You Lie!… Obama Says Border Fence Is “Basically Complete” But It’s Only 5% Finished
Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 8:14 PM
Barack Obama told his audience today in El Paso that the border fence is basically complete.
Via FOX Nation:
“They wanted more agents on the border. Well, we now have more boots on the ground on the southwest border than at any time in our history. The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents – more than twice as many as there were in 2004, a build up that began under President Bush and that we have continued. They wanted a fence. Well, that fence is now basically complete.”
Today only 5% of the US-Mexico border fence complete or 36.3 miles.
Maybe Barack Obama missed this funding drive by Arizona.
They’re not raising money to build a border fence that’s already there.
Don’t expect the state-run media to report this.
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Published May 26, 2012 at 10:49 am - 41 Comments
P. Aaron commented:
The fence is finished as far as Obama’s considered. Obama’s is FINISHED as far as I’m concerned.
Alana commented:
I don’t know how anybody could think a president who is always mocking people is a good thing.
Gothguy commented:
And Nixon had to resign?
This bastard lies out of both sides of his pie hole and other orifices with impunity!
Tom commented:
He isn’t lying really…it isn’t going to be made. word games.
ruready? commented:
Note the destination for those that love and make lies (from Revelation, chapter 22)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
sifty commented:
Scrawny, stupid, and arrogant are no way to go through life, Obama.
Missy8s commented:
Didn’t you know that liberals pass out trophies for
incomplete incompetent work?Frank Sinclair commented:
Dude, “State Run Media?” Do you realize how much of a schmuck you look like parroting LIMBAUGH???
Do also you call feminists “Feminazis?”
Do you call female reporters “reporterettes” or “infobabes?”
*shrug*
Joe College commented:
He wants us to talk about ANYTHING other than the economy.
Chisum commented:
Frank Sinclair,
You sound rabid. Go bite yourself!
Sasja commented:
Frank Sinclair. Idiot.
L.E. Liesner commented:
Living about 80 miles from El Paso, I heard from friends that the crowd was not as large as they expected. Seems even the liberals are getting tired of his lies too. One difference between Jimmy Carter and him is, Jimmy wasn’t as good of a liar as Obama is. In fact he’s making Slick Willie look a pillar of truth.
ar05075 commented:
Yes Frank…..State run media. Dude
Just Chillin commented:
Here we go again, the Liar In Chief…
SSBN 627(B) commented:
In Newspeak, 36 miles is the same as finished. The word completes the deed. So, in theory, the Heroic Obama Administration has saved America yet again.
Opus#6@AmericanPerspective commented:
In Obamatopia it IS basically finished. Because he doesn’t plan to build it further. 5% is all we get.
gus commented:
Who does the scrawny commie think he’s crap’n? Only lightweight douchebags like Frank Sinclair buy this crap.
Alana commented:
sifty commented:
Scrawny, stupid, and arrogant are no way to go through life, Obama.
—–
lol sifty!
Sasja commented:
If the fence I saw on the Arizona border is the part that is finished, it wouldn’t keep out a prairie dog. You need at least a 10 foot wall with broken glass embedded in the top.
Joanne commented:
Maybe Obama means a fence of border patrol agents who can’t shoot or capture illegals, but have to chase them back into Mexico.
davidr commented:
No, 0bama is correct. The border fence is as complete as it’s ever going to be.
KR commented:
So how come the Feds put up signs in southern AZ telling Americans to stay out due to violent Mexican drug gangs in the area?
Fionnagh commented:
No, he didn’t lie (for once…) As others have already mentioned, BHO simply meant that that border fence is as finished as it’s gonna get – at least on his watch.
gus commented:
Let me see if I understand?? When Obama says something that he knows is patently untrue, misleading and dishonest. It isn’t a lie???
gus commented:
How is NOT AGGRESSIVELY SECURING OUR BORDER in America’s best interests??
Anyone?
Dewormer commented:
You ever sit back and marvel at just what demographic Obama must have, given the inane, utterly flawed and fabricated realities he presents to his followers?
At times, I’m outright amazed that our nation can have such uneducated and willfully ignorant individuals. We tend to produce those in excess and it isn’t limited to socioeconomic background, race, gender or creed. But occasionally it alarms me that Obama is perpetrating subtle racism through his disregard for realities he’s well aware of.
