Thread: King shows fence model at House hearing

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King shows fence model at House hearing
JANE NORMAN
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU


July 20, 2006


Washington, D.C. — Rep. Steve King brought his model of an electrified, wire-topped border fence to a House immigration hearing here today that probed how and where to erect a lengthy new U.S.-Mexico barrier.

King, a Kiron Republican, displayed a small model of a fence he designed that actually would be more like a wall, made of six-inch-thick concrete panels dropped in with a crane and anchored five feet deep in the ground.

A ribbon of wire topped the wall. “It would stand there for perhaps a hundred years, if necessary,” said King, who ran his own earth-moving company before coming to Congress.

“I spent my life in the construction business,” he said, where he was expected to produce “100 percent efficiency.” King said his western Iowa constituents expect the same and “want to stop all illegal immigration.”

He estimated his fence would cost about $1.3 million per mile and would be more effective than other solutions in intercepting illegal immigrants and an estimated $65 billion annually in illegal drugs.

The House and Senate each have approved bills calling for hundreds of miles of new fencing.

King has emerged as one of the most vocal members of the House calling for heightened security on the border, as well as opposition to any legislative approach that would grant eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants.

He gained attention when he brought his model of an electrified fence to the House floor last week. “We could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that would not kill somebody, but it would be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock all the time,” he said then.

The joint hearing on fencing was held by the Government Reform and Homeland Security committees and included other members of Congress, construction contractors and Border Patrol officials.
It is one in a series of immigration hearings that House Republican leaders called this summer.

Both the House and Senate have approved vastly different immigration bills, and Democrats have charged that the hearings are a way to postpone negotiations that might result in a bill closer to a Senate approach that provides a path to citizenship. Republicans say they are seeking more information.

A fence is a given, they said. “Though the question of whether we should have more border fencing has occasionally generated more heat than light, the fact is that this proposition is more or less settled in Congress,” said Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., the chairman of the hearing.

But Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Tex., said fencing “is not a good investment of taxpayer dollars” and more agents could be hired with the same money.

The U.S. Border Patrol currently maintains about 75 miles of fence along the southwest border, mostly in urban areas. Kevin Stevens, senior associate chief for the Border Patrol, said it is “very successful for us” there combined with high-intensity lighting and cameras.

Other fencing used in the past has been cut down or moved by immigrants, such as chain-link fences or barbed wire, said Stevens. Even heavy, solid fence material in an area that is not highly patrolled can be cut through or climbed over, he said. Placing more obstructions on top has helped.

“A fence does in fact deter some and it delays those who won’t be deterred,” said Stevens.

However, he said under questioning that what is needed is an “appropriate mix” of enforcement, including fences, agents, off-road vehicles, aircraft and other deterrents.

The House bill mandates the construction of 854 miles of double-layer fencing, including lights and cameras in California, New Mexico and Texas. The Senate voted for 370 miles of triple-layer fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., said Congress already approved additional detention beds and border agents in 2004 but failed to provide money for them. “So here we are talking about a fence, a one-size-fits-all solution,” she said.

Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., said that “I do not believe it is in any way a silver bullet,” but both the House and Senate included provisions for fences in their bills. “This is a position the American people have come to support,” said Lungren.

King said he has visited the border four times during the past year. “Sometimes I go down alone and show up to see what I can learn,” he said, staying up until the middle of the night talking with agents and listening to activity.

http://www.radioiowa.com

Congressman King to testify about plan for wall on border

by Stella Shaffer

Iowa Congressman Steve King is testifying before a House committee today on his plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Before he was elected to represent Iowa's fifth congressional district in Washington, King was an earth-moving contractor.

The western Iowa representative says that's the basis for his idea of building a fence to halt the flow of illegal aliens across the US border with Mexico. The design he envisions is a pre-cast concrete wall, 12 feet high and about 6 inches thick. "We're spending right now about four-Million dollars a mile to guard our border," King says. "This fence could be constructed and installed for about one-point-three-Million dollars a mile."

