Bush Signs Bill for Fence on U.S.-Mexico Border

[eric&gen 0]

WASHINGTON (Oct. 26) -- President Bush signed a bill Thursday authorizing 700 miles of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping to give Republican candidates a pre-election platform for asserting they're tough on illegal immigration.

"Unfortunately the United States has not been in complete control of its borders for decades and therefore illegal immigration has been on the rise," Bush said at a signing ceremony.

"We have a responsibility to enforce our laws," he said. "We have a responsibility to secure our borders. We take this responsibility serious."

He called the fence bill "an important step in our nation's efforts to secure our borders."

The centerpiece of Bush's immigration policy, a guest worker program, remains stalled in Congress.

And a handful of House Republican are at the brakes, blocking negotiations with the Senate for a bill that includes the president's proposal.

Still, Bush argues that it would be easier to get his guest worker program passed if Republicans keep their majorities in the House and Senate after the Nov. 7 elections. His proposal would allow legal employment for foreigners and give some of the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a shot at becoming American citizens.

The measure Bush put into law Thursday before heading for campaign stops in Iowa and Michigan offers no money for the fence project covering one-third of the 2,100-mile border.

Its cost is not known, although a homeland security spending measure the president signed earlier this month makes a $1.2 billion down payment on the project. The money also can be used for access roads, vehicle barriers, lighting, high-tech equipment and other tools to secure the border.

Mexican officials have criticized the fence. Outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox, who has spent much of his six years in office lobbying for a new guest worker program and a chance at citizenship for the millions of Mexicans working illegally in the U.S., calls the fence "shameful" and compares it to the Berlin Wall.

Others have doubts about its effectiveness.

"A fence will slow people down by a minute or two, but if you don't have the agents to stop them it does no good. We're not talking about some impenetrable barrier," T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing Border Patrol agents, said Wednesday.

Customs and Border Protection statistics show that apprehensions at border crossings are down 8 percent nationally for the budget year that just ended, Bonner said. Apprehensions were up in the San Diego sector, he said, an area of the nearly 2,000-mile border that has the most fencing.

A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection would not confirm the statistics or discuss reasons for the increase in the San Diego sector.

Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, both Texas Republicans, had wanted to amend the fence bill to give local governments more say about where fencing is erected. They lost that battle, but Republican leaders assured them the Homeland Security Department would have flexibility to choose other options instead of fencing, if needed.

Cornyn said he voted for the fence because he wanted to help demonstrate that Congress was serious about border security.

"The choice we were presented was: Are we going to vote to enhance border security, or against it?" Cornyn said. "I think that's how the vote was viewed."

[Peikko 1,575]

Incredible, so they are going to spend the money on the pink elephant.

I guess I shouldn't be shocked, as has been shown by the quotes, it's a vote to pacify the voices calling for action. The fact that the action will be futile is unimportant.

Edited October 26, 2006 by Purple_Hibiscus

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Congress needs to get off its duff and fence the whole damn border, not just a small piece of it.

[almaty 19]

much ado about nothing..election bullshit

[Fandango 1,439]

They should put the money into enforcing illegal employment.

[Carol&Marc 0]

Incredible, so they are going to spend the money on the pink elephant.

I guess I shouldn't be shocked, as has been shown by the quotes, it's a vote to pacify the voices calling for action. The fact that the action will be futile is unimportant.

A pink elephant is a hallucination from withdrawl of unknown substance!

Pink elephant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The expression pink elephants can mean:-

"Seeing pink elephants" is a euphemism for drunken hallucination caused by delirium tremens.

Jack London, describing one sort of alcoholic in the autobiographical John Barleycorn, writes that he "is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers."

A reference to pink elephants occurs in the 1941 Disney animated classic Dumbo. Dumbo, having taken a drink of water from a bucket spiked with moonshine, begins to hallucinate singing and dancing "Pink Elephants on Parade."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_elephant

[almaty 19]

They should put the money into enforcing illegal employment.

i agree and companies who violate the hiring need severe fines,...make it a federal felony to hire someone who is illegal qan make certain it sis a priority to enforce this law.....then a fence will not be needed...

