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Border fence won't happen, GOP lawmaker says

Eunice Moscoso
Cox News Service
Oct. 3, 2006 02:28 PM


WASHINGTON - Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and key liaison to the White House on immigration, said Tuesday that 700 miles of fencing approved by Congress will probably not be built because of a lack of money and other practical considerations.

"It's one thing to authorize. It's another thing to actually appropriate the money and do it," he told reporters.

Cornyn predicted that some fencing would be built as part of a comprehensive strategy that includes more Border Patrol agents, more technology, more detention facilities and various physical barriers. advertisement




"There's different kinds of fencing ... there's the old fence post and barbed wire, and then there's the virtual fence which is a combination of physical barriers, people, and technology and I think, in the end, that will probably be how this is addressed," he said.

Cornyn added that 700 miles of fencing would not solve the problem of illegal immigration because it would still leave about 1,300 miles of unfenced border.

"I'm not sure that's the most practical use of that money," he said.

In many border areas, the federal government would have to figure out how to compensate land owners for the property used for the fence, which raises a lot of practical questions, he said.

In addition, residents in the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso and South Texas are concerned that a fence could harm legal trade and commerce back and forth across the border, which is key to jobs and the economy in those areas, he said.

Cornyn defended the Senate vote for the fencing, saying that it was an important symbolic gesture to show that Congress is serious about protecting the border.

The Senate cleared the bill late Friday and President Bush has said he would sign it. But Congress approved only $1.2 billion for fencing, barriers and other infrastructure in a separate homeland security measure. Estimates for the 700 miles of fencing range from $2 billion to $7 billion.

Also Tuesday, the 7-year-old son of an illegal immigrant and community leader made a plea to President Bush to halt deportation hearings for his mother, Elvira Arellano.

Arellano made national headlines in August when she refused to surrender for deportation and took refuge in a Methodist church in Chicago. On Friday, a federal judge refused her latest attempt to remain in the country.

The boy, Saul Arellano, clad in a three piece off-white suit, was a guest at a conference of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

In a press conference attended by many Spanish-language print and TV reporters, the boy held up a letter he wrote to Bush asking for a meeting.

"I want you to know that there are more than 3 million children like me. We are U.S. citizens but the government is taking away our mothers and fathers." the letter said.

Staring at his patent leather shoes, the boy told reporters that he wanted to "stop the deportation of my Mommy."

John Keeley, a spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that advocates a tough stand against illegal immigration, said that bringing the child to Washington constituted "gross pandering" and a "classic sob story."

"Fairness calls for the consistent enforcement of laws, no matter how sympathetic individual circumstances can be," he said.