I'll See a Border Fence Built High the Same Time Unicorns Fly

Via Captain's Quarters blog and Senator Bill Frist's blog, finally some good news on the illegal immigration front. It seems elections and the prospect of a legacy as one of the more wooden and ineffective majority leaders in history has a funny way of focusing one's attention. With this bill, if passed, Congress would finally deliver, for once, what the vast majority of people in this country have loudly and repeatedly asked for...a border fence without any linkage to "amnesty", "normalization", "guest worker program" or other such nonsense. Part of the funding (about half) for this effort has already been provided in a defense appropriations bill, and the rest of the funding should be no problem at all. Captain Ed astutely points out that this will be an awfully hard vote for some representatives to vote "NO" on, esp. considering they are in tough midterm elction races (i.e. Harold Ford D-TN, etc.), and I think it will probably gather enough votes to survive even if a filibuster is attempted. Now, if only we can prevent some kind of amnesty being backdoored in after the elections, move forward with deportations, and step up and sustain workplace enforcement, we'd definitely be moving in the right direction...here's to hoping this great first step is a harbinger of things to come. More than that though, I just hope the damn thing gets built at all, and frankly, given the pro-amnesty stance of President Bush and most RINOs, I'll believe a border fence when I am staring at it completed.

Captain's Quarter's

"I have predicted exactly this move several times since my interview with Frist, and the effort makes political sense. It will force the Senate to vote on an issue that many people see as critical to our national security , and the bill provides a common-sense solution to the chronically porous border in the American Southwest. Those who vote against it, and especially those who attempt to filibuster it, will have to answer why they insisted on linking national security to normalization for illegal immigrants."

VOLPAC

"That's why I strongly support the Secure Fence Act of 2006 … and that's why I'm bringing this crucial legislation to the floor of the Senate this week for an up-or-down vote. By authorizing the construction of over 700 miles of two-layered reinforced fencing along our southwest border and by mandating the use of cameras, ground sensors, UAVs and other forms of hi-tech surveillance, this legislation would help us gain control over every inch of our borders – once and for all.

Americans deserve secure borders … and Americans deserve to know where their Senators stand on border security. This week, when the Senate votes on the Secure Fence Act of 2006, Americans will know which of their representatives are committed to real action on border security and which ones aren't."