It wasn’t long ago that a myth regarding minorities descended from the slave trade perpetrated (I’m old enough to even recall it being represented in an elementary school text book) which proclaimed that native Africans were easily tricked onto slave boats by slave traders through claims that pancakes grew on trees in the Americas. Fortunately, much of our nation appears to have moved past that myth, but the President’s become the King of the Pancake Tale himself, spreading tall tales that would make Uncle Remus blush. Finished border fences, Republicans who were so evil, why I’m gonna expect they’d wanna build a moat and fill it with alligators!
This stuff is right out of Uncle Remus. It’s derogatory and channels a perverse racism that, while agitating the brutish progressive brownshirt masses and angry minorities, does exceptional damage to minorities by presenting the first minority president as blackface fo’ who believes in all this crazy nonsense. Obama’s part trickster negro (flipping his middle finger at the tea party or Hillary), part fo’ negro believing in them pancake trees, and part angry negro with that dangerous look that he might rape the white women.
This is no post-racial president; this is a president who exemplifies nothing but the hatred of the Other. This is a sociopathic individual who has no business representing the people in office. We should give him full credit for being intelligent and educated enough to understand what he’s doing is absolutely damaging to race relations and to the credibility of minorities worldwide.
Muffin commented:
Mentally ill. I told you. Pathological.
Redwine commented:
WTF – “Mountain lion sparks chase ahead of Obama visit” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42979045/ns/us_news-life/
They couldn’t just tranquilize it and move it out of range.
Tim Foulke commented:
That’s the Dem/Lib formula isn’t it? We give you 5% and you give us 95%; they call it “bipartisan”!
retire05 commented:
“more than twice as many as there was in 2004″ Obama, talking about Border Patrol agents.
Yes, but not because of him.
In 1992, right before Bill Clinton took office, there were 3,555 BP agents assigned to the southern border. By 2000, that number had increased to 8,580. By September, 2008, George Bush had increased the number of BP agents on the southern border to 17,499. Since taking office, Obama has increased the number of BP agents on the southern border to 17,659, an increase of 160 Border Patrol agents assigned to the southern border.
This is according to the Congressional Research Service.
So no, Obama, WE did not increase the number of Border Patrol agents: Presidents Clinton and Bush increased the number of BP agents. You are not included in that WE, kimosabe.
StrangernFiction commented:
It’s OK to call this a lie folks.
gus commented:
Tim, That’s 1 for you 19 for me!!!!! Cause I’m the TAXMAN.
Pat the First commented:
There is a serious problem with someone who can tell lies so easily. That is very frightening. You know why people don’t like liars . . . because you can never, ever trust them again. He really has blown it with people who actually use their brains.
gus commented:
Retire05. I don’t care how many border agents Commie Boy Odimwit claims. HAS HE, OR DOES HE INTEND TO FIX….THE PROBLEM?
rampart ranger commented:
Meantime the Press Sycophants roll over upon command, and keep their grinning little mouths shut.
gus commented:
rampart. The MEDIA doesn’t see his childishness. They agree with him. They simply see things in a liberal prism.
OBAMANATION @ NOTRE DAME commented:
TRUTH LIVES HERE – http://www.AmericanPatrol.com
AuntieMadder commented:
#1 May 10, 2011 at 8:22 pm
P. Aaron commented:
The fence is finished as far as Obama’s considered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BINGO!
YES WE CON! commented:
AMERICAN VICTIMS OF THE INVA$ION – http://www.ojjpac.org/memorial.asp
AntiWacko commented:
And I would venture to say that the completed construction of 649 miles of the 652 miles of pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers authorized by Congress validates Obama’s comment that the fence is basically complete. You Obama-haters should check your facts before you write.
Josh commented:
He basically quit smoking and he’s down to one pack a day.
Josh commented:
We basically quit going to war with everybody and we do kinetic military operations…..
jeff commented:
#40 Uh huh, I’d dearly love to challenge Obambi on the facts. But he does not speak to the real citizens of this country. Speaking of inbred, have Mom-sister and uncle-dad let you leave the basement yet? Remember to brush and floss your tooth and wash behind your tail before getting on the short yellow bus to the institute.
Chisum commented:
#41,
Goofball,
Who should we believe …you or the GAO?
Gee, that’s a tough one.
http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2011/04/01/gao-report-limited-control-over-our-own-border/
Buy a clue!
save us commented:
Liar in chief
Joe Wilson was right
Chisum commented:
Oh look!
More facts!
