HSINO: The $600 million Homeland Security In Name Only bill
I know border security hucksterism when I see it — whether it’s from Democrats or Republicans. Longtime readers will remember that when pro-shamnesty President Bush and the GOP backed a Secure Fence Act in 2007, I called it what it was: The Fence in Name Only. Sadly, the call was all too right.
Today, the president will sign a $600 million border security measure passed by the Senate yesterday. It’s another election-year gesture in the wake of Arizona’s SB1070 backlash against federal immigration non-enforcement.
Stewart Baker at the Volokh Conspiracy breaks it down:
It funds about 1000 new Border Patrol agents, adding to the 20 thousand already on the force. That’s a continuation of Bush Administration policies, which roughly doubled the size of the Border Patrol from 10 to 20 thousand over eight years. A five percent increase in border staffing won’t make a big difference, but it’s better than the Obama administration’s initial budget, which proposed to cut the size of the force by one percent. It also adds around 250 new officers at ports of entry – the legal crossing points from Mexico. That makes sense. As illegal crossings get harder, smuggling through the ports of entry will increase, and these officers will be needed.
The bill adds money for a couple more drones, again following Bush Administration policy. Drones have value, but I can’t help wondering how much these will add. The real problem in using them has been the extreme reluctance of the FAA to allow UAV flights along the border (or anywhere else, for that matter).
…Much was made of the fact that these increases were “paid for.” That’s true, sort of. It looks as though a lot of it was “paid for” by canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in fence-building and air security spending.
Same old, open-borders business as usual.
***
From the White House blog: “I have made securing our Southwest Border a top priority since I came to office.”
Tell it to the ranchers under siege in Arizona, pal.
***
Here’s the AP coverage of the Obama signing event, with Clownitano looking over his shoulder.
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riiight. Thanks Henry!
Signing something is one thing. Actually funding it and building it is another thing. Politicians keep putting bandaids on gaping, festering wounds. The gov likes being able to stir the pot between the citizenry and the illegals. The immigrant community needs to wake up to the fact that DC needs them to be undocumented more than they need to fix the system. It is better to sting them along with promises. Why provide a solution when the struggle generates more benefits for the ruling class.
This will not make one bit of difference if ice won’t deal with illegal aliens they capture. I saw that ice toadie on Cavuto day before yesterday and he is an idiot! He was going to AZ to tell the citizens there how this bho has done a bang up job dealing with illegal aliens. It seems, Governor Brewer and the sheriffs are not having any of the lies.
L
Thousands of years ago, the Chinese recognized the need to protect their nation by building a fence (the Great Wall) and with little more than brute labor and human ingenuity to assist them.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and here we are still playing security games with open borders politicians, in particular, the Democrats.
Do the Dems really think we’re so dumb as to not know know an election year ploy when we see one?
No need to panic. McCain is all over it. That man just won’t rest until our borders are secure. Oh wait, that’s Iraq’s border. Never mind.
Lying sack of crap. This is what, the third or fourth presidential/congressional ploy to show they are fixing the problem, while doing absolutely nothing. ANY DAMN FOOL CAN SEE THESE CLOWNS IN D.C. COULD CARE LESS ABOUT PROTECTING THE CITIZENS OR THE COUNTRY FROM THIS INVASION.
What I find fascinating is looking at the actual bill, reading about it on the ‘far right blogs’, like this one, and not finding anything different between the two.
Meanwhile, ABC News is reporting how this is a HUGE measure and now we need comprehensive immigration reform and how the REPUBLICANS now HAVE to do SOMETHING or risk hispanic backlash!
How is it possible for me to consider ABC News as anything but a Democratic election organization?
Seems he has made parties, golf and vacations his highest priority.
Although I think “Cheapseat” may have said it best….
Perhaps we should change the border security to be under the Military, like most countries wit real border security. That would really make some left wing heads explode. Of course they would forget how they constantly want us to do things like other countries..
It isn’t. ABC along with CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS and much of the LSM, the majority of media being leftists themselves, are nothing but the media shills for the dems and have been pressing their agenda for years.
Do you mean Mexico’s SW border?
I feel so much better knowing that more drones will be flying along the border, taking candid shots of massive infiltrations of illegals trekking along with 80 lb packs of weed roped to their backs. The illegals look up and wave, the drone waggles its wings, life is good in the southwest desert. ICE could have its own cable channel 24/7 just like the Animal Channel does in the morning. Its just pictures of some swamp or meadow, no music, no talking, no explanation, just video and the sounds of nature. ICE could do the same thing, just video taken from 3000 feet up of endless acres of ground and brush with the occasional glimpse of illegals silently headed north and the sound of the air rushing over the wings all in real time. Nothing to stop them but some great, great footage for some future documentary.
