Near-done border fence stirs critics, defenders

Land swap: best deal possible or bad precedent?
Brady McCombs



SASABE — Less than three months after bulldozers broke ground, construction crews are nearing completion of a seven-mile border fence that stretches across one of the busiest corridors in the nation for people- and drug-smuggling.

But critics say a land swap deal that allowed the Department of Homeland Security to complete the final 0.8 of a mile of the fence set a bad precedent, and was the last in a line of bullying tactics used by the agency to fast-track the project.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials say the land swap was the best resolution to the situation. Homeland Security officials say the expeditious construction of the fence is vital for national security and is required by the Secure Fence Act of 2006, said Barry Morrissey, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington.

The Secure Fence Act calls for 700 miles of pedestrian fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border, “The sooner we can apply these various tools, be it technology, be it fences, be it roads, be it lighting, the sooner we will achieve better control of the border,â€