Thread: Price takes reality check along the Mexican border

Price takes reality check along the Mexican border

http://www.newsobserver.com/print/thurs ... 34493.html

Barbara Barrett, Washington Correspondent
July 12, 2007

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. David Price looked across a wide, fast-flowing bit of the Rio Grande from the river's Texas banks last week and thought to himself, "I wouldn't cross that."

But he knows tens of thousands of immigrants do every year to sneak into the United States and melt illegally into the population. Many find their way to North Carolina, home to one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations in the country. And though the immigration reform proposal collapsed in the U.S. Senate last month, the problem of how to handle a continuing flow of undocumented immigrants hasn't gone away.

In 2005, more than 411,000 illegal immigrants were picked up trying to scramble across the Texas border, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

So Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, spent three days last week along the Texas-Mexico border as the guest of Department of Homeland Security officials, local community members and members of Congress who represent border regions. It was his first trip to the Texas border since becoming chairman of the subcommittee that pays for border security and immigration enforcement. And while there, he got a firsthand look at the policies he is helping to develop on Capitol Hill, hundreds of miles away.

On the ground, away from the political rhetoric and just days after the immigration bill's demise in the Senate, he said, the pressures of the border seem much different from the way they seem within the walls of the U.S. Capitol.

"It's considerably easier to mouth slogans if you don't know anything about it," Price said. "It was a reality check of considerable importance."

Price met with community leaders, mayors and local Border Patrol chiefs and heard about life in towns adjacent to Mexico. Residents cross the border daily to visit friends and relatives, spend money, attend jobs.

"There's huge amounts of commerce," Price said.

Price said he heard the same message over and over again: Don't build a fence. It reinforced his own notion, he said, that border security doesn't warrant a one-size-fits-all approach.

"They're united in the idea that the fence is a bad idea," Price said. "The notion that you can build a fence down the bank of the Rio Grande doesn't seem doable."

Last year, Congress authorized building a 700-mile fence along the United States' southern border.

The Homeland Security spending bill, which passed the House in June under Price's guidance, would spend $1 billion to build just 370 miles of barriers in a mix of projects that could include pedestrian fencing, vehicle fencing, virtual fences of radar, perhaps even natural barriers.

The spending bill, which awaits action in the Senate, also has some benchmarks. Before the administration can build the barriers, it must deliver to Congress justification for what it wants to build in every sector along the border. The Homeland Security agency also must seek feedback -- though not necessarily approval -- from local border communities such as the ones Price visited last week.

"There is a good deal of apprehension," Price said of community leaders. "The communities along the river, it seems there's more economic integration and long-standing relationships that people are pretty anxious to protect."

Although the appropriations bill passed the House, it still faces a vote in the Senate, which has seen weeks of political rancor over immigration matters. In the House, Democrats successfully fended off an amendment that would have required 700 miles of double-layered pedestrian fencing. It's unclear whether a similar amendment might be offered in the Senate.

Washington correspondent Barbara Barrett can be reached at (202) 383-0012 or bbarrett@mcclatchydc.com.

Could the fence just be another smokescreen our lawmakers and President put up to try to lure us into a false sense of security.

Sounds like this man is making some really big excuses, doesn't it?

You know I have lived on the border and there was considerable commerce back and forth on a daily basis - yet we had few illegals.

Why do you think that was? It wasn't because Mexico was any less poor than it is now.

Could it have been that our laws were actually enforced?

Enforce the law - deport when caught - and fine the employer - cut off the freebies. That's a start.

David Price is my rep. He is a full-blown open borders supporter and a sorry excuse for a representative of American CITIZENS.....and I say that as a recovering Democrat.

He and 95% of the Democrat party should take up residence in Mexico, roll up their sleeves, and get to work helping Mexicans in their own country.

Price said he heard the same message over and over again: Don't build a fence. It reinforced his own notion, he said, that border security doesn't warrant a one-size-fits-all approach.

"They're united in the idea that the fence is a bad idea," Price said. "The notion that you can build a fence down the bank of the Rio Grande doesn't seem doable."

The simple fact of the matter is, many of those NIMBY's don't want the fence because many of their relatives and friends live in Mexico and some even profit from the relationship. Heck, seems I remember an article on here at one time that told of a mayor in one of the border towns that was an illegal immigrant. I can understand their connection to Mexico, however, they need to understand what's at stake here. This is about the security of a nation, not what's convenient and profitable for border towns. I say this is a situation where the safety and well-being of the majority has to take preference over the minority.

"It's considerably easier to mouth slogans if you don't know anything about it," Price said. "It was a reality check of considerable importance."

It just so happens that a lot of our friends like Bilbray, Hunter, Tancredo, King, Poe, and others have been to the border and seen the situation first hand. Rep. Price seems to think he's the only one that's every been to the border to observe the situation.

The Homeland Security agency also must seek feedback -- though not necessarily approval -- from local border communities such as the ones Price visited last week.

The time for talking is over, let's build that darn fence!

Kate, Rep. Price is my representative too and I agree that he is an open border, illegal loving, jerk. He's the wrong person to decide anything that has to do with illegal immigration, our security, and the border!

Maybe they should build the fence north of these border towns.