Work Resumes On Virtual Fence With Mexico

Hugh Pickens writes "Work resumed this week on the five-year project to link a chain of tower-mounted sensors and other surveillance equipment over most of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. The network of cameras, radar, and communications gear is intended to speed deployment of US Border Patrol officers to intercept illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and other violators, yielding greater 'operational control' over the vast and rugged area. A $20M pilot project for the Secure Border Initiative, or 'SBInet,' carried out in the Bush administration, was generally considered a colossal IT failure. Since that time the DHS has given the prime contractor, Boeing, another $600M. The government says it has learned many lessons and made many changes in the program since the previous pilot rushed off-the-shelf equipment into operation without testing. The Obama administration has lowered the cost estimate for the 5-year project by $1.1B, to $6.7B, mainly by deferring work on the most difficult 200 miles of the border, in southwest Texas."

Comments

shyeah right

[David Gerard]

Hey, how about that economic collapse?

"A majority of US soldiers in Afghanistan stated the place was 'just fine, really' and they were learning to speak Pashto rather than returning. Canada looked south and snickered, though not very much as they still had Stephen Harper to cope with. The Kingdom of Mexico stated its 'regret' today that it has had to close its borders to American refugees."

(I'm in Eng-er-lund. We're way more fucked. And we have Gordon Brown.)

Here's a solution to the budget problem

[Anonymous Coward]

We could just hire Mexicans to build it. As long as they stay on their side while working, then no problem!

Thank God,

[Vertana]

for this fence! Cause they took our jebs! ...relax and realize I'm kidding.

Re:Thank God,

[Bloopie]

Cause they took our jebs!

They can have him. Does anyone really want a third Bush presidency?

Re:Good Grief!

[flyingsquid]

$600,000,000? That's insane. I could easily secure the border for *half* of that. Consider: if there are 24 hours in the day, and 365 days a year, and labor costs 5$ an hour, then it would cost 43,800 dollars to have a section of border guarded 24/7/365, presumably employing three different guys in eight-hour shifts. With $300,000,000, you could employ 6,849 guys at those rates. The U.S.-Mexico border is only 4,000 miles long, so that's more than one guy for every mile of the border (and this is on top of the existing border patrol).

So now you've got round-the-clock, year-long border security, just by paying a bunch of guys five dollars an hour. Now, I admit that it might sound difficult to find people who would be willing to patrol the border, facing off against smugglers and drug runners, enduring cold nights and scorching hot days, all for just $5.00 an hour. But here's the really ingenious part of the plan: we employ illegal aliens from Mexico to do the work for us!

Re:It must be just me...

[misexistentialist]

You mean like at Ellis Island? Or did your ancestors cross the land-bridge before the invention of paper?

Mexicans are stealing our jobs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Since I was laid off from my last job as a systems analyst I've been trying to get a job, any job, but it seems like every minimum wage job is controlled by Mexican mafia, at one point I was practically chased off from one meat packing plant by a gang of Mexicans (complete with death threats and all). I say our country has the right to protect it's borders by any means necessary, which in my opinion means landmines and machine gun nests, shoot anyone trying to sneak in on sight, the Mexicans only understand violence.