Edited October 26, 2006 by almaty

[eric&gen 0]

Congress needs to get off its duff and fence the whole damn border, not just a small piece of it.

Make the fence electrified and enough voltage to zap the chit out of them too and the wall high enough so the suckers cant climb over it.

[almaty 19]

Congress needs to get off its duff and fence the whole damn border, not just a small piece of it.

Make the fence electrified and enough voltage to zap the chit out of them too and the wall high enough so the suckers cant climb over it.

never happen... too many lawsuits

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Incredible, so they are going to spend the money on the pink elephant.

I guess I shouldn't be shocked, as has been shown by the quotes, it's a vote to pacify the voices calling for action. The fact that the action will be futile is unimportant.

A pink elephant is a hallucination from withdrawl of unknown substance!

Pink elephant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The expression pink elephants can mean:-

"Seeing pink elephants" is a euphemism for drunken hallucination caused by delirium tremens.

Jack London, describing one sort of alcoholic in the autobiographical John Barleycorn, writes that he "is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers."

A reference to pink elephants occurs in the 1941 Disney animated classic Dumbo. Dumbo, having taken a drink of water from a bucket spiked with moonshine, begins to hallucinate singing and dancing "Pink Elephants on Parade."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_elephant

I think PH meant "white elephant." Unless I'm seeing pink elephants again....

[Fandango 1,439]

They should put the money into enforcing illegal employment.

i agree and companies who violate the hiring need severe fines,...make it a federal felony to hire someone who is illegal qan make certain it sis a priority to enforce this law.....then a fence will not be needed...

agreed

[Alex+R 0]

"We have a responsibility to enforce our laws," he said. "We have a responsibility to secure our borders. We take this responsibility serious ."

Gaaahhhhhhhh! Seriously? After six years of public English-butchering fom the president, nobody bothered to check the speech for egregious grammatical errors?

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

"We have a responsibility to enforce our laws," he said. "We have a responsibility to secure our borders. We take this responsibility serious ."

Gaaahhhhhhhh! Seriously? After six years of public English-butchering fom the president, nobody bothered to check the speech for egregious grammatical errors?

it makes him sooo endearing.

Daniel

:energetic:

[peejay 327]

The measure Bush put into law Thursday before heading for campaign stops in Iowa and Michigan offers no money for the fence project covering one-third of the 2,100-mile border.

Its cost is not known, although a homeland security spending measure the president signed earlier this month makes a $1.2 billion down payment on the project. The money also can be used for access roads, vehicle barriers, lighting, high-tech equipment and other tools to secure the border.

Yes...another pie in the sky. The American people are so stupid. The government passes laws and refuses to fund them in the future. That is the history of immigration reform.

This is the precurser to 1986 all over again. Amnesty and guest worker first...pie in the sky future enforcement of the law in the mythical future.

Where are the liars of 1986 to hold them accountable? (We know where Teddy Kennedy is and again he lies.)Where will the liars of 2006 be after the fact?

If anyone believes that trading amnesty now for another pie in the sky...they are both stupid and delusional.

Enforcement first and foremost is the right path if we wish to control our destiny as a nation. Failure to compromise on this issue is not obstructionist...it is reality.

And a country that does not control its own destiny is not a country at all...or soon won't be! And by that I mean the People. Not a select few individuals with selfish self interest. That is the difference between democracy and oligarchy. Which do you prefer?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

"We have a responsibility to enforce our laws," he said. "We have a responsibility to secure our borders. We take this responsibility serious ."

Gaaahhhhhhhh! Seriously? After six years of public English-butchering fom the president, nobody bothered to check the speech for egregious grammatical errors?

Perhaps DUE TO it--"if we can't fix his grammatical butchery, just ignore it; it'll go away by 2008 (due to Bush jr. no longer being president)"

Edited October 26, 2006 by CherryXS