Bush administration to fortify westernmost stretch of U.S.-Mexico border

[sabra]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050914-1504-wst-borderfence.html

Bush administration to fortify westernmost stretch of U.S.-Mexico border

SAN DIEGO – The Bush administration said Wednesday it will fortify the westernmost stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border over the objections of environmentalists and California regulators, who feared the project would harm a refuge for endangered birds.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff signed an environmental waiver Tuesday night that expedites the Border Patrol's long-standing plans to fill in canyons and erect additional fencing along the final 3 1/2 miles of the border before it meets the Pacific Ocean.

The move sets up the latest clash between the Bush administration and the state's Coastal Commission, which has denied the Border Patrol permission to proceed with the project.

Chertoff said the fortifications would help reduce illegal border crossings, while Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar told reporters the project was "not directly related to illegal immigration," but a broader effort to close gaps that terrorists and others could exploit. "This is about border security," Aguilar said.

[VegasWolf]

1. Why for gods sake is Bushy not tightening the Canadian border!?!

:sarcasm:

[Benhurst]

4. Hasn't he seen the satellite photographs?

There are MILLIONS of Canadians massed along our northern border.

:scared:

[XemaSab]

2. What garbage!

Let's spend federal money to trash the tijuana slough instead of, say, reinforcing levees, checking airline baggage, or, uh.... CATCHING OSAMA??????

I have birded there, and there's one dude in a jeep guarding that whole corner of the US. Before we trash the estuary and the beach, let's try simpler measures like patrolling the area.

[NorCalDem]

6. well, how are friends of friends

going to make millions of dollars through large, no-bid government contracts for the construction of the fortifications.

Paying honest, hard-working American citizens a livable wage with the collective tax dollars of their fellow citizens just wouldn't make any sense. I mean, if we can just GIVE the money to OUR friends, it would be SO MUCH easier!

:sarcasm:

[saigon68]

17. A wall like THIS?

Peter Fechter Memorial
In August 1962, Fechter bled to death at the base of the wall in the "death zone". Guards had shot him in the back as he tried to escape. Bystanders in the West tried to rescue him, but were prevented from it at gunpoint.
Berlin, April 1963

[XemaSab]

20. Word

n/t

[dhinojosa]

3. Imprison employers hiring illegal aliens and you won't need to worry.

Simple.

[mitchtv]

13. Imprison and confiscation

The only answer.

[ladylibertee]

19. Thank You, Well put.

[jsamuel]

5. Got a problem? Throw the military at it!

[struggle4progress]

7. Neck-deep in doo-doo, W seeks to mobilize wingnuts. eom

[enid602]

8. Booooosh

What, is Bush afraid that undocumented workers will try to ESCAPE BACK INTO Mexico once they find out how much the administration's corporate sponsors will be paying them for Katrina-rlated construction and clean up?

[webtrainer]

9. workers are going to Louisiana in droves, in fact . . .

as reported by a friend of mine in the construction business, almost all of the day laborers that hang out at the local Home Depot are gone to LA., looking for fat paychecks.

[pfitz59]

11. Labor dollars not likely.....

Bushco* suspended "prevailing wage" rules for duration. Workers will be paid minimum wage, classified as "independent contractors" and denied overtime and benefits. I wouldn't be surpirsed if Halliburton imports a gaggle of foreign workers like they did at Gitmo!

[MisterP]

10. there'll be no illegal immigration if all Mexico is annexed!

[wordout]

12. To keep us in.

[Hawkeye-X]

14. Denied.

Bush should get Haliburton to pay for it.

[FlemingsGhost]

15. Red meat for the right-wingers

Sticking it to the Cali "tree-huggers" is just icing on the cake.

[Carla in Ca]

16. Ouch, I felt that!

I am just sick, sick about this. Fill in the canyons? OMG.

[kineneb]

18. Ok, shubco, this could mean war!

Fill in our canyons- with what? And where will all the water go if not down arroyos? Pres. Dipshit may have gone too far with this one.
The illegal immigration problem can be solved by arresting the people who HIRE the illegals. If there is no demand, if there is no work, they will not be interested in crossing the boarder. Just look at the northern boarder...no hoard of Canadians wanting to get jobs here! Why? Because they have more benefits by staying at home! As long as employers can get disposable cheap labor without penalty, the poor Mexicans and south Americans will continue to go north.

Our political policies south of the boarder guarantee there will continue be a large group of disenfranchised poor people willing to risk crossing the deserts in search of work. So the gov. is creating the problem and then trying to fix it at the same time. Bah.