Before They Left: Senate Passed Border Fence Bill
US Senate passes bill to build Mexican border fence
WASHINGTON -- The Senate last night passed a bill to create a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border, a plan lawmakers said will prevent illegal immigrants -- and potential terrorists -- from crossing undetected into the United States.
``The first obligation of the government is to protect the nation. If you can't protect your borders, you can't do that," said Representative Harold Rogers , Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the House Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee.
The fence will be a reinforced physical barrier in some areas, while other areas will be secured solely by powerful lighting, sensors, and cameras. When completed, the border fence would include a 20-mile patch around Tecate, Calif., segments of the Mexico-California border, nearly all of Arizona's sou thern border, the area between Columbus, N.M ., and El Paso, and two other stretches of southern Texas.
The fence measure, which passed 80 to 19, will give the Homeland Security secretary 18 months to achieve ``operational control" over US borders to keep illegal immigrants, criminals, and contraband out of the country.
The votes will end -- at least for this Congress -- a long and divisive battle over immigration reform. Democrats and some Republicans, including President Bush, had pushed for a sweeping package of changes to immigration policy that would not only reinforce the nation's borders, but also make entry easier for law-abiding foreigners and ``guest workers" who take low-paying jobs. That package also would have created a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here.
But despite Bush's exhortations, Congress could not agree on any measure to allow temporary workers into the country and instead approved only the border-protection provision. While some conservative lawmakers hailed the get-tough measure as a valuable tool against terrorism and illegal immigration, others called it mean-spirited and insisted it would do nothing to address the 12 million illegal immigrants already here or the many others who want to visit and work legally in the United States.
``We can build fences, but people will come around them. We can put high-tech devices on our borders, and they will deter some people, but we all know that many others still will find a way to come," Senator Edward M. Kennedy , Democrat of Massachusetts, said on the Senate floor yesterday. The bill headed for approval last night, he said, is ``just a bumper sticker solution for a complex problem. It's a feel-good plan that will have little effect in the real world.
Read Story Here
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Except for that nutball in RI, who do you think voted against protecting our borders and ports? You got it! The Democrats! What in the hell is wrong with you Democrats that you want to take away all our tools that make it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to attack the American people? Do you want to get attacked again? Just what is your problem with National Security? And why do block and obstruct EVERY SINGLE MEASURE to ensure our safety?
WASHINGTON -- The Senate last night passed a bill to create a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border, a plan lawmakers said will prevent illegal immigrants -- and potential terrorists -- from crossing undetected into the United States.
``The first obligation of the government is to protect the nation. If you can't protect your borders, you can't do that," said Representative Harold Rogers , Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the House Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee.
The fence will be a reinforced physical barrier in some areas, while other areas will be secured solely by powerful lighting, sensors, and cameras. When completed, the border fence would include a 20-mile patch around Tecate, Calif., segments of the Mexico-California border, nearly all of Arizona's sou thern border, the area between Columbus, N.M ., and El Paso, and two other stretches of southern Texas.
The fence measure, which passed 80 to 19, will give the Homeland Security secretary 18 months to achieve ``operational control" over US borders to keep illegal immigrants, criminals, and contraband out of the country.
The votes will end -- at least for this Congress -- a long and divisive battle over immigration reform. Democrats and some Republicans, including President Bush, had pushed for a sweeping package of changes to immigration policy that would not only reinforce the nation's borders, but also make entry easier for law-abiding foreigners and ``guest workers" who take low-paying jobs. That package also would have created a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here.
But despite Bush's exhortations, Congress could not agree on any measure to allow temporary workers into the country and instead approved only the border-protection provision. While some conservative lawmakers hailed the get-tough measure as a valuable tool against terrorism and illegal immigration, others called it mean-spirited and insisted it would do nothing to address the 12 million illegal immigrants already here or the many others who want to visit and work legally in the United States.
``We can build fences, but people will come around them. We can put high-tech devices on our borders, and they will deter some people, but we all know that many others still will find a way to come," Senator Edward M. Kennedy , Democrat of Massachusetts, said on the Senate floor yesterday. The bill headed for approval last night, he said, is ``just a bumper sticker solution for a complex problem. It's a feel-good plan that will have little effect in the real world.
Read Story Here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Except for that nutball in RI, who do you think voted against protecting our borders and ports? You got it! The Democrats! What in the hell is wrong with you Democrats that you want to take away all our tools that make it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to attack the American people? Do you want to get attacked again? Just what is your problem with National Security? And why do block and obstruct EVERY SINGLE MEASURE to ensure our safety?
posted by Marie's Two Cents | 3:54 AM
2 Comments:
This isnt the only reason i wont be voting 'Dem' in 'Nov' but it is a big reason why.
Anon,
This isnt the only reason i wont be voting 'Dem' in 'Nov' but it is a big reason why.
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I take it you mean the Democrats obstruction on every measure we need to protect this Country?
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