November 19, 2008


Speaker: Government skimping on border fence

BY DAVID DEMILLE


ST. GEORGE - Some Southern Utah residents discuss, on a daily basis, how local leaders should deal with illegal immigration, but Tuesday they heard some stories straight from the southern U.S. border.

Glenn Spencer, long an outspoken crusader against illegal immigration and what he calls Mexico's "reconquista" of the American Southwest, was greeted with kudos and applause during the Dixie Republican Forum luncheon in St. George.

Spencer heads the American Border Patrol, an Arizona nonprofit group championing better immigration control and border security. The group runs Operation BEEF - Border Enforcement Evaluation First - as a way to monitor and report on just how much fence line the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has actually erected, compared with how much it was supposed to erect following passage of the Secure Fence Act, signed by President Bush in 2006. The group also helps coordinate with the Minutemen and other groups to patrol the border and alert the U.S. Border Patrol when undocumented immigrants try to cross, and has railed against the federal government's efforts so far to secure the border.

"This thing is a disaster," Spencer said. "The U.S. Border Patrol is designed to fail."

The proclamation rang as true to most of the crowd, including Terry Dunne, a St. George resident and member of the Minutemen, who said he patrols once each month with a group of 15 or so others, monitoring immigrants from Mexico "every night" and alerting the U.S. Border Patrol of their presence. Dunne said the response is often that no officers are available to help, and he hopes those in attendance Tuesday learned about just how porous the border is between the U.S. and Mexico.

"You probably learned a lot about the border fence," he said. "That it's not there."

Spencer said Operation BEEF has counted 126 miles of border fence as of October, about 40 miles of which "would be effective." The 2006 law mandates a 700-mile fence, and 300 miles of it were supposed to be completed by this year.

A report is scheduled for the middle of February in which Spencer's group will release an "Obama border report" on whether or not the government continues work on the fence once the President-elect is in office.

Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security did not return phone calls Tuesday, but officials have cited resistance from landowners, environmental concerns and various other obstacles as reasons for the slow progress in fence construction. Meanwhile, the border patrol has reported increases in the number of people detained at the border the last two years, and officials say the overall approach is working.

Southern Utah residents in attendance said they just want to see the fence erected, especially after hearing Spencer say it has been successful where built properly.

Larry Morrison, owner of Morrison Insulation in St. George, said his business is at a disadvantage when competitors use undocumented workers. He advocates more aggressive legislation to make it more difficult for employers to hire anyone ineligible to work in the country, especially mandatory implementation of E-Verify, an online system jointly operated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to check the work status of newly hired employees.

Part of Spencer's presentation mentioned the importance of community involvement to get legislation started, and Morrison said it would take concerned citizens to urge Utah's leaders into action.

"It's a problem that needs to be addressed," he said. "I think it's going to be local, and it's going to start with citizens' groups."

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