I give the President an “A” on meeting this objective.
The people crossing the Southwest Border illegally have probably never felt more secure than do today.
Fix it for him.
No, he means “securing” more potential dem voters, clients of government programs and cheap labor is his “top priority”.
Big Sys will likely tell the U.S. Border patrol that the drones will be operated and their data disseminated by subcontractors …… from La Raza.
OOOOPS Big Sys = Big Sis more coffee…
Isn’t most of the area class G or F airspace – uncontrolled under 700 AGL? If it’s uncontrolled then what is FAA’s beef? Can I fly my R/C airplane along the border with a camera in it? That’s all these ‘drones’ are.
We have the technology to do it ourselves if our government won’t…
And this..
you would think that with as much money as they claim to be spending on it, it would get completely built eventually.
Double fence the border all the way across and then we’ll discuss whatever path to citizenship.
but there aren’t people who have been here illegally for 30 years. The last amnesty by Reagan was 20 years ago, and it was a complete failure because it encouraged more to come.
Human nature is full of punishments and rewards. If the reward is greater than the punishment, expect more of it. Rewarding illegal border crossings with citizenship will encourage instead of discourage illegal immigration (as does birthright citizenship).
Birthright citizenship encourages extremely pregnant women to cross the border and endanger their lives and the lives of their babies. . . yet encouraging the behavior is supposed to be ‘compassionate’.
Build the fence, don’t talk about it, don’t talk about the money, just
He’s talking about Borders the book store. They’re under seige from Kindle.
Meanwhile, we’re buying RUSSIAN helicopters for the war in Afghanistan, probably to help Russia pay for fueling up Iran’s nuclear plants next week.
I want to see that guy in the White House eat lunch during Ramadan too.
Good ones! Yankee ingenuity is how we do things.
Get the BRAC commission to close Ft. Sill, Ft. Hood, and Ft. Bliss. Then make a new base, Ft. Sam Houston (the one in San Antonio is already BRAC’d).
Make the base 20 miles wide and have it stretch from sea to shining sea. Live fire range. Let the USAF and USN use portions of it for a bombing range.
It’s better than a fence, and the troops will need training after we get out of Iraq and Asscrackistan.
You can only do that at the ballot box and the last time we had an election, the people chose to do something else.
The Afghan pilots already know how to fly them, the mechanics already know how to repair them, and they have parts on supply.
I’d buy them in the short term, you bet.
Ann Coulter explained last week that there is actually no law at all in regard to recognizing anchor babies as citizens; the whole notion is based solely on one footnote of an opinion written by a single Supreme Court justice – Judge Brennan.
So here we have yet another case of an ARROGANT activist judge who ‘decided’ he could apply the exact OPPOSITE of a law’s intent than that expressed by the very person who wrote that law.
With judges like him on bench it makes you wonder why we even bother with electing a Congress?
Well, give the Dems and the White House their dues… they are working at making elections a moot point and a relic of the past.
If we’re about to cut and run, why leave behind expensive, high-quality US helicopters?
be weary of any bill that gets 100% support.
The Russkies have thousands of helos in mothballs.
Picture this huge field filled with old helos with red stars on them; pennants strung from this little wood shack with two seedy looking sales guys standing out front with the manager at his desk inside.
“One Owner, Low Miles”
We need a forum where agents of ICE and Bureau of Alcohol and Firearms and others so involved can anonymously post their suggestions and recommendations of how to handle this invasion at their levels.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
“eager to offer attractive pricing on multilpe squadron purchase – stock up now!”
External fuel tanks and free flight rocket pods at no extra cost?
Let’s see, Obama and Napolitano are sending National Guard troops to the border but its going to take several months. It only took a couple of days to send troops to pick up tar balls on the beach when they decided to act. Those tar balls could cause some real harm to beach walkers you know.
When the troops arrive, they can only watch and monitor, they’re not allowed to “enforce” illegal entry.
The new border agents may get hired by 2012 and when they do, they probably won’t be given weapons and will be told not to enforce illegal entry. Just look the other way or get fired.
The drones are still in development and prototype. It will probably take about 10 years for those to be declared OSHA safe and environmentally sound before they can be used.
