Virtual Border Fence Plans Raising Questions

April 19, 2007 11:06 PM PDT


Mark Stine KOLD News 13 Reporter

The plans are out for camera towers near Arivaca. They'll watch for smugglers and illegal immigrants.

The camera towers we're talking about are part of the virtual fence going up along the Southern Arizona border. Part of it's supposed to be set up here near Arivaca. Residents have a lot of questions, but they say they didn't have enough time to ask them.

"I just didn't understand it. It didn't seem right you know, awful rushed," Roger Beal said.

Beal's referring to the time he and others were given to review the Draft Environmental Assessment for the virtual fence going up in what he considers his backyard.

We're told the assessment, which explains the project, was dropped off at the Arivaca library last Saturday for public review and comment. The review period ended just four days later.

Not long enough for Beal to formulate and ask his questions.

Beal asked, "What the project is? What the towers are? What the cameras are? How they are going to be used? So you begin to say wait."

The Secure Border Initiative or SBInet virtual fence project aims at cutting down illegal immigration by boosting technology.

"It's going to cut down on agent traffic, cut down hopefully on the crossers coming up through here."

While Beal believes the virtual fence will work, it's the increased technology he's worried about.

The first phase of the project includes nine towers spread out near the border. Each 98 feet tall equipped with cameras and motion detectors that can feed information to Border Patrol agents.

Beal took us up to the proposed tower site near Arivaca.

"You just don't like that image of big brother looking at everything going on in the valley," Beal told KOLD.

There'll also be horns on the tower, that sound when an intruder is detected.

A generator will run it 24 hours a day. Beal and other residents worry about the possible noise pollution.

According to the assessment, the generator shouldn't affect anyone.

But Beal also wonders why Arivaca? "Why not right at the border? We're 12 miles from the border, why not keep the trash and catch the people right on the border?"

At this point the residents we spoke with would like an extension so they can ask their questions and maybe a town hall style meeting just to learn about the project and how it might impact them.

We made numerous attempts to contact U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ask them about the virtual fence and the time residents were given to ask their questions, our phone calls were not returned.

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=6401398