Sun, 06/20/2010 -DOUGLAS — More of everything. That’s what Arizona Republican U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl said is needed to secure the U.S.-Mexican border. They spoke after touring parts of the border near Douglas with area law enforcement leaders on Saturday.
“A tremendous amount of progress has been made, but as we also heard when we said, ‘What do you need?’ the answer was essentially more of everything,” Kyl said. When the senators visited the same stretch several years ago, none of the fencing had been constructed and many of the cameras and lights were not in place.
Kyl pointed to the need for more personnel, technology and legal deterrents.
Among the resources Kyl and McCain have called for in their “10 Point Border Security Action Plan” are an immediate deployment of 3,000 National Guard troops, a permanent addition of 3,000 border agents by 2015, an increase of funding for communication and surveillance equipment, and full funding of Operation Streamline to provide a deterrent for border crossers by ensuring repeat crossers go to jail for 15 to 60 days.
They also want to not only complete 700 miles of fencing along the border but also replace older sections with the latest technology of fences, McCain said. The fences should be see-through so potential border crossers cannot hide from law enforcement officers.
During a news conference after their border tour, the senators were asked whether comprehensive immigration reform could go along with their plan.
McCain thinks immigration reform should only take place after the border has been secured to a point where the governors of the border states certify that it is secured, he said. “They need more of everything, but I’m optimistic that they could achieve that with the right resources and right funding.”
He gave a rough estimate that he thinks the border could be secured in one or two years.
Though they’re talking about a couple of billion dollars, that is a relatively small amount in light of the other expenditures the government makes and the prioritization of the border, Kyl claimed.
The rise in border violence was a major concern among area residents when they posed questions and shared their stories with Kyl and McCain at a town hall meeting in the Douglas High School auditorium later.
“We live right on the riparian and I have horses, I can’t ride my horses because it’s too dangerous. That should be your No. 1 responsibility, to make us safe,” Hereford resident Joyce Bracht said.
The problem is bad enough that nonborder state senators are starting to back efforts to secure the border, Kyl said.
“None of us ever will forget that we cherish our Spanish heritage in Arizona, Spanish was spoken before English, we cherish immigrants into our country,” McCain said, in his closing remarks.
“The reason why America is the great nation it is, is because of a constant flow of new blood and vitality that’s coming to our country, but it must come legally.”
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