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37025
tommy mc donnell commented:
what he was trying to tell us is that the idea of building a fence at the border is “finished.”
JPeden commented:
#24 gus commented:
Let me see if I understand?? When Obama says something that he knows is patently untrue, misleading and dishonest. It isn’t a lie???
Attn.you Racist, why do you always want to ruin our Children’s fun parties, especially Obozo’s Clown Shows? Next thing we know you’ll want Obozo to address whether border security is good enough to fulfill an American President’s Constitutional duties – when any caring person knows that our Children are too precious to be subject to the “torture” of any such thoughts!
Yes, your question is racist! And, Yea, even Obozo Himself hath said that soon Obozo’s “Truth” shall cleanse you and your spawn even from the Capitalist opiate you disquise as Happy Meals, which have so unjustly prevented the Communist Utopia! Have you not read “Obamacare”?
sandy commented:
Wonder who these people are who think Obama’s so likable? The man insults our country and its people every chance he gets. Those insults by the Dems caused them to lose in a landslide but they seem oblivious. It almost doesn’t matter who our nominee is — it won’t be Heil Hope and his band of hateful thugs.
Nano commented:
That is only 5% of the high risk area………………a full fence which is really not needed would be closer to 3000 miles or more
sandy commented:
I am waiting for the Statues. The ones on every corner declaring Obama is God. Then I will vomit my guts out.
Nano commented:
I have to note how every time anybody else mentions any kind of fence the pliant media manges to find a story to put on the wire of some half a mile tunnel dug in solid rock which makes a fence null and void.
But NEVER surfaces 40 column inches of a tunnel found when all is quiet on the southern front.
I report you decide.
Nano commented:
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/09/3614269/sophisticated-tunnel-found-along.html
yeah a link to just one of the border tunnel stories that just ‘happened’ to surface when BHO did his song and dance
google it and see how many more you can find
JPeden commented:
sandy commented:
I am waiting for the Statues. The ones on every corner declaring Obama is God. Then I will vomit my guts out.
But the potency of the Progressives’ emetic effect is already very impressive, indeed. And, fortuneately, so far he’s only declared himself to be “partners with God in matters of life and death.” In addition, his Union and Evironmentalist, etc., Commie Masters no doubt still think of him as just another “step and fetch it”. So maybe we’ll be spared the Statues?
Nano commented:
Can we turn that into some sort of drinking game????????????
Perhaps the operative question is maybe why not LOL
Nano commented:
Seriously what you have to do her is know we are at the start of another Presidential cycle
Don’t walk into it in sleep walking mode
Build up a spreadsheet in the cloud services or with something like open office if you can’t afford pay alternatives.
Note every byline or news source that magically propped up the narrative of the day as mouths move and telepromters were read.
Give a demerit if it was non critical and a plus if it was and watch the scores grow.
This is the time to start observations ………….the game has begun.
007Fan commented:
I’m not entirely sure, but I took what Obama said about the fence meaning the increase in agents was the fence. I think he was speaking figuratively.
And honestly, whoever it was that said he’ll talk about anything not to talk about the economy. How much money should the government put towards building a fence that covers the entire boarder? Not to mention constant monitoring and upkeep. To me that doesn’t seem to fit with wanting to cut gov’t spending.
Molon Lobe commented:
Can Obamao ever say anything with the ring of truth to it? I doubt anything in his homage to illegal aliens was true. Its a joke to believe our border is secure or that there are fewer illegals entering this country.
Obamao belongs in a mental ward.
JPeden commented:
007Fan commented:
To me that [building and maintaining an entire border fence] doesn’t seem to fit with wanting to cut gov’t spending.
You’ve made a “category confusion”. Nat. security and defense is the Fed. Government’s primary obligation. If it can’t even provide for border security – which it in fact can – then we should shut down all Federal spending, that is, the entire Fed. Gov’t.. If it can provide for border security – again, which it in fact can – then the cutting has to occur elsewhere = that’s where the cutting is “wanted”.
If Obama simply won’t provide for border security in the sense of wanting to make it necessarily dependent upon the occurrence of another condition – “comprehensive immigration reform” – which is actually totally unrelated to the Gov’t's duty and ability to provide for border security, he should either resign or be impeached, based upon his failure to do the Federal Gov’t's primary job. Or else is he going to be allowed to get away with holding everything he should be doing as President hostage to having the citzens of our country do something else first? He has a specific, necessary job to do which the citizens hired him to do, and he should do it or else be removed. This job does not involve the we citizens work for him and for his special buddies!
