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| President George Bush Signs Secure Fence Act |
The very
broad support implied that many assurances were made by the Administration – to
the Democrats, Mexico, and the pro "Comprehensive immigration reform"
minority among Republicans – that Homeland Security would proceed very
cautiously. Secretary
of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, announced that an
eight-month test of the virtual fence he favored would precede any construction
of a physical barrier.
On October 26, 2006, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 6061 which was
voted upon and passed by the 109th Congress
of the United States.[16] The signing of the bill came
right after a CNN poll showed that most Americans "prefer the idea of more
Border Patrol agents to a 700-mile (1,125-kilometer) fence."[17] The Department of Homeland
Security has a down payment of $1.2 billion marked for border security, but not
specifically for the border fence.[citation needed]
As of January 2010, the fence project had been completed
from San Diego, California to Yuma, Arizona.[dubious – discuss] From
there it continued into Texas and consisted of a fence that was 21 feet
(6.4 m) tall and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep in the ground, cemented in a
3-foot (0.91 m)-wide trench with 5,000 psi (345 bar; 352 kg/cm²)
concrete. There were no fatalities during construction, but there were 4
serious injuries with multiple aggressive acts against building crews. There
was one reported shooting with no injury to a crew member in the Mexicali region. All fence sections are
south of the All-American Canal,
and have access roads giving border guards the ability to reach any point
easily, including the dunes area where a border agent was killed 3 years prior[when?] and
is now sealed off.[citation needed]
The Republican Party's 2012 platform stated that "The
double-layered fencing on the border that was enacted by Congress in 2006, but
never completed, must finally be built."[18] The Secure Fence Act's costs
were estimated at $6 billion,[19] more than the Customs and
Border Protection's entire annual discretionary budget of $5.6 billion.[20] The Washington
Office on Latin America noted on its Border Fact Check site in
2013 that the cost of complying with the Secure Fence Act's mandate was the
reason it had not been completely fulfilled.[21]
Rethinking the
expansion
The border fence between El Paso and
Juarez has an elaborate gate structure to allow floodwaters to pass under. The
grates prevent people being able to cross under, and can be raised for
floodwaters carrying debris. Beyond the fence is a canal and levee before the
Rio Grande; the Border Patrol cars hang out on the levee.
The Real ID Act, attached as a rider to a
supplemental appropriations bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
decreed, "Not withstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of
Homeland Security shall have the authority to waive all legal requirements such
Secretary, in such Secretary's sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure
expeditious construction of the barriers and roads." Secretary Chertoff
used his new power to "waive in their entirety" the Endangered Species
Act, the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act, the National
Environmental Policy Act, the Coastal Zone
Management Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act,
and the National
Historic Preservation Act to extend triple fencing through
the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve near
San Diego.[22] The Real ID Act further
stipulates that the Secretary's decisions are not subject to judicial review, and in December 2005 a
federal judge dismissed legal challenges by the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, and others to Chertoff's
decision.[citation needed]
