration reform, urging Congress to pass a comprehensive plan that would secure the border and create a guest worker program.
Nevertheless, he had to acknowledge that Congress would have no time to pass the reform package that seemed ready when the Senate voted for it last May. The package was blocked by House Republican leaders.
The bill provides for building by the end of 2008 about 1,200 kilometers of fencing along particularly vulnerable sections of the border with Mexico, notably in the Arizona desert.
In addition, the frontier will be equipped with a "virtual barrier" that was announced by the Department of Homeland Security last week and that will include some 1,800 video cameras and detectors not only along the border with Mexico, but also with Canada.
"With this legislation, every inch of our border with Mexico will be defended - either by fence or electronic surveillance," Frist said in a statement.
Some observers, however, point out that the project may run into financial difficulties: the 2007 budget for the Department of Homeland Security provides 1.2 billion dollars for the fence, while a previous measure voted by the Senate assessed that building a 1,000-kilometer fence will cost 1.8 billion dollars.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, a supporter of the more comprehensive package, stressed that fences were unlikely to work.
"Fences won't stop illegal overstayers - who account for 40-50 percent of current undocumented population, or the many who continue to come here to work," the senator said. "The American people want realistic solutions, not piecemeal feel-good measures that will waste billions of precious taxpayer dollars and do nothing to correct a serious problem. Sacrificing good immigration policy for political expediency and hateful rhetoric is not just shameful - it is cowardly."
Mexico's Foreign Ministry warned earlier Friday that building a border fence to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States would "harm overall bilateral relations" and will not solve the problem. |
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