Rose commented:
I’m from Texas – I pray that the funds that Odrama Queen harvested from traitorous Dims in Texas shall be the same curse to him that he and Texas Dims and USA Dims have been to Texas, and to the USA – and on this earth. a Hearty Harvest into his bosom of all the damage he has done to the USA and to Liberty and Freedom and Constructiveness in the World today – returned to him IN KIND, in this life, 1,000-fold, hastening to him, expediently, quickly, thoroughly, suddenly and without warning, unexpectedly, but uniquely Designed extraordinarily in unknown ways. With the Speed of Light let it find him and cleave to him.
greg commented:
What are the rules for using federal office assets for campaigning. ONE WTF seems to be completely unconstrained in the use of air force one for fundraisers. In any state govt he would have been covered up in legal problems
Hedgehog commented:
Obama is not lying when he says that the border fence is basically complete. What he is saying is that he will not authorize any further construction. So it is basically complete as far as he and his handlers are concerned. Commie Creep.
Robert commented:
#62
Right. Basically complete as much as they are going to basically complete it.
eaglewingz08 commented:
All depends on what the meaning of “basically complete” is. Right Barack Hussein Clinton?
Pam commented:
I don’t think the claim that only 5% or about 36 miles of the fence is complete is true. Bush authorized the fence in 2006 and work started then, so in 5 years only 36 miles has been completed? Sounds absurd, even for the government. Google the subject, you’ll find many articles published in 2009 about the fence being almost done. Where did the 5% figure come from?
Pam commented:
Ok, I googled it myself. Here’s one of the many articles available about the fence fiasco:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2173026/posts
This article, dated 1/27/2009, says:
The fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is mostly finished.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling says that 601 miles (967 kilometers) of the project had been completed as of a week ago.
Easterling says 69 miles (111 kilometers) of the fence still must be built to meet the goal set during the Bush administration.
So the fence, as approved by the Bush admin. in 2006, is done. If there are places along the border that don’t have fencing, it’s because the Bush admin. arranged it that way. Some of these lands are federal, some are privately owned, some are Indian reservations, some is where the terrain is so treacherous the federal government did not consider it a high traffic area and therefore left it fence-less, etc.
Arizona alone has over 300 miles of border fence, but that does not cover it’s entire border with Mexico, as some of it’s land falls in the restrictions listed above. Plus, they are taking donations for constructing additional fencing because they are using all of their money defending their controversial illegal immigration bill. But there’s no guarantee private property owners or Indian reservations will allow AZ to build a fence on their land. Getting approval from these various interests to build on their land is going to be a challenge.
Chisum commented:
Pam,
http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2011/04/01/gao-report-limited-control-over-our-own-border/
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37025
Pam commented:
Chisum,
Ok, I read both of your links. The Human Events link, which was an article written by Jim DeMint, supports what I was saying. Here is DeMint’s exact quote (all caps are mine for emphasis):
“Four years ago, legislation to build 700-miles of DOUBLE-LAYER border fence along the Southern border was supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama and signed into law by President Bush. Yet, only a fraction of that fencing is in place today.
According to staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), only 34.3 miles of DOUBLE-LAYER fencing has been completed along the Southern border. Most of that fencing, 13.5 miles, is in Texas, while 11.8 miles are in California and 9.1 miles of double-layer fencing are up in Arizona.
The lack of DOUBLE-LAYER fencing can be traced to a 2007 amendment that eliminated the DOUBLE-LAYER requirement and allowed the DHS the option to put other types of less effective fencing in its place. It was lumped into a massive, omnibus-spending bill that President Bush signed into law on December 26, 2007.
That’s when construction on the DOUBLE-LAYERED fence essentially stopped. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, reported in early 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layer fencing had been built. That means under President Obama, only 2.3 miles of it has been built over an entire year.”
The 34.3 miles of fencing DeMint is referring to is just the DOUBLE-LAYER fencing that Bush originally approved in 2006, then rescinded the next year in a 2007 amendment, allowing other kinds of less effective fencing to be installed instead. Why did Bush change this? Perhaps the double-fencing that he originally approved was too expensive to put over the entire 700 miles?
