Torches, Bungee Cords Used to Breach Border Fence
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Illegal immigrants armed with torches, hacksaws, ladders and even bungee cords are making it around a section of the border fence hailed as the most efficient way to stop them.
In the 10 months since the section was put up, the only method federal agents haven’t seen is a tunnel—”Yet,” said Victor Guzman, the supervisory Border Patrol agent responsible for the stretch of close-together 15-foot cement-filled steel poles planted three feet into the ground.
Agents responsible for guarding the stretch of border here “almost immediately” started seeing cuts in the fence. The towering gray and rust colored posts are marked with bright orange spray paint in areas believed to have been breached, Guzman said.
Guzman, who has worked in the area for nearly a decade, said agents have found holes cut with acetylene torches, hacksaws and even plasma torches—a high-powered tool that uses inert gas or condensed air to quickly cut through steel and other dense metals.
{snip}
Officials monitoring cameras in the area have seen at least one group using a massive ladder to scale the south side of the fence. The group tried to drop into the U.S. with bungee cords before agents caught them.
But it’s not just illegal immigrants worrying the Border Patrol. The fence itself—built by the National Guard and Border Patrol—is starting to settle into the ground and gaps between the posts are widening. In one spot, an average sized woman could wedge herself through one of the gaps.
{snip}
Other sections of fencing along the border are being built with panels of woven steel instead of the towering posts.
{snip}
Romero said the breaches are no surprise.
“What we’re talking about is our fences are designed to deter people, discourage them from coming in,” Romero said. “Combined with the rest of the infrastructure, it’s supposed to buy us more time to make an arrest. Even an extra five seconds helps. The goal is, at the very least, it buys us extra time.”
{snip}
(Posted on April 17, 2008)
Comments
Stringing barbwire isn’t going to solve anything. They need to secure the border.
Posted by Unemployed WASP at 6:23 PM on April 17
These people are literally being encouraged by the corrupt Mexican government to invade this nation. We need to cut off all relations with that State, until it changes and becomes responsible. Just my opinion.
Posted by Bobby at 6:51 PM on April 17
No fence is needed:
If there were no birthright citizenship (anchor babies).
If there were no welfare to illegals.
If there were no social security benefits ever available to illegal.
If there were no free medical care to illegals.
If there were no children of illegals allowed in our schools.
If there were no employers that hired illegals (those that did - prosecuted).
If violent criminal illegals were dealt with harshly.
Who would come to the US illegally? There wouldn’t be much incentive.
Posted by GWS at 7:04 PM on April 17
If a fence could cut illegal border crossers from 1,000,000 a year to 100,000 that would still be a huge victory. I would also argue that the old, pregnant, and young will be the ones least likely to get in. Besides, if the BP agents are arresting fewer illegal crossers then they will have more time plugging holes.
When in doubt, put up more concertina wire.
Posted by hugo at 8:14 PM on April 17
The Head Line states that the US border has it problems. I have to ask, WHAT BORDER?
Posted by Trisket at 9:19 PM on April 17
I remember from my time in the military, that an obstacle must be covered by fire to be truly effective. Constant patrolling by helicopter gunships, summoned automatically by motion detectors and the like, will greatly increase the effectiveness of a border fence. I realize that our Mexican enemies will try to lure some of the choppers into ambushes, but napalm bearing F-16s could be on the scene in minutes. We are at war with Mexico, and only war measures will work.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 12:17 AM on April 18
Schoolteacher, you’re exactly right. I’ve said, for a long time, that we are at war with Mexico. This, however, is a war that Washington ignores. We send our young men and women to the other side of the world to protect strangers, while we’re left to fend for ourselves. We need our military home, lining the borders shoulder-to-shoulder if necessary, and armed! That should do it.
But the politically correct wimps we have running this country won’t be satisied until the few that are left in Mexico are here, all made citizens and running this country. This isn’t so far-fetched. Mexico has been running our immigration policy for years.
Posted by June at 9:51 AM on April 18
As a former Border Patrolman, I agree with Schoolteacher, we are
at war with a corrupt country that has no respect for laws.
When we pull our military out of Iraq, I hope those troops and
equipment will be deployed to our southern border and inland
to those areas to clean up this crime wave.
Some will say it’s illegal to use the military in this manner,
well lets see this “change” the wanna bees talk about.
Posted by stripes 919 at 12:17 PM on April 18
Constant patrolling by helicopter gunships ….. ambushes … napalm bearing F-16s … We are at war with Mexico, and only war measures will work.
Horse muh-noo-uhr! Enough of the overheated rhetoric. It’s a serious problem, and failing to solve it will be as serious as losing a war. But these people are illegal economic migrants, not soldiers or guerillas.
But the real problem is not a military or even para-military invasion, but our own failure to enforce our own laws. The Mexican government has not been helpful, but it isn’t their problem to solve. Does anyone really expect *any* government (outside of North Korea) to fence it’s citizens *in* when they can have better lives by leaving? How well did it work for East Germany? It’s up to us to protect our own patch. The Mexicans are not going to do it for us.
GWS was right: no fence is needed (although one would be helpful). We can all see the path to a solution if we look for it: (1) continue to block attempts to grant legal status to illegal immigrants at the Federal level, combined with (2) pushing through initiatives at the State and local level to punish employers of illegals, and to deny them access to social services. It’s politically feasible and highly likely to succeed, and moreover, the process is already underway. Border arrests in Arizona are down 76% since they passed the proposition punishing employers for hiring illegals.
Riley
Posted by Riley DeWiley at 1:07 PM on April 19
Riley De Wiley: Our southwest is being occupied by economic migrants as surely as if Mexico sent them over in uniform and bearing guns and banners. Were the Russians who moved into Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia behind the Red Army not economic migrants? Are the Chinese that are displacing the Tibetans not getting paid? “Our” failure to enforce our laws is in fact a success, our rulers know exactly what is going on, better that most of us do. Any compromise is only a delay. As long as there is any tolerance for demographic displacement, we are at war. The foreigners are already here, and their tens of millions of anchor babies are going to outnumber us. As much as I like to see White children, White women should not have to bear eight children each to ensure that this remains a White, western nation. I don’t see that this is “overheated rhetoric”, any more than “Air raid, Pearl Harbor. This is no drill.” was overheated on December 7, 1941.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 7:15 PM on April 19
Land mines would work.
A ten-mile gap liberally strewn with Bouncing Betties would stop all this nonsense right away, and the only emergency response would be from the ravens and buzzards.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 6:08 PM on April 20