Two senators said Tuesday it's time to consider ending a contract for a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, contending it doesn't stop illegal immigration.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., even suggested an old-fashioned, real fence may work better than the electronic one designed by Boeing Co.
"We're counting on you to give us a direct assessment and take action to either terminate the contract or take from it what may work," Lieberman told Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin.
Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said at a hearing on border security: "The best answer to this continuing crisis and continued flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. is to go back to the old-style fences, double- and triple-tiered, and layered."
Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., asked Bersin whether the contract could be canceled. Bersin said he was not able to render a judgment on a legal issue.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in March that she was halting funding to expand the virtual fence that originally was supposed to monitor most of the 2,000-mile southern U.S. border by 2011. It now covers only a portion of Arizona's boundary with Mexico.
The virtual fence is a network of cameras, ground sensors and radars designed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on a computer monitor, zoom in with cameras to see people crossing, and decide whether to send Border Patrol agents to the scene.
The fence was part of President George W. Bush's security plan.
Bersin said that the contractor has been unable to integrate the system to allow central monitoring of the border.
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7 comments:
Everyone knows the easiest way to deal with illegal immigrants is to make them legal. Problem solved. No more illegal immigrants.
The easiest way to deal with uninsured people is to make them buy insurance. Problem solved.
The easiest way to deal with vote fraud is to control the electronic voting machines and have no paper trail. Problem solved. No more allegations of vote fraud because there is no way to prove it ever existed.
Our government is taking care of business. Eliminating problems.
The Muslims are also a problem. They don't seem to like international banking, Israel's brutal treatment of the Palistinians, or the Western control of the Oil Cartel in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps it is time to eliminate . . .
deal with illegals by creating an employment fence!
Lieberman is a political whore with a constant finger up to test where the wind blows, no real convictions.
I call bull#$%&! The reason the electronic monitoring all of a sudden isn't "working" is because Obama can spend billions installing fences along the border, put hundreds or more people to work decrease the unemployment rate and use it to say the put America back to work is working.
The down fall it is going to cost millions (more) for a stupid idea just to attempt to make Obama look good.
There is too much technology for anyone to believe it cannot be linked for central monitoring.
Man I cannot wait to get that man out of office.
11:08 You have a long 7 years ahead of you. I know because I had to wait and wait for the end of Bush.
Dear 9:35
You are wrong , the way to deal with illegals crossing over into our country is to shoot them , end of problem. The way to deal with the other problems is very similar.
Amen to 2:31. Build a fence and clear a 100 yard buffer zone on both sides. Send the military down with orders to shoot to kill anyone in the buffer zone and leave the bodies there to rot in the sun. The message will spread real fast. 9:35 is an absolute idiot. His (or her) line of thinking is exactly why we have all these problems.
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