The point is, the fence has been completed, all of it just isn’t the DOUBLE-LAYER fencing that was approved in 2006. That’s because the Bush administration changed this requirement in 2007 (or down-graded the requirements, however you want to look at it). Obama came into office in 2009 and allowed the plans Bush put into place to be completed. Obama did not change the Bush plans one iota. So if the fence is inadequate in stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, keep in mind this isn’t Obama’s doing. It would be the exact same fence if Bush were still in office.
The link to redstate confirms what everyone knows: the fencing is ineffective in stopping the flow of illegal immigration. And as I stated above, much of the border land has no fencing at all. This is because some of the border land is privately owned, and owners refuse to give consent to have fencing erected, or the land is Indian reservation land, and the Indian council refuses to give permission to have fencing erected, or the land is federally owned (Bureau of Land Management), and environmentalists hold up fence construction through repeated litigation, or the land is so desolate and treacherous it is a low traffic area for illegal crossings, so the Bush administration chose not to put fencing there.
Arizona can raise it’s own money to construct fencing along areas the Bush administration wouldn’t put it, but they’re still going to have to get permission from private owners, the Indians, and fight environmentalists in court to do so. There’s no guarantee the state of AZ will succeed with this any better than the federal government did under Bush.
Chisum commented:
Pam,
The point is, the fence has been completed, all of it just isn’t the DOUBLE-LAYER fencing that was approved in 2006. That’s because the Bush administration changed this requirement in 2007 (or down-graded the requirements, however you want to look at it).
The requirements weren’t “down-graded”. Congress was convinced that a virtual fence was superior to double-layer fencing.
Perhaps you missed this part of DeMints article:
Those who oppose the double-layer fence promise Americans a “virtual fence” would best secure the border, which is where border security funds have been targeted in recent years instead of a real fence.
In 2007, our current DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, then Democratic governor of Arizona, gave a speech at the National Press Club and boasted about the capabilities of a virtual fence. “We can shore up our border gaps with ground-based sensors, radar and unmanned aerial vehicles,” she said. “Any combination of the above will work far better than any 10 or 20 or 50 miles of wall.”
She was wrong.Then DeMint wrote this:
Because I knew the fence wasn’t a priority for the Obama Administration, in July 2009 I offered an amendment to the DHS spending bill to force the President to finish the fence by the end of 2010. It passed easily with 21 Democrats supporting it.
Under pressure from the White House, however, Democrat leaders stripped my amendment out of the bill behind closed doors, during negotiations between the Senate and the House.
Now virtual fencing has been abandoned after having been sold as a superior solution to double-layer fencing. Abandoned after spending nearly $1 Billion. So what replaces it?
DeMint knew by 2009 that the virtual fence wasn’t working which is why he proposed the amendment. So did Team BO. BO has been in charge since 2009. What has he done about it?
Pam commented:
Chisum:
Here’s DeMint’s comments in the order in which they appear in the article:
“The lack of double-layer fencing can be traced to a 2007 amendment that eliminated the double-fencing requirement and allowed the DHS the option to put other types of less effective fencing in its place. It was lumped into a massive, omnibus-spending bill that President Bush signed into law on December 26, 2007.
That’s when construction on the double-layered fence essentially stopped. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, reported in early 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layer fencing had been built. That means under President Obama, only 2.3 miles of it has been built over an entire year.
Because I knew the fence wasn’t a priority for the Obama Administration, in July 2009 I offered an amendment to the DHS spending bill to force the President to finish the fence by the end of 2010. It passed easily with 21 Democrats supporting it.
Under pressure from the White House, however, Democrat leaders stripped my amendment out of the bill behind closed doors, during negotiations between the Senate and the House.
Those who oppose the double-layer fence promise Americans a “virtual fence” . . .”
When DeMint says “I knew the fence wasn’t a priority for the Obama administration”, I read this to mean the whole border plan in general. He isn’t talking about the virtual fence at this point, he brings that up in the succeeding paragraphs with “those who oppose the double-layer fence promise Americans a virtual fence . . .” DeMint is clearly advocating for a physical double-layer fence along the border, nothing else.
The point remains that the assertion that only 5% of the border fence is complete is not true. Obama is telling the truth–what was legislated during the Bush administration has been completed. The U.S./Mexico border is about 2,000 miles long. Of this 2,000 miles, the Bush administration authorized about 700 miles of physical concrete and wire fencing be built, only 34.3 miles of it is the double-layer fencing DeMint wants. 34.3 miles is roughly 5% of 700 miles, so this is where the erroneous 5% notion comes from.
