"Don't Fence Me In . . ." Must Not Apply to Illegals
By Marion Edwyn Harrison (10/05/06)
One poll reports from its sampling that some 40% of Mexicans living in the other United States - that is, Los Estados Unidos de Mexico - would immigrate to the United States of America given the opportunity. The accuracy of the poll matters not; the fact is millions of Mexican citizens would so immigrate if they could - and, considering the Mexican economy, would do so with cause. Thus, millions of Mexicans in a few years or sooner subconsciously may be singing that long popular Norteamericano line, "Give me land, lots of land, on the great, wide open prairie. Don't fence me in . . ." (And, by way of disclosure, this writer if trapped within Mexican poverty and absence of opportunity might have attempted to immigrate, lawfully or otherwise.)
How so that the line from the popular ditty “Don’t Fence Me In” might apply to Mexicans seeking unlawfully to join an estimated 33 million fellow ethnic Mexicans (counting lawful and unlawful) within our United States?
The answer: A new statute, arising from H.R. 6061, titled the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (“Act”), passed by the House of Representatives on September 14, 2006, by the Senate on September 29, in the Senate by an 80 - 19 vote, Senator Edward Moore Kennedy absent.
Excerpts sufficient to understand the import of the Act follow:
“Sec[tion] 2 . . .
(a) . . . Not later than 18 months after . . . enactment . . . the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all actions . . . to achieve and maintain operational control over the . . . land and maritime borders . . . to include . . .
(1) systematic surveillance of the . . . borders through more effective use of personnel and technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites, radar coverage, and cameras; and
(2) physical infrastructure . . . to prevent unlawful entry . . . and [to] facilitate access to the . . . borders by United States Customs and Border Protection, such as additional checkpoints, all[-]weather access roads, and vehicle barriers.
(b) . . . the term ‘operational control’ means the prevention of all unlawful entries . . .
Sec[tion] 3 . . .
(2) . . . The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, lighting, cameras, and sensors – (i) extending from 10 miles west of the Tecate, California, port of entry to 10 miles east of [same]; (i i) . . . from 10 miles west of the Calexico, California, port of entry to 5 miles east of the Douglas, Arizona, port of entry; (iii) . . . from 5 miles west of the Columbus, New Mexico, port of entry to 10 miles east of El Paso, Texas; (iv) . . . from 5 miles northwest of the Del Rio, Texas, port of entry to 5 miles southeast of the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry; and (v) . . . 15 miles northwest of the Laredo, Texas, port of entry to the Brownsville, Texas, port of entry . . .”
Effective and Secretarial reporting dates vary, from May 30, 2007 to December 31, 2008.
Let us assume full and timely appropriations for implementation. Let us recognize that Secretary Earl Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security have an unprecedented and challenging task. The Act enjoys a strongly affirmative legislative history. Judge Chertoff is bright and reflects a sense of command. We reasonably may foresee that within several years the Mexican Border (and the maritime borders, to which the Act also applies) overwhelmingly, if not 100%, will be closed to unlawful immigration.
There is no convincing reason why in the eight William J. Clinton and first five George W. Bush Administration years, covering seven Congresses, no such statute was enacted. An estimated 11 - 12 million unlawful entrants did not come overnight. However, as often occurs, the legislative process is completed years later than ideal. The point is that full and vigorous Homeland Security implementation of the Act, with timely and adequate Congressional appropriations, could come as close as reasonably may be expected to closing unlawful immigrant entry.
The George W. Bush Administration and the 109th Congress (assuming adequate and timely appropriations) should be congratulated.
What, if anything, to do with the 11 - 12 million unlawful residents of this country is another, more complicated, perplexing and controversial, issue.
Marion Edwyn Harrison is President of, and Counsel to, the Free Congress Foundation.
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