Yesterday's Washington Examiner posted an article by Byron York on a proposal by Arizona's two Republican Senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, to secure the U. S. border with Mexico.
According to the article, the Senators' plan includes:
"...completing and improving the border fence, adding new Border Patrol agents, expanding a policy of briefly jailing illegal border crossers, and several other programs already in existence."
In 2006 Congress passed The Secure Fence Act, which required 700 miles of border fence with double-layered fencing and other barriers. According to The Customs and Border Protection agency, 646 miles of that fence are finished, so as far as they are concerned, the job is done. Unfortunately, the double-layered fencing has not made it to most of Arizona. The border fence in Arizona includes 123 miles of pedestrian fence (all but 10 miles are single-layered high fence) to keep people from climbing over), and 182 miles of vehicle fencing (easy for people to climb over or vehicles to use ramps to get over). That represents 305 miles of fencing. The border between Arizona and Mexico is 375 miles long. It seems as though that might be part of the problem.
The estimate on the cost of the McCain-Kyl legislation to secure the border is about $5 million. When you consider the amount of money this administration is generally throwing around in all other directions, this is doable.
The article concludes:
"As Kyl and McCain see it, Napolitano has things totally turned around. Today's problem won't be solved by comprehensive immigration reform. Instead, solving the problem would make comprehensive reform possible. And a bargain, too."
I hope the Senate has the wisdom to listen to what these men are suggesting.
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