Dig Deeper Texas

MySA.com: Report shows 2 failings of border wall plan: Effectiveness and cost:

And in 1990, the U.S. Border Patrol started building a 14-mile wall in the San Diego area, then a hot spot for illegal crossings. Congress authorized construction of a “secondary layer of fencing” to bolster that wall in 1996.

This 14-mile dual-layer border barrier — which isn’t finished — would be the model for the 850-mile extension, proponents said.

They should have looked at their model more closely, and checked its effectiveness and costs. And they should have considered a border wall’s diplomatic impact.

A little-noticed Congressional Research Service report issued Dec. 12 indicates that expanding the California wall makes little sense. After the San Diego wall went up, apprehensions in the area were reduced, the CRS reports. But “there is ample evidence that flow of illegal immigration … shifted to more remote areas of the Arizona desert.”

And just as happened in California, the new wall will cost more than anticipated.

For starters, the 14-mile wall was built by welding surplus Vietnam War-era steel landing pads onto steel pipes. Though the pads cost nothing, maintenance costs weren’t accurate, nor were costs of building the secondary fence, acquiring the land for it and assessing the environmental damage.

What started out to be a $14 million wall and fence is now expected to cost $127 million.

And extending the fence, the CRS report says, won’t cost the $8 billion estimated when Congress approved it — though they funded only $1.2 billion. Not factored in are maintenance or land acquisition costs.

Materials costs are also vastly understated. The San Diego fence may have been built with free surplus landing pads, but today there are only 5 miles of landing pads left.

The new wall, the CRS says, will cost at least $60 billion just to build, plus the costs of maintenance and buying private land.

Isn’t it time to put this ridiculous project out of its misery? Isn’t it time to simply say: Mr. Bush, tear down this border wall project?

I talked a little bit about the border fence in October. You gotta love that they expected it to cost 8 billion but only funded it for 1.2 billion and the real costs are closer to 60 billion. I suppose that just tells us how much they really wanted it. Of course, they never expected it to be built since they immediately passed legislation that allowed the 1.2 billion to be used any way they want it to be.

MiamiHerald.com | 10/07/2006 | Future border fence getting shorter:

But shortly before recessing Friday, the House and Senate gave the Bush administration leeway to distribute the money to a combination of projects — not just the physical barrier along the southern border. The funds may also be spent on roads, technology and ”tactical infrastructure” to support the Homeland Security Department’s preferred option of a “virtual fence.”

I don’t know what to say, it’s a bad idea and won’t have the desired affect if it was ever built. I really was nothing more than a stunt so they would have something to say during their campaigns and it is already a non-issue since the funding has already been gutted and thrown into a slush fund.

Okay, this was just funny so I snuck it in here at the end.

Star-Telegram | 01/02/2007 | Pilot strays into restricted airspace over Bush ranch

WASHINGTON - A small plane twice strayed into restricted airspace over President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, authorities said Monday.

The violation was inadvertent, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Diane Stitaliere said.

The propeller plane, a Maule M-7, wandered into restricted airspace above the ranch about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, prompting the scrambling of F-16 fighter jets, said U.S. Air Force Maj. April Cunningham, spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

The jets used flares to get the attention of the pilot, who landed and was interviewed by authorities before being sent on his way, according to NORAD and the Secret Service.

Boy, I bet that was a scary experience for the poor pilot. I can’t imagine having F-16’s pull up alongside your single prop plane and use flares to get your attention. It makes sense that there would be a no-fly zone over his ranch but I certainly had never thought about it before today so I wouldn’t be surprised if the pilot hadn’t either. Maybe the President should take less vacations, spend more time at work and give pilots of small planes a break.

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Filed under: George W. Bush, WaLL-k, border, border fence, immigration, texas, texas border, texas border waLL-k