There would be some maintenance, he admits, and the wall would still require some guarding. "I think that we need to put together a system that is effective, that uses the taxpayers' money wisely, and that's why I designed the wall."


King's put together his own wall, a model to show people what he's talking about, though when he displayed it last week on the House floor, his description drew some criticism. It includes wire along the top of the wall.

King says he described an electrical charge for the wire, to deter anyone from trying to climb over it. "To make sure the urban people in the country" understood, he says he made clear it would be a non-lethal current, like farmers use electric fences to keep livestock safe. "They would then...jump to the conclusion that we don't take good care of our livestock and of course we do."

Hearings will be held around the country on the issue of illegal immigrants, and King says he'll attend all the meetings he can. King says the Senate is backing a policy of granting amnesty to alien workers in the U.S. today, while the House favors tough enforcement.

King says if the administration has "made a real serious effort' to enforce immigration laws on the books, including tightening the border and sanctions against employers who hire illegals, there would be more support for the president's proposed guest-worker program. King says even if we could prevent people from hiring illegal immigrants he thinks 90-percent of the illegal drugs consumed in America are carried here across the Mexican border so more needs to be done to prevent travel across the border.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 5106&rfi=6

07/21/2006
King: Build border fence
Jared A. Taylor , For The Nonpareil

WASHINGTON - Rep. Steve King believes he has an answer to the United States' southern border security problems.

On Thursday, during a hearing before two subcommittees of the Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee, King, R-5th District, presented a model he created for a barrier that would follow the U.S.-Mexico border.

While King said his proposal wouldn't be suitable for all terrain, sealing the border is the key to stopping the flow of undocumented workers and illegal drugs across the border.

"I'm for expanding the border patrol and giving them all the technology that they need, but I'm for a 100 percent solution, one we can make a business case for," he said.

The barrier would be constructed of 10-foot wide concrete panels placed in concrete foundations sunk 5 feet in the ground. The wall would stand 12 feet tall, with wire strung along the top that could be electrified.

King, who owns a construction company, said the foundation and panels for the wall could easily be installed by workers at a pace of up to a mile per day. He estimated the cost at about $1.3 million per mile. The U.S.-Mexico border is more than 1,900 miles long.

"You pick them up with a crane, lift them up and just drop them in," King said, demonstrating with a desktop model made of wood and cardboard. "In fairly short order, you'll end up with a wall that would be quite effective and relatively economical."

After making four visits to the border this year, King said a wall would keep out illegal immigrants and drug traffickers.

"I have been known to sit down there sometimes at 2:30 in the morning, listening to border patrol agents who will talk to me only in obscure places where their identity can be kept confidential," he said. "You will not stop this human traffic unless you put a physical presence and a wall there."

Kevin Stevens, senior associate chief of Customs and Border Protection, said his agency does not necessarily need just more fencing, but rather a "tactical mix" of technology to extend border security.

"It's not about fences, it's not about border patrol agents, it's not about technology, it's about a mix of those things," he said. "Today, we do not have enough."

King said the wall would keep illegal traffic from crossing the border at locations other than formal ports of entry. He noted the Drug Enforcement Agency estimated there was about $65 billion of illegal drug trafficking across the Mexican border in 2005.

"We should do whatever is necessary to force all traffic through the ports of entry," King said. "If we can do that, then we can look at the manpower, the technology necessary to do an even better job at the ports of entry."

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, told the subcommittees that he supports fencing the border, but not in remotely populated areas. He emphasized that more cameras and border agents could be dispatched to secure remote areas.

"I am not opposed to fencing. I am opposed to using fencing as a solve-all for our problems," said Reyes, who once was chief of the El Paso, Texas, sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. Reyes said much of the illegal immigration problem stems from loose sanctions against companies that employ undocumented workers.

"If you remove the magnet for why people are coming here, it will stop," Reyes said.