Democrats in Congress, to Obama, Halt Border Fence
March 11, 2009 by Capt. Karl
CNN Chief National Correspondent
A fence separates the United States from Mexico in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector in San Luis, Arizona.
But from a helicopter above, the border is a steel barrier that stands out along the riverbank and against the desert sands, and is the dividing line that gets the most attention from those crying to cross illegally and those who believe recent efforts to bolster U.S. border security have been riddled with wrong choices.
Just this past week, eight Democrats in Congress wrote President Obama urging him to halt any further construction of the fence, one of the many border- and immigration-related political debates that have carried over from the Bush administration. What?!! Halt the fence? Are they nuts? Look at how the U.S. Congress represents Mexicans but not Americans! When are we going to stand up to the usurpation of these Congressional despots? How long are we going to take this contempt for us from both houses of the U.S. Congress? When are we all going to rise up and force them to OBEY the LAWS of The Constitution? They are supposed to be OUR public servants, right? Not Mexicans’ public servants! Why most of Congress would do anything to steal money from us American citizens and give it to the ILLEGALS for health care and welfare as well as Social Security and Medicare,,, Oh, yeah, I forgot, they are doing that already. Well then how long are you going to let the despots in Congress give our taxes and raise taxes to give to people who are not even American citizens AND who are ILLEGALLY in our country?
CAN WE individually DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, YES,,, WE,,, CAN ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Rise up America! We must take OUR country BACK! If we don’t stand up to the tyrants and tax-sters in Congress, who is going to? According to the writings of our Founding Fathers, it has always been up to us, NOT CONGRESS. Our Founding Fathers knew that eventually they couldn’t be trusted for hunger of power and corruption.
To the Border Patrol agents stationed in Yuma Sector, there is no debate. To them, the fence is a success story. From a Vietnam War-vintage Huey helicopter, pilot Chad Smith points across the border to Mexico’s Highway 2 and then to the barriers that help stop illegal immigrants from making a sprint into southern Arizona.
“You can see the triple-layer fencing,” Smith tells us as he lowers the helicopter and hovers over what was once a major crossing point for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. “Steel fence right on the border, the pedestrian fence about 90 feet north of that, and then the chain-link fence with the barbed wire.”
“I’ve flown before and come back and had 70-plus [illegal immigrants logged in a tracking book],” Smith said. ” I know guys who have gone on a flight and come back with 100-plus illegals in their logbook. Now it is in single digits, typically.”
It is a fascinating view from above: Old trails in some places, and the remnants of newly placed white sandbags in others.
“It forms a pretty good bridge for them to drive across.” Smith says of the sandbags. When they are spotted from above, Border Patrol agents on the ground are called in to destroy the makeshift crossings.
Congress in 2006 — with then-Sen. Barack Obama’s support — authorized nearly $3 billion for 670 miles of fencing stretching from California to Texas. There are more lights, sensors and cameras, and there are also more agents like Mike Lowrie driving patrols and chasing tips called in from colleagues monitoring the camera feeds at the Yuma Sector headquarters.
Standing alongside the steel barrier at a point in which there is just one layer of fencing, Lowrie shakes his head when told that some in Washington want to stop additional construction in other areas.
“This used to be a very high-trafficked area, and now it is not,” Lowrie told us.
Asked to define “high traffic,” Lowrie says, “In the Yuma Sector, we would get about 800 a day. Now, 25 maybe, or 10.”
Nodding toward the barrier, he continued: “Numbers don’t lie. We didn’t have it three years ago, and we were getting massive numbers of illegal entries. We have it now, and we don’t.”
But there are voices on both extremes of the immigration debate that say the role of the fence is exaggerated, or that say the barrier’s benefit in slowing illegal traffic is offset by other costs.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose tough stance against illegal immigrants has earned him global media coverage, says the fence is fine, but: “We just arrested 150 in the past 14 days. They’re still coming.”
And Father John Herman, a Roman Catholic priest whose Spanish language Masses are packed with illegal immigrants, blames the fence for more risky crossings in less-populated desert areas.
“We know that the way enforcement has gone has driven many people into the desert and caused more deaths. Needless deaths. If we could only get together and work for comprehensive immigration reform.”
