Glenn Spencer on N. Y. Times story border fence story

Note: This e-mail has not been published as of this date

E-mail to: Julia Preston, New York Times

Published: February 23, 2008

You report that the Bush Administration said that they had completed 302 miles of physical fence on the border. Would you be surprised to learn that a person can walk through or step over much of this fence? How could this be? Because DHS includes vehicle barriers in its definition of a fence.


How do I know this? Because my organization, American Border Patrol, flies the border and measures how much of each kind of fence exist on the border. As of January 18, 2008, there were 164 miles of physical fence on the border, not 284 miles as DHS had reported on December 7, 2007. There was about 120 miles of vehicle barriers, or what DHS calls a fence. This includes bollard-style barriers similar to those outside federal buildings. One can walk right between the bollard barriers. Others are simple railroad rail barriers that one can step over.


DHS is deceiving the people when it says it has 302 miles of physical fence. You are repeating that deception.


If you would like I can send you a detailed report documenting these facts.


Glenn Spencer
American Border Patrol

www.americanpatrol.com