The Obamaites wonder if they can fool those stupid taxpayers again with their constant barrage of lies. They keep trying don’t they? They sure think we’re stupid.
To paraphrase a renowned poet…
Democrats – How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
I hate thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach …
I’ll be holding my breath waiting for AP to question Obama about the actual CONTENT of this bill…NOT!!
It is bad enough that we can be certain that a secured border will NOT emerge from this. However, it is vital that we watch the course of this spending – we can also be certain that (just as before) most, if not all of the money will end up somewhere else for a completely unrelated, unwarranted spending project.
1. End the anchor baby loophole!
2. End all welfare to illegal aliens!
3. Jail all employers for a minimum 3-5 years no parole on the first offense and that includes the HR department!
4. Fine employers $100K for each illegal alien employed on the 1st offense.
5. End all education for the children of illegal aliens!
6. Tax all remittances at 75%.
7. Make e-verify mandatory for every single employer!
I could go on but you get the picture!!
Don’t forget the five year FAA study. Then the NTSB needs their review.
“DA! and with each purchase even throw in bonus of vintage training manual (in Russian) and free one-hour flight training course with certified vintage retired USSR Afghan campaign veteran who has keen memory!”
Followed by a two year feasability of funding study and subsequent fact finding hearings by the House Committee on Armed Services and another two years to have the findings published.
Just designate the entire border region as a live-fire practice range for the AC-130s and other air-to-mud shooters. Put up a bunch of warning signs and start scheduling training time.
Nice package.
Folks, don’t let the politicians, chamber of commerce lobby, and ethnic chauvinist groups tell you that the border is too big to secure, that it won’t eliminate illegal immigration, and that democracies just don’t build fences. India is the world’s largest democracy and they have a 2500 mile border with Bangladesh, approximately the same size as ours with Mexico. Yet, this democracy is in the process of constructing a 10 foot high fence over the entire length of this border with the “… aim of stopping the infiltration of terrorists and preventing smuggling and large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh into neighboring Indian states.”.
The Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier is expected to cost less than $2 billion and over 1500 miles has already been constructed in the past 7 years.
So next time your representatives gives excuses on why the fence hasn’t been built, just tell them what the world’s largest democracy is doing.
I read that this bill originated and was passed by the Senate, then approved by the House. That would be a violation of the Constitution where all revenue bills must originate in the House. But, these days, who cares about some piece of paper.
Coming from the president in name only, it is very apropos.
Yup, the DC elites think that passing the legislation is getting the job done. Having the legislation actually do something is another matter entirely. None of this legislation is supposed to work. It is supposed to look like it works.
I’m no mastermind, but I just bet a MAJOR monkey wrench in this project will come from EPA and Green legal obstructions citing that a massive fence interferes with animal migration and whatnot. They been getting away with this since the Spotted Owl.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
Never ceases to amaze me as to how stupid lib politicians think Americans are. The only people that this really dupes, are the REALLY truly stupid, ie: liberals and their lapdogs in the media.
That’s one problem right there: Political speak has people referring to ILLEGALS as “immigrants”.
Until the US Government either does the job itself or allows States to prevent illegals from working, gathering public benefits and making their anchor babies citizens – all money spent in the name of “border security” is a WASTE.
One wouldn’t really have to build a fence if they simply carried out existing laws which prevent illegals from working, laws which deny public benefits to illegals – by demanding proof of legal status in the USA and stopped anchor baby citizenship.
he has made helping and increasing the invasion of our once great nation his priority. his communist cabinet thugs laugh behind our backs as they lie in the state controlled media that they are doing their jobs and deporting invaders. while in many overt ways it is plainly clear they have abandoned all efforts to do anything about the invasion and have no intention whatsoever of doing anything other then helping the invaders to hurt American citizens more and more and more.
what easier way to end a nation, than with an invasion that anyone who opposes it is smeared as a “racist?”
when will we learn not to be cowed by words and smears hurled by the worst people in our society?
when will we learn not to give legitmacy to our enemies’ smears and lies by defending ourselves against them? when will we learn not to fall into that obvious trap?
Whom are you referring to, Obama or Bush? Because both seem to fit that description. I guess you could replace neocon for communist, but then again the neocons got their start as trotskyists. The bottom line is that both democrats and republicans have failed us on this issue. It is not really a democrat or republican issue, it is really one of globalists versus patriots. Unfortunately having an ‘R’ after their name is no guarantee they are not globalists.
I agree with this.
Hey # 43
I liked this part of the Indian fence. . .