What about the other 1300 miles of border? Again, the Bush administration planned to leave a lot of that area unfenced. Geography itself serves as a fence in much of this area, there are large swaths of brutal desert, deep canyons, etc. As I’ve mentioned before, some of this land is privately owned and owners refuse to allow the fence on their property, Indian reservations refuse as well, etc. etc. And part of the border was suppose to be covered by the virtual fence that failed.
So what we need to find out now is how many miles was the virtual fence suppose to cover and how is it going to be fenced now that that technology has failed. I’ll look into that and get back to you.
Pam commented:
P.S. to Chisum: EVERYBODY knew by 2009 that the virtual fence had failed, just not DeMint. It had failed prior to that, the Bush administration gave up on it. Let’s find out how the Obama administration plans to handle this.
Pam commented:
Chisum:
I probably should have done this earlier, it was easy enough to find. I went directly to Jim DeMint’s website, and here’s what he said about his border fence amendment:
Recent Press Releases
May 5, 2010
DeMint to Introduce Amendment to Finish 700-Mile Border Fence in One Year
The amendment passed Senate last year but was gutted behind closed doors
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) today announced that he will introduce an amendment to the financial regulation bill to require the completion of 700 miles of double-layer physical fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border within one year. Senator DeMint’s amendment follows through on the four-year-old promise made by Congress to secure the border under the Secure Fence Act of 2006. According to staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), just a fraction of double-layer fencing has been completed to date, with only 34.3 miles of double layer fencing in total (11.8 in California, 9.1 in Arizona, and 13.4 in Texas).
Senator DeMint’s amendment was already approved last year by the Senate in a bipartisan 54-44 vote, with 21 Democrats joining 33 Republicans in support of the measure. However, Democrat leaders gutted the amendment behind closed doors after “the Obama administration had opposed rapid expansion of the fence.”
“We’ve now had two administrations fail to keep their promise to the American people to secure our border and Americans are tired of excuses,” said Senator DeMint. “Americans have demanded a real fence to combat the very real problems of illegal immigration that have led to human trafficking, drug trafficking, kidnapping and violence on our border. Congress will never be able to achieve long-term reform to create a legal immigration system that works until we secure our borders.
So here it is–this should remove all doubt. Jim DeMint’s amendment to “finish the fence” was an amendment to reinstate the double-layer fencing requirement and get it installed in one year. The Obama administration scuttled it too and kept to the Bush administration’s revised plan.
This is made obvious by DeMint’s statement “We’ve now had TWO administrations fail to keep their promise to the American people to secure our border and Americans are tired of excuses”. He’s referring to BOTH THE BUSH AND OBAMA ADMINISTRATONS, he has been disappointed by both.
I hope we can now stop using the DeMint article as “proof” that the border fence was not finished. It was finished, just not the way DeMint wanted. These are clearly two separate issues.
The fence has been completed as per the Bush administration’s requirements. Let’s move on.
http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=4c0e3671-d6ee-4559-b90e-f3bb19b053ae
Chisum commented:
The law that Bush signed five years ago was HR 6061. It required 700 miles of double-layer fencing. I have been unable to find the exact wording of the amendment that DeMint refers to.
Jake Tapper fact checked BO’s speech:
1) “They wanted a fence,” the president said. “Well, that fence is now basically complete.”
The president is referring to the fact that 649 miles of fencing have been completed out of 652 miles of fencing mandated by Congress. (Out of 1,969 miles of border with Mexico.) That is factually correct, according to a February 2011 study of the border by the Government Accountability Office.
But that standard ignores calls some on the border have made for the fence to be made more impenetrable. Some have called for “double-fencing”; only approximately 30 miles of fence are so reinforced, in San Diego, California and Yuma, Arizona.
More to the point, the border remains quite porous.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/from-the-fact-check-desk-president-obamas-speech-on-immigration-reform-.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Amendment or not, the responsibility for our nation’s security is the responsibility of the federal government. Napolitano called a halt to the virtual fence, calling it a failure. Knowing for some time that it was a failure. No Plan B. Even though double-layer fencing has proven to be effective. Certainly more effective than ‘virtual fencing’. Parsing words doesn’t cut it. The president mocking and ridiculing the concerns of Americans is shameful. He needs to do his job.
