political nonsense

The Bush administration’s proposal to secure the nation’s borders with a high-tech “virtual fence” is likely to cost far more than the $2 billion that industry analysts initially estimated, possibly up to $30 billion, a government watchdog agency warned yesterday.

According to the Homeland Security Department inspector general, the ambitious plan to deploy sensors, cameras and other surveillance technology along 6,000 miles of the borders with Canada and Mexico runs the risk of runaway costs because of poorly defined objectives and a vastly overstretched contracting staff at the department.

The dramatically higher estimates, delivered to House members by Inspector General Richard L. Skinner, injected a new dose of skepticism into the national debate to curb illegal immigration, which has focused in large part on gaining control of the borders.

Critics have charged that a Republican-led Congress and President Bush approved legislation with much fanfare this fall authorizing the construction of a 700-mile fence along a third of the Mexican frontier without funding the work.

Now, the feasibility of the Bush administration’s preferred plan, to which Congress has dedicated $1.2 billion and which is beginning on a pilot basis along a 28-mile stretch south of Tucson, drew fresh doubts from Congress as it moves into Democratic control.

“If it’s going to cost 8 to 30 billion dollars,” asked Deborah W. Meyers, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, “. . . is that really the most effective way of achieving the policy goal?”
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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm and is filed under main, homeland security, the bush administration, big business, the rest of the world, latin america, mexico. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.