Virtual Fence on Border to Get Approval
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WASHINGTON (AP)—The government plans to approve a 28-mile virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday.
{snip}
The virtual fence is part of a national plan to secure the southwest border with physical barriers and technological detection capabilities intended to stop illegal immigrants on foot and drug smugglers in vehicles. At the beginning of the month, 294 miles of fencing had been constructed, Chertoff said. Some of the technology used in the 28-mile stretch could be replicated along other parts of the border, he said.
The virtual fence includes 98-foot unmanned towers that are equipped with an array of sophisticated technology including radar, sensor devices and cameras capable of distinguishing people from cattle at a distance of about 10 miles.
The cameras are powerful enough to tell group sizes and whether people are carrying weapons and backpacks full of drugs.
{snip}
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he is skeptical that the virtual fence actually works the way it is supposed to.
Thompson, who chairs the House committee that oversees the department, said in a statement, “A poorly structured contract that prevented the line Border Patrol agents from pointing out obvious flaws, combined with over-reliance on contractors, has resulted in a system that has been described as providing at best ‘marginal’ functionality.”
(Posted on February 14, 2008)
Comments
I look forward to the day when we can have a “virtual” income tax. You don’t really pay your tax burden but pretend that you made a virtual payment.
Posted by TIm at 5:40 PM on February 14
Unless it vaporizes them as they cross, this will not stop a single illegal. Chertoff is just pulling our chain. Only a real fence, or preferably a wall, will stem the flood. But Chertoff and the rest of the Bush administration isn’t interested in securing the border. What’s the point? It won’t exist in the North American Union they all crave so badly.
Posted by Guy at 5:44 PM on February 14
A virtual fence can be switched off.
Posted by MS at 5:45 PM on February 14
I’m waiting on the US Bureau of Prisons to approve virtual fences for their facilities.
Posted by St. Louis CofCC Blogmeister at 5:53 PM on February 14
Thompson, who chairs the House committee that oversees the department, said in a statement, “A poorly structured contract that prevented the line Border Patrol agents from pointing out obvious flaws [in the “virtual” fence], combined with over-reliance on contractors, has resulted in a system that has been described as providing at best ‘marginal’ functionality.”
And don’t forget, boys and girls: “virtual” means “make believe”! Let’s make believe we still have national borders, national sovereignty, and democratically enacted laws that govern who is allowed entrance to our country. Close your eyes, and then you can even believe it’s real.
Posted by Zorba_the_Geek at 6:23 PM on February 14
We still need a real border fence. I was shopping at a local grocery store and saw large groups of Mexicans pushing shopping carts that are overflowing with groceries, some of them with more than one cart. Each family had at least 3-4 children and all of them were paying with food assistance of some sort, whether it was WIC or food stamps. I was struggling to keep my grocery bill under 20 dollars since my husband’s check is cut nearly in half by health insurance (we had to cancel or lose our house). Believe it or not we make about 60,000 a year and between taxes and healthcare (before we cancelled) we were barely making it. I just wanted to slap one of these obese women pushing a cart full of food.
Posted by Spartan24 at 7:04 PM on February 14
please wave to the virtual fence cameras as you walk right on in.
Posted by at 7:27 PM on February 14
I’ve been reading (and trying to find out more) about the “virtual fence” for some time now. It’s hard to say whether it’s really a superior way of stopping illegals, yet another example of the gov’t attempting to fool us into believing it’s actually trying to stop illegals while still neglecting its duties, or merely an old fashioned gov’t boondoggle.
I would prefer a real, physical, Duncan Hunter style double fence, heavily patrolled and sensored for the entire 1971 mile border. Or whatever it takes to stop the invasion, including deploying large numbers of troops, not the token forces showcased by Bush. And declaring war on Mexico if necessary.
I am also suspicious of the following sentence from the article,
“The cameras are powerful enough to tell group sizes and whether people are carrying weapons and backpacks full of drugs.”
I know there are members (including sector chiefs) of the Border Patrol who have said publically they don’t believe in stopping illegals who are coming here to work. They think the USBP mission should be only to stop drug smugglers and terrorists. So I can see them, once a virtual fence is installed, ignoring the great mass of invaders while selectively culling from the herd those they think are smugglers and terrorists.
Surely the obvious weaknesses in such a plan, even if the VF works as advertised, are obvious to all.
But I’m afraid that our leaders really don’t care.
Posted by at 8:13 PM on February 14
Not what we asked for. Not what we were promised. Not what the law requires. But its all we will be likely to see. 28 miles? ooh, thats a deterrent. And knowing how well the government manages its computer systems and databases…its a foregone conclusion that the system will be worthless. DOA.
Chertoff claims 294 miles. In reality, two miles. If the fence existed, Bush would brag about it and the government would have posted pictures everywhere. Virtual indeed. Invisible.
Posted by Edward at 8:21 PM on February 14
This is such a farce. Many third world countries have effective border fences that run for humdreds of miles. The idea that we can’t do it is insane.
Posted by Joe at 10:29 PM on February 14
Posted by at 8:13 PM on February 14
I think 8:13 is on to something here. If the feds really didn’t want any barrier at all, they would find ways to avoid it; a virtual fence seems like a pointless waste of money from BOTH sides. But I think the theory advanced above makes sense of the virtual barrier: a means to keep an eye on smugglers while letting 99% of crossers make it through.