Pam commented:
Chisum:
Yes, double-layer fencing is the most effective method right now; that was DeMint’s whole point. But the Bush administration could have constructed 700 miles of double-layer fencing, instead they wrote that out of the requirements one year after writing it in. The Obama administration would not reinstate it. I don’t know why both administrations rejected it. My guess is that it was more expensive and time-consuming to install than other options, so it was scrapped in the interests of time and $. That’s just a guess, maybe we can find out for sure what was going on there.
Yes, the border remains porous. But the fence is already complete, the money allocated to it has already been spent. Where are we to get the extra millions it would take to construct additional double-layer fencing? Congressional Republicans are constantly saying we’re BROKE!
The fact that the fence as built is porous is a separate issue. The fact that you saw Obama as “mocking and ridiculing the concerns of Americans” is a separate issue also (actually, he was mocking and ridiculing congressional Republicans, not the American people). The fact is, Obama was not lying when he said the fence has been completed. It has been. The statement that the fence is only 5% completed is the lie here.
If you want to discuss the other issues, fine. I’m still looking up what is being done with the border areas that were to be under virtual surveillance. It looks like there is a Plan C in the works (plans A and B both failed before Obama took office).
I’ll be back.
Pam commented:
Just to clear the air before we go forward:
The claim by Fox Nation that this thread is based on, that only 5%, or 36.3 miles of the U.S./Mexico boarder fence has been completed, is COMPLETELY FALSE.
The Secure Fence Act, authorized by President Bush in 2006, gave congressional approval to build 700 miles of fencing along the 2,000 mile boarder shared by the U.S. and Mexico. All 700 miles has been completed. The 5% lie comes from the fact that only 34.3 (not 36.3) miles of that fencing is of a type called double-layer, the other 665.7 miles of fencing is of various other types, depending on the terrain and what local residents would allow at the time of construction.
It’s true that most of the fencing is inadequate in stemming illegal immigration, but this is the fencing that congressional republicans approved under the Bush plan. Now some are calling for the other 665.7 miles be replaced or reinforced with the double-layer type of fencing, but this would cost millions more and require another congressional amendment to authorize the additional work.
So President Obama is not lying–this is the fence Republicans wanted, this is the fence they authorized, and this is the fence they got, all 700 miles of it. If it’s inadequate, the responsibility lies with them, the decision to built this type of fence was theirs. But it is Obama’s responsibility now to figure out how to fix the problem. This will undoubtedly require more taxpayer money eventually. It should have been done right in the first place.
This is why you don’t hear stories like this in the mainstream media. The mainstream media feels a responsibility to report the truth. Fox Nation doesn’t.
Pam commented:
Addendum:
Regarding Arizona:
Arizona shares 389 miles of border with Mexico. The 2006 Secure Fence Act did NOT authorize fencing for all 389 miles. Arizona is raising funds to fence the areas the Secure Fence Act left out and/or to replace standard fencing with double-layer type fencing.
Shame of all of you for being so susceptible to the propaganda of Fox News and it’s website, Fox Nation. Check out information before you buy into it, it’s easy to do with the web. Remember:
“The health of democracy depends on an educated and well informed citizenry.” –Thomas Jefferson
Do you part to keep our democracy healthy! Become informed, don’t believe partisan propaganda. Take the time to educate yourself and learn the truth. It’s the only way you can make well-informed decisions at the voting booth.
Chisum commented:
By all means, let us become informed.
A key provision in the House bill directed that “at least” two layers of sturdy steel fencing be constructed along the 700 miles of border that currently encompass the major smuggling routes into the U.S. The bill specified that the fencing would come with “lighting, cameras, sensors” and roads to be used by the Border Patrol manning the fence.
[...]
No sooner had the fence bill passed than some Senate Republicans started suggesting that the 700 miles of fence still might not be built. “It’s one thing to authorize. It’s another thing to actually appropriate the money and do it,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told the Washington Post.
[...]
“As a lead proponent of H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act, I am writing to clarify the intention of the legislation,” Hunter wrote. “Media reports have recently suggested that the directive for fence construction in the bill is optional. That is not the case. HR 6061 clearly states: ‘The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide for at least two layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors.’ While I worked with House and Senate leadership in reaching an agreement that will allow your department flexibility on the exact location of the at least 700 miles of fencing, its actual construction is not in dispute.”
[...]
If Republicans retain control of the House, chairmen like Hunter and King will force Bush to build the fence already enacted in law and will push for additional fencing in new laws. A Republican House majority will continue to oppose amnesty.
