"Virtual" Fence Approved For U.S. Border

Homeland Security Promotes High-Tech Border Fence Between Arizona And Mexico

(AP)  The government has approved the first "virtual" fence along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, a 28-mile stretch of technology that will use radars and surveillance cameras to try to catch people entering the country illegally.

The Bush administration also plans to use some of the technology in other parts of Arizona and in Texas.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff planned to announce his approval of the virtual fence, built by the Boeing Co., on Friday.

Last year the government withheld some of the payment to Boeing because the technology the company used in the test project near Tucson, Ariz., did not work properly. Boeing also was late in delivering the final product. Because of this, the department received a $2 million credit from the company to go toward maintenance and logistical support of the system, according to Homeland Security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.

The virtual fence is part of a national plan to secure the southwest border with physical barriers and technological detection capabilities intended to stop illegal immigrants on foot and drug smugglers in vehicles. As of Feb. 8, 295 miles of fencing had been constructed.

The system is already working, the officials said.

On Feb. 13, an officer in a Tucson command center - 70 miles from the border - noticed a group of about 100 people gathered at the Mexico-Arizona border. The officer notified agents on the ground and in the air near the border. Border Patrol caught 38 of the 100 people who tried to cross illegally, and the rest of the people went back into Mexico, the official said.

The 28-mile test project - known as Project 28 - was never intended to be replicated all across the border, the officials said. The plan was to learn from the first project and apply the lessons to future virtual fencing, the officials said.

There are also plans to use the technology along portions of the Texas border and other parts of the Arizona border. These projects will get under way this summer at the earliest, the officials said.

The 28-mile virtual fence includes 98-foot unmanned surveillance towers that are equipped with an array of sophisticated technology including radar, sensor devices and cameras capable of distinguishing people from cattle at a distance of about 10 miles. The cameras are powerful enough to tell group sizes and whether people are carrying backpacks that may contain weapons and or drugs.

Software glitches last year kept the array from providing the same picture of the operations with global positioning information to Border Patrol command centers as well as to agents with laptops in their vehicles stationed in the area to intercept intruders.

The government paid Boeing $15 million of its initial $20 million contract before determining last summer that there were glitches in the test project. The department gave a conditional acceptance in December.

Lawmakers have been skeptical of the product Boeing delivered.

"This is not the end of the Project 28 story," Rep. Christopher Carney, D-Pa., said in a statement Thursday. "We need to understand what went wrong with Project 28 to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated and taxpayer dollars are not squandered."

Carney chairs the House Homeland Security management subcommittee.

[libsrc0kskrs]

How will GWB like it when US taxpayers forward "Virtual Tax Payments"?

Posted by tucanofulano at 02:47 PM : Feb 22, 2008
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then you get a ''virtual'' welfare check

[libsrc0kskrs]

Pull convicts out of prison and give them their daily exercise in the form of a chain gang and build a REAL wall. Maybe the illegals will see the US is done fooling around.

Posted by GrammaWhamma at 05:05 PM : Feb 22, 2008
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sorry the liberal masses would not allow that

[libsrc0kskrs]

Actually Mexico is not a poor country. They just have the wealth concentrated in even a smaller % of the population. You know, like the repubs want to do here!!

Posted by bm6005 at 01:17 PM : Feb 22, 2008
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you must be part of the large % who are stupid..GO BACK TO SCHOOL..LEARN A SKILL..WORK HARD...

wealth does not come by because you whine a lot

[michellem99-2009]

Gramma, to me a fence is a wall with holes in it. A fence is a wall to me . The only different to me is it is outdoors. What ever we call it, It won''t work. Computers do go down..They could not get the DEC.31 07 space needle fire works that computer messed up, They had to manually do it. I say virtual wall not fence. Had I wrote the bloody story. I do know a fence from a wall. A fence is chain lick, or a wooden fence ye can look thru. A fence is so tall. There has to be holes in it. A wall I say.

[grammawhamma]

sorry...I meant fence not wall.

[grammawhamma]

Pull convicts out of prison and give them their daily exercise in the form of a chain gang and build a REAL wall. Maybe the illegals will see the US is done fooling around.

[namesnames]

it''s a start!
it may not be the complete and best answer but anything is better than the status quo.

[tucano2]

Oxymoron = "Virtual" "Fence"

How will GWB like it when US taxpayers forward "Virtual Tax Payments"?

[hall9504]

Or Deploy the military in 30 day on and 60 day off deployments to the boarders and along the coast line and ports. Show the world we are able to enguage in any time of combat...

