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Two Girls Scale Border Fence - Secure Fence Act comes under question
A YouTube video of two girls scaling an Arizona border fence has brought into question the effectiveness of border fences and the Secure Fence Act. This video was brought to my attention by Sally MacDonald of Houstons Fox 26 KRIV during an interview about border security. This interview has since become a national story picked up by Fox News Channel out of New York who called me at seven a.m. this morning to tell me they were airing the story on Fox and Friends. It was also the lead story on the FoxNews.com website for most of the morning.
On the surface, this story is much ado about nothing. The fence shown in the video is not the design and technology of the fencing proposed in the Secure Fence Act. If it were, the girls would have never gotten close to it, let alone scale it. Here is a look at the story and my response to it on Fox Houston (KRIV).
In the interview, I supplied a drawing of the proper fencing that was proposed in the law. The fence design calls for a double layer fence with a security zone in the middle, enhanced with video surveillance and tunneling sensors.
I also discussed another video I brought to their attention that, while not as popular or cute as the now viral video of the girls climbing the fence, it clearly shows the effectiveness of the fence in areas where it has been properly deployed. It also discusses the effectiveness of Operation Streamline in reducing illegal crossings. While Fox referenced this video in their story, they did not link to it like they did in the other video.
This seems to be the portion of the story the news media doesnt want to get out. That when you build a proper fence, you get positive results. And when you enforce the law, as does Operation Streamline, you reduce illegal immigration, smuggling and other violent crimes.
One additional piece of the story left out by Fox was the gutting of the Secure Fence Act by now retiring US Senator, Kay Baily Hutchison. She put an amendment on the bill which turned over authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to change features of the fence, reduce spending on the fence, or even not build the fence at all, totally at the Secretarys discretion.
The national attention brought to this story by Fox News has taken a new twist with me being invited to be a guest on a radio talk show in Chicago, Il. WGNs Mike McConnell has invited me to appear and discuss this story and the current situation along the US border. We will discuss what it will take from our government to provide a secure border to protect American citizens from the violence along our southern border. I will be on his show in the segment that begins at 10:05 CST. CLICK HERE to listen live Wednesday at 10:05 am.
Congressman Mike McCaul (R-TX) talks to US Border Patrol agents about the safety provided by the fence.
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Story spreads like a California Grassfire
For some reason, this story is really picking up steam. Here are some links to other sources writing about this topic and referencing my quotes on Fox News.
The UK Mail Online
The Huffington Post
The European Union Times
The Real Game Changer Is A Biometric Social Security/ID Card
If the Republicans were serious about enforcement, they would insist on implementing a tamper-proof, biometric social security/ID card. The technology is already in use for passports, and as opposed to E-verify, fingerprints do not lie. E-verify has an error rate of over 4% which is too much.
If we had a biometric social security card, it would be all but impossible for the illegal immigrants to find work and the attempted illegal border crossings would decrease dramatically.
Solution: Swift legalization of the otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants in 2011 and simultaneously make the use of E-verify mandatory for all businesses until a biometric social security card can be implemented.