Posted by at 10:41 PM on February 14
Michael Chertoff looks and behaves more like a Hollywood Nazi than any one alive or dead. Think of him saying, “I hear your daughter turned thirteen”, then look at one of his more flattering photos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff
Posted by at 10:55 PM on February 14
All virtual fences that are not backed up with “boots on the ground”, are LESS THAN USELESS. I say less than useless, because they won’t stop illegal aliens and the taxpayer has to pay real money for the virtual equipment. Of course, El President, Chertoff, and John,”Americans wouldn’t pick lettuce for fifty dollars an hour”, McCain know all of this. That’s the reason for the fantasy, I mean, virtual fences.
Posted by Bobby at 11:23 PM on February 14
“Virtual fence” nonsense, again.
I wonder why there is no “virtual fence” around the White House? Or why the gated communities that so many members of Washington elite live in don’t have “virtual fences” but the real ones? Maybe because the residents there want a real protection and not the virtual one?
When hundreds of thousands of Mexican illegals decide to violate our country’s border, no “virtual fence” will stop them anymore than security cameras stopped looters from stealing property in New Orleans after the hurricane Cathrina and in Los Angeles during the “Rodney King beating” riots.
The government takes us for fools, folks.
Posted by A Reader at 1:37 AM on February 15
Excerpt:
The virtual fence includes 98-foot unmanned towers that are equipped with an array of sophisticated technology including radar, sensor devices and cameras capable of distinguishing people from cattle at a distance of about 10 miles.
The cameras are powerful enough to tell group sizes and whether people are carrying weapons and backpacks full of drugs.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he is skeptical that the virtual fence actually works the way it is supposed to.
Thompson, who chairs the House committee that oversees the department, said in a statement, “A poorly structured contract that prevented the line Border Patrol agents from pointing out obvious flaws, combined with over-reliance on contractors, has resulted in a system that has been described as providing at best ‘marginal’ functionality.”
Comment:
Thompson is right to be skeptical. The technology for this is not even half-way through the developmental stage. It’s merely being promoted by unscrupulous contractors and their friends in government who are awarding these contracts.
Posted by at 4:17 AM on February 15
A virtual fence huh? I guess that falls in line with our “virtual” immigration policies.
Posted by at 7:14 AM on February 15
The only people a virtual fence will keep out are virtual people. We need to tell Chertoff to step out of the way and let armed American civilians do the job that he and his minions refuse to do…
Posted by at 8:42 AM on February 15
Come on everyone. This is an excellent move forward by our governement. With all of this great new equipment, we will now have an accurate count of just how many illegals crossed each day/year. No more of this estimating nonsense of our future fellow citizens. Maybe we can install water fountains and food dispenseries to ensure the safe crossing of these great people from a wonderful culture. Or better yet, maybe the cameras can print photos so the illegals have a momento of their trip to show their future anchor babies how the bad gringo oppressed them. We have to look on the bright side, because we all know this is about window dressing and show to get amnesty passed. Our brave leaders and PC ICE leadership will not arrest/deport them. Ridiculous.
Just curious, anyone else see Nicarguan President Ortega endorses Osama (er I mean Obama) since he is the “voice of the immigrants from Mexico and S. America”? God help us. Our choices for POTUS are McShamnesty, Obama (a former black muslim), or Hillary “no woman is illegal” Clinton. My children are screwed.
Posted by Late Great USA at 9:47 AM on February 15
A virtual fence is fine - as long as it’s just virtual illegals coming through.
Posted by June at 10:12 AM on February 15
Can the virtual fence tell the difference between a Mexican coming to do the jobs Americans won’t do, and an Arab coming to do his jihad? I don’t want either of them here.
Posted by Kellie at 11:16 AM on February 15
A virtual dept. of homeland security would be a nice start. I am friends with a fellow whom did work for homeland security. He quit, citing the fact that he couldn’t carry on the charade of a dept. of public-tax waste such as this one. He said he had trouble sleeping at night with the knowledge that he worked for such a bogus outfit.
Posted by at 3:21 PM on February 15
Who are they kidding?
A ‘virtual fence’ is not only vulnerable to power outages, but equipment failures (hope they’re not running Windows!) and also hackers.
No amount of *non-lethal* electronic defenses will ever beat physical ones. Ever. And Our Leaders would cringe at the thought of putting automated weapons on the border - even as millions are poured into research for armed robots.
Posted by Dark-Star at 10:53 PM on February 15
A virtual fence is virtually useless.
Posted by at 6:49 PM on February 17
The virtual fence is a gimmick designed to fool the public and line the posckets of government contractors with taxpayer’s money.
Posted by at 11:00 PM on February 17
I will be sending the IRS my virtual check… why should I pay to be a citizen when my citizenship is not protected?
Posted by at 10:50 PM on February 19
The political class will play with national security until a dirty bomb kills and maims thousands of americans. They will collect bribes or rather campaign contributions to ship middle class jobs overseas and allow legal and illegal immigration to drive down until a terrorist attack awakens americans from the spell of video games, organized sports and porn.
Posted by Vincent at 8:02 PM on February 22