However, if the Democrats take the House, they will not provide full funding for the fence and they will let Bush off the hook on building it.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17738
Pam commented:
Chisum:
“However, if the Democrats take the House, they will not provide full funding for the fence and they will let Bush off the hook on building it.”
The Democrats WILL LET BUSH OFF THE HOOK? Why did Bush want off the hook to begin with–he agreed to this in 2006! The Secure Fence Act was Republican legislation that he supposedly supported!
Bush signed the 2007 amendment rescinding the required double-layer fencing, the Democrats didn’t make him do this. He rescinded the order because he did not want to abide by it.
Why? Why did Bush want to rescind the double-layer fencing requirement? It sounds like the Republicans had more of a problem getting Bush to abide by his own law than they did with the Democrats!
Pam commented:
Chisum:
An amendment submitted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, for the Department of Homeland Security 2008 budget would gut the already-approved Secure Fence Act. Kasper acknowledged the Hutchison amendment will change the definition of the fence required by the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
“Now, if the Hutchison amendment gets signed into law that fence is never going to be built,” he said.
Elliott said the language of the amendment from Hutchison (S. Amdt. 2466) specifically would exempt the Department of Homeland Security from having to build any fence at all.
“This new requirement no longer mandates that fencing be double-layered,” Kasper wrote. “Given that double-layered fencing has worked so well in San Diego County, it is difficult to understand why this design wouldn’t be replicated at other fencing locations along the border.”
Hutchinson said she was getting complaints about the double-layer fencing from many of the ranchers in Texas who opposed it. She voted in favor of scrapping the 2006 requirement.
Were complaints from his constituents one of the reasons Bush wanted “off the hook”? This definitely wasn’t all the Democrats doing.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1939249/posts
Chisum commented:
Really Pam, if you aren’t going to bother reading the links I provide then I won’t bother. Your question about Bush is answered at the above link.
DeMint (R-SC), Amendment #1399 requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to complete almost 700 miles of double-layered reinforced fencing along the southwest border by the end of 2010. (Senator DeMint Press Release, July 8, 2009). The DeMint Amendment would direct DHS to complete the border fence as Congress originally intended when it passed the Secure Fence Act of 2006. DHS has been constructing fencing that would prevent vehicular border crossings, but the DeMint Amendment will ensure that the border fence will also reduce illegal alien foot traffic.
Under the Secure Fence Act, the federal government was instructed to complete “at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing” along a total of about 670 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border before the end of 2008. (Secure Fence Act of 2006). However, in December 2007, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) successfully attached an amendment to the 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act that effectively gutted the two layer reinforced fencing requirement by giving DHS the discretion to construct other types of barriers to count toward the 670 mile total. (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, December 26, 2007). As a result, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in January 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layered fencing had been built, and that DHS had no intention to significantly add to that total. (GAO Report, January 29, 2009). The DeMint Amendment restores DHS’ original mandate to complete the entire 670-mile southwest border fence using only double-layered, reinforced fencing. On July 8, the Senate voted 54-44 to adopt the DeMint Amendment. (Senate Roll Call Vote #220, July 8, 2009).
http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=20955&security=1601&news_iv_ctrl=1721
Pam commented:
Chisum:
You’re right. I was in a hurry. But I found the Hutchinson connection pretty fast on my own anyway.
So is this correct: The double-layer fence was initially put in, taken out in 2007 because Hutchinson and others opposed it, put back in in 2009 through the DeMint amendment, then taken out again in a closed door meeting? Your article says Bush wanted to use the double-layer fence requirement as a bargaining tool to get another amnesty? (another meaning since Reagan granted the first in the 80s). Bush was in a major fight with his own party on this, from those who refused an amnesty to those who refused the fence.
So Bush never wanted the double-layer fencing to being with? Why not? I don’t understand why Bush would want off the hook on this just because he didn’t get the amnesty he wanted. Double-layer was considered the most effective physical fencing.
And did Democrats defund the Secure Fence Act when they got back in the majority?
It’s getting late and I’m obviously getting tired. My brain is slowing down. Fill in the blanks, please.
Timothy McGrath commented:
The border fence that the republican congress wanted and that Bush authorized is complete.
They only asked for 700 miles.
Why do you lie to make your point?
Because you don’t have a point without the lie?
BINGO!!!
Pam commented:
Exactly!