Border-fence plans under new scrutiny

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 10, 2007 | by Dave Montgomery McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- With Democrats now in charge on Capitol Hill, a 700- mile fence that swept through the previous Republican-controlled Congress is apt to come under a scathing re-evaluation amid reports of skyrocketing costs and widening opposition along the U.S.- Mexican border.

Mayors from Texas border cities will meet with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff next week with what they say is a unified message: Don't build the fence. The meeting is scheduled for Jan. 17 in the office of Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

"We all oppose the fence," said Efrain Valdez, mayor of Del Rio, Texas.

The growing outcry from local officials parallels renewed concerns over costs following a report that the price tag for building and maintaining the fencing could reach nearly $50 billion over a 25-year period. The cost projections were prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service and reported this week by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The doubled-layered fence, which will be built in at least five sections in all four states that border Mexico, was passed overwhelmingly by the Republican-led 109th Congress and signed into law by President Bush. It was the only major immigration and border security initiative to emerge from the last session of Congress and was denounced by Democrats as a blatant political maneuver to court conservative voters.

But with Democrats leading both the House of Representatives and the Senate, many experts in the immigration debate now wonder if the fence will ever be built. For one thing, Congress only partially funded the project, and members of the Democratic leadership may be stingy when it comes to financing an undertaking they opposed in the first place.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and two key House members who'll oversee the debate on immigration this year -- Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D- Calif., who'll chair the House immigration subcommittee -- all voted against the fence when it passed the House 283-138 on Sept. 14.

They were among 132 Democrats who opposed the Secure Fence Act. Only six Republicans voted against it.

In a pre-emptive effort to move the project forward, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a leading sponsor of the act, and 37 fellow GOP House members wrote Bush last week, urging the president to continue funding for the fence when he unveils his federal spending priorities next month for fiscal 2008.

"Americans overwhelmingly support the construction of targeted fencing along our southern border," the lawmakers wrote. "The fact remains that fences act as a deterrent and keep people from risking their lives to cross the border."

Other signers of the letter included Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas; John Doolittle, R-Calif.; and four Republicans from North Carolina - - Sue Myrick, Walter Jones, Robin Hayes and Howard Coble. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a leader of anti-immigration forces in the House, also signed the letter.

The Congressional Research Service, which briefs lawmakers on issues, said the 2006 legislation could mandate up to 850 miles of fencing. In sharp contrast with initial projections of $2.2 billion for 700 miles of fencing, the researchers said that the cost of building and maintaining a fence over a 25-year lifecycle could range from $16.4 million to $70 million per mile.

The report didn't calculate a total, but, under the highest projections, the cost would be $49 billion for a 700-mile fence.

"At issue for Congress is how best to allocate scarce border resources while safeguarding homeland security," the report stated. "Does border fencing represent the best investment of border security funding, and what is the appropriate mix of border security resources?"

The Department of Homeland Security is charged with overseeing fence construction and has commissioned the Boeing Co. to construct a high-tech border security shield, including cameras and radar, that will be coupled with traditional fencing.