Obama's budget proposal cuts border fence funds

11:36 PM CDT on Thursday, May 7, 2009
From Wire Reports

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's budget blueprint Thursday canceled plans to extend the border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border beyond the 670 miles already completed or planned, symbolically breaking with a much-heralded approach to border security advocated by President George W. Bush.

The Obama administration's turnabout left limited funds for roads, lights and so-called tactical infrastructure – but not a dime to extend the pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers erected along roughly one-third of the nation's 1,947 mile border with Mexico.

As a Democratic senator representing Illinois, Obama joined 79 other senators in 2006 to support construction of the barrier system.

The top financial officer at the Department of Homeland Security, Peggy Sherry, and her team told reporters in a telephone conference call that the Obama administration would not extend the barrier network that has irked Mexico and stirred concerns among immigrant-advocate organizations.

Some Texas landowners have challenged the fence project, denying or delaying federal officials' access to survey their property in legal warfare that prolonged construction along some parts of the border. Chad Foster, mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas, and head of the Texas Border Coalition, welcomed the decision. "We've always wanted to stop the fence right where it is," Foster said.

The Obama administration asked Congress for $779 million for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 for border security-related expenses such as installation of technology, tactical infrastructure and completion of some of the remaining 46 miles of barriers already planned.

That represents a sharp drop from the $1.9 billion spent on the same activities by the Bush administration in fiscal 2008 and the $926 million set aside by the outgoing administration for the current fiscal year.

"There are additional funds for implementation, some additional [money for] roads, lights, some additional tactical infrastructure," said one of Sherry's aides, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There's nothing specifically identified as money for further miles of fence."

The Obama administration will continue efforts "to finish up the fencing to get as close to the 670 miles of fence that has been previously identified," the aide said.

Officials said contractors have completed about 640 miles of the planned fence and barriers.

Texas lawmakers broke along party lines reacting to the Obama administration's decision.

Democratic Rep. Gene Green of Houston, said he was glad that Obama's budget "ends efforts to extend the controversial border fence," adding the barriers proved to be ineffective.

But Republican Rep. John Culberson of Houston said he was "very disappointed to see more proof that the new administration will not truly secure our borders."

GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said the U.S. Border Patrol had expressed support for the barriers as a way to slow illegal immigrants' dash across the border into nearby cities before they could be apprehended.

Texas' other senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, also a Republican, called "a secure and safe border . . . one of our nation's top priorities" without taking a position on additional fencing