Republican Wants to Fence US-Mexico Border

WASHINGTON — A House Republican wants to build a fence along the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, a plan that could cost billions of dollars and one that critics say would do little to stop illegal immigration.

California Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, plans to introduce legislation that would create a two-layer reinforced fence with lighting and sensors from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a 100-yard border zone to the north of the barriers and 25 new ports of entry.

Currently, most of the westernmost 14-mile stretch of the border is lined with parallel fencing. There is secure fencing at other vulnerable points, but long stretches of the border are protected only by patchy barbed wire or nothing at all.

“Illegal aliens continue to funnel directly into many of our local communities and adversely impact our way of life by overwhelming our schools, inundating our health care system and, most concerning, threatening our safety,” said Hunter, who was working on the bill with Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va.

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