Iowa congressman pitches U.S.-Mexico border fence
By Jared A. Taylor
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

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-Iowa, 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, costing 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.