[hall9504]

Prison Style fencing, 15-20 feet talk, electicfied, BY SOLAR POWER for the annoying people complain whos going to pay for it.. 5 sets of fencing with razor wire rolls in the center of them. did i say electricfied... with motion detectors lights with guard towers, dogs, cats, lions, tigers what ever not fed, that will attack them. and BU$H to test everything out... and the D.O.D US Navy Ship defense style Sea Wiz 3000rounds/min gat gun. That will make some results.

[bhappy2-2]

Woman Charged In Minn. Bus Crash Deaths (from CBS NEWS)

Another reason to get rid of ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS! The woman who killed four students is possibly an ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER. They''re still checking on it, but I would bet she is, since she gave the authorities an incorrect name, had no drivers license, etc. We need to get ALL of these ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS out of our country because they are NOT committing "VIRTUAL CRIMES", they are KILLING our Citizens.

[bm6005]

Actually Mexico is not a poor country. They just have the wealth concentrated in even a smaller % of the population. You know, like the repubs want to do here!!

[bhappy2-2]

A "virtual" fence will eliminate "virtually" all of the "virtual" ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. For the ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS who ACTUALLY cross into our country, HEAVY FINES for anyone who supports or aids the ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS should be MANDATORY. Start the fines at $250,000.00 per ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS the person/ company/ hospital has helped in any way. For a second offense increase the fine to $500,000.00 per ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER served in any way. For a third offense increase the fine to $1,000,000.00 per ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER and add on one year in prison for each ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER they have helped. Make the prison time retro-active to their FIRST offense. When it is no longer profitable to hire ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS the businesses will quit hiring them and they will self-deport.

[nwarky1]

Why don''t the Mexicans go home and fix their own country. We don''t owe our poor neighbor anything.

[nwarky1]

As for the fence, We only need to build a row of towers of sufficient height and spacing to allow a person sitting in each tower to see the entire distance between the towers. Arm this person with one of our favorite 50 Cal. rifles or something sufficient to be effective for the distance that he/she is responsible to cover, and tell them to shoot on sight anybody attempting to cross the border. End of problem!

[nwarky1]

They are not Illegal Immigrants. Why don''t we stop calling them Immigrants and starts calling them Criminals, which is what they are. Our government says we need the cheap labor. We all know that the rich are the ones getting the cheap labor, while the real taxpayers (Middle Class) in the USA are the ones supporting these Criminals. I have a very simple plan that will get them off our soil at no cost to the US Taxpayers at all. It will generate several million jobs in the USA, and will even produce revenue that can be used to offset the costs of all of the free social services we have provided for the rich guy''s cheap labor.
On May 1, 2008 all of the Criminals should be told that they can leave the USA freely, and take all of their ill gotten goods with them. They have 2 months to be off USA soil completely. Then, on July 1, 2008 our troops will begin a city by city search, and all who are still here, will be deported, and all of their worldly posessions confiscated including bank accounts, money in pocket, etc. This will be used to pay for their deportation, and anything remaining will go into the social services system in the state where they are caught. If they are employed in a business, the owner of that business will be prosecuted for harboring a criminal, as well as any other appropriate violations.

[aldee41]

If Arizona gets a virtual fence may Texas have a virtual express way?

[theusa1st]

I''d like to see the Virtual Fence hooked up with our Predator Drones with live ammunition...time to stop playing nice.

[klingon69]

"i am sick and *** tired of people telling me that i need to learn to speak spanish. what the hell? maybe if i was going to live in mexico"
Posted by josiehood

I live in Texas and had to learn spanish in school growing up. It''''s no big deal...learning a new language is a good thing...not a bad thing :)

Unfortunately for you we live in the ''''melting pot''''...we are open to all cultures.
Posted by jh6379 at 11:21 AM : Feb 22, 2008
It''s not a big deal learning Spanish. The big deal is being forced to learn it. Having our government pander to it. Why aren''t all government documents in every language, that way anyone who comes here can keep speaking their native tongue and never have to learn english.

[crusherking]

jh6379 wrote"Unfortunately for you we live in the ''''melting pot''''...we are open to all cultures."

Yes we are a melting pot and open to other cultures. But that does not mean that we should "have" to learn other languages. I live in Texas as well and did take some spanish. Problem is that this is America and the vast majority of the nation speaks English. Thats what immigrants should be speaking or at least making the effort. You should know all to well from living in Tx that there are many illegals who don''t speak it and really don''t even try.