Virtual fence construction starts in Arizona

Construction has begun on towers for the final version of the virtual fence project in southern Arizona, and project leader Mark Borkowski said Tuesday he's confident the multi-billion dollar will system work well.

Borkowski, executive director of the Homeland Security Department's Secure Border Initiative program office, said he's 75 to 80 percent confident in the engineering of the revamped project.

"And I have higher confidence than that that if there were issues, they'd be issues that we could solve," he said.

Plans call for extending the towers along almost the entire Mexican border by 2014 at a cost estimated at $6.7 billion.

President Barack Obama has not requested that money, nor has Congress appropriated it yet.

"Right now, the administration and the Congress are both very interested in continuing this program," Borkowski said. "What level will it be at, $200 million a year or will it be $2 billion a year? That's part of the broader national debate about what are the priorities and budgets. But there seems to be a continued interest and priority in this at some reasonable level."

The virtual fence is designed to use radar and cameras with about a six-mile range, including infrared devices and other technologies, to detect smuggling attempts. The sensors are designed to be able to distinguish people from animals and allow operators to direct Border Patrol agents to intruders.

The first section will cover about 53 miles of Arizona's border with Mexico, with additional towers, up to 120 feet tall and spaced miles apart, to follow on the remaining 320 miles of the state's southern border. Virtual fencing then will go up in New Mexico, followed by California and most of Texas.

Borkowski said towers with cameras, radars and sensors and communications gear won't stop people or substitute for a physical fence. But he said it will tell the Border Patrol where people are entering the country illegally.

"Technology's not going to secure the borders,'' Borkowski said. "Frankly, the personnel fundamentally are going to secure the borders.''

Pearce: We need Natl Guard, DPS on border now!

State Sen. Russell Pearce says the swine flu is just another reason in a long list of reasons for sealing Arizona's border with Mexico.

The sine flu scare "certainly was an opportunity to secure that border and evaluate who's coming and who's not coming," the Mesa Republican told News/Talk 92-3 KTAR's Jay Lawrence Show. "We have an obligation to our citizens to secure that border."

Pearce said action was justified long before people became concerned about a deadly outbreak of the swine flu, since renamed H1N1, in Mexico City.

"You've got drugs coming across there, you've got other things coming across there," he said. "We make a big deal out of the swine flu. And maybe it is a big deal, although we have health officials now saying it's no different than any other flu. This isn't the first thing we've had. We have an epidemic of crime coming across that border."

Pearce said Gov. Jan Brewer has authority to act and she should.

"This governor's the commander-in-chief. Send the guard down there today. Put DPS (the Department of Public Safety) down there today. You want lower taxes, you want less crime, you want less disease, you want jobs protected for Americans in a time when Americans can't find work."

Former Gov. Janet Napolitano, now the secretary of Homeland Security, said, from the start of the swine flu scare, that closing the borders was not an option.

"It actually would have distracted us from the steps we did need to take to protect the American people," Napolitano said. "And that was focusing on what we could do to contain the virus that was already within our borders."

Souns like good advice from Pearce.

Illegals Rescued from Flooded Border Tunnel

The U.S. Border Patrol says it rescued three people from flooding on the Arizona-Mexico border after they became trapped in flood-control tunnels under the Nogales port of entry.

Agency spokesman Brian Levin says the first rescue occurred Saturday evening when officers heard cries for help and found a 27-year-old Mexican man pinned against a tunnel wall by flood waters.

Officers removed several grates, lowered a rope and helped the man climb to safety.

Later that night, officers heard more cries for help coming from the same flood control channels under the port. They found a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy trapped by the water.

With help from the officers, the Mexican teens reached a ladder and climbed out.