It’s hard to argue against the idea of a border fence designed to keep out undocumented immigrants. Those who do risk sounding like they are for illegal immigration. John McCain probably knew that when he recorded a campaign ad urging the government to “complete the danged fence.”
But in reality, there has never been a comprehensive plan to build a physical fence along all 1,952 miles of the US-Mexican border. What the Bush administration DID do in 2006 as part of the Secure Border Initiative was to begin construction of a patchwork virtual and physical fence along the Southwest border states, called SBI-net. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has received $4.4 billion in funding for the effort. But the project has been plagued by cost over-runs, and criticized by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for poor management of and performance by the main contractor, Boeing. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano froze funding to the project in January and is close to a decision that may entirely kill the fence.
While in Arizona reporting on issues of immigration, we visited a small section of the border in Nogales, Arizona and spoke with Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada about the fence’s effectiveness in halting illegal immigration.
