Comments on: Complete The Fence NOW! http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/03/20/complete-the-fence-now/ Beating Them With Their Own Sickle And Hammer Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:24:34 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: SN http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/03/20/complete-the-fence-now/comment-page-1/#comment-82265 SN Sun, 23 Mar 2008 05:15:51 +0000 http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/03/20/complete-the-fence-now/#comment-82265 This is nothing more than the basest politics. Senator DeMint sees the immigrant boogeyman as a national security issue that avoids the mention of Iraq, and that he can ride to reelection. The call for campaign contributions for his reelection bid is particularly telling. If you visit the “grassroots” website that DeMint promotes and scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see that it is paid for by DeMint’s reelection campaign. If DeMint would go to the trouble of reading the Congressional Research Service’s report “Border Security: Barriers Along the U.S. International Border,” updated June 5, 2007, he would see that they found that the San Diego wall had “no discernible impact” on the number of undocumented immigrants who enter the US. If he bothered to listed to the Border Patrol he would learn that border walls only slow a crosser down by 5 minutes. The Border Patrol is having its greatest success in reducing the flow of immigrants in places where there have never been walls. According to Border Patrol statictics in the Rio Grande Valley sector crossings were down by 34% in fiscal 2007; in the Del Rio sector they were down by 46%. Neither Texas sector has ever had a wall. In contrast, San Diego, which has parallel walls, saw a 7% increase in crossings. DeMint should take a stab at actually representing the interests of the American people, instead of inventing absurd labels like “radical amnesty agenda.” It is utterly meaningless, but like building walls on the border it sounds good. We need leadership on this issue, not sound bites. This is nothing more than the basest politics. Senator DeMint sees the immigrant boogeyman as a national security issue that avoids the mention of Iraq, and that he can ride to reelection. The call for campaign contributions for his reelection bid is particularly telling. If you visit the “grassroots” website that DeMint promotes and scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see that it is paid for by DeMint’s reelection campaign.

If DeMint would go to the trouble of reading the Congressional Research Service’s report “Border Security: Barriers Along the U.S. International Border,” updated June 5, 2007, he would see that they found that the San Diego wall had “no discernible impact” on the number of undocumented immigrants who enter the US. If he bothered to listed to the Border Patrol he would learn that border walls only slow a crosser down by 5 minutes. The Border Patrol is having its greatest success in reducing the flow of immigrants in places where there have never been walls. According to Border Patrol statictics in the Rio Grande Valley sector crossings were down by 34% in fiscal 2007; in the Del Rio sector they were down by 46%. Neither Texas sector has ever had a wall. In contrast, San Diego, which has parallel walls, saw a 7% increase in crossings.

DeMint should take a stab at actually representing the interests of the American people, instead of inventing absurd labels like “radical amnesty agenda.” It is utterly meaningless, but like building walls on the border it sounds good. We need leadership on this issue, not sound bites.

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