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BISBEE — Some fence construction along the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County that was slated for last year is still being completed this year.
Meanwhile, the government is planning to build about 11 miles of fencing in other areas of Arizona this year.
Construction on a section located just east of the San Pedro River was finished last week. Also, fence building is currently under way east of Naco, Ariz.. according to local landowners.
In 2008, about four miles of fencing will be built near Yuma, while about seven miles will be constructed near Nogales, according to government environmental assessments.
  
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Barry Morrissey, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington, D.C., said it may be true that no more construction in Cochise County is planned for this year, but that does not mean some additional construction in this area may not be recommended in 2009.
The Secure Fence Act of 2006 was approved with the intent of preventing immigrants from illegally entering the United States.
Local property owners along the border, a government official and representatives of border watch groups agree the fence can be climbed. Some people are critical of the project, but others are optimistic.
Bill Odle, who owns 50 acres of land located along Border Road next to the San Pedro River Riparian National Conservation Area, said there is “no doubt” that people are crossing into the United States despite the presence of the fence.
He has seen evidence of illegal crossers, including tracks and trash, such as backpacks and toothbrushes. He also found some ladders and a piece of rope that was attached to the fence.
“The fence has stopped the vehicular traffic, but it has done nothing to stop the foot traffic,” he said.
He said the 13-foot-tall fence looks impressive, but it won’t stop a motivated person from finding a way over it.
He said instead the government should build 4-foot-tall barriers to prevent vehicles from crossing. Also, he added, a barbed wire fence would stop livestock from crossing, but not affect wildlife.
He said the only way to stop illegal immigrants is to fine the businesses that hire them.
If workers are needed for labor in the United States, then immigrants can come through the port of entry, he added.
John Ladd, who lives near Odle, said Border Patrol agents are catching 300 illegal immigrants per day on his family’s 14,000-acre ranch. About 10 1/2 miles of that land is located along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“This is probably the second worst it has been in the 16 years that we have let the Border Patrol patrol the ranch,” he said.
“In 2003, it was 400 to 500 a day.”
Ladd said the fence, which was costly to build, is not stopping people from crossing into the United States.
In addition, he said, the Border Patrol has not changed its tactics by putting additional agents along the fence to make sure people don’t climb it.
“For $2 million a mile, you can get a whole lot of Border Patrol to monitor the border,” he added.
Mike Scioli, spokesman for U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, said that when people call to report border crossers, agents sometimes use a tactic of patrolling a mile or two north of the location.
“When you are working by yourself, you don’t want a group of 20 knowing you are coming. You want to be able to surprise them so they are shocked and you can get them under control right away,” he said.
Glenn Spencer, who owns 104 acres of property across the river from Ladd and Odle, said the 13-foot fence is simple to cross. For example, he said, people on the Mexican side can park a pickup truck along the border, get on top of the roof, climb a few feet over the fence, drop down onto the posts on the U.S. side and then jump down several feet.
“That is not designed to stop anybody,” he said, referring to the fence. “That is the easiest thing to climb.”
Scioli said Border Patrol realizes people will find a way to cross the border even if there is a fence.
But the fence acts as a deterrent. For instance, a group of individuals who illegally enter the United States and get spotted by an agent would have a difficult time running back to Mexico if a fence is in their way.
Richard Hodges, a rancher who owns 372 acres of land east of Naco near Bisbee Junction, said the government is currently building fence along the border near his property.
He owns one mile along the border.
He said so many people illegally cross the border and enter his property that “it is ridiculous.”
He hopes the fence will help protect his cows from smugglers and other immigrants.
“I am sure hoping that this is going to slow them down,” he said. “I will tell you, there is a certain type of person that can scale this thing and you can throw ropes over it and stuff. But mom and pop and the grandkids and grandma and grandpa and all that, they are going to have problems with it. So it is definitely going to help out. That is for sure.”
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps started building a mile-long fence along the border on Hodges’ property last year, but the project is still not complete. Hodges said he would like to see the Minuteman fence finished because “two fences are better than one.”
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps intends to complete the fence pending receipt of additional funding, said Al Garza, national executive director of the group.
Hodges credits the Minuteman project for being the catalyst to get the government to start building its own border fence.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps supports the government’s fence project because it is one of the key elements of border security, said Garza, who lives in Huachuca City.
“If you have wide open land, as far as they are concerned, it is free territory. But if you put a fence there, normally that serves as a deterrent,” he said.
Spencer, who is president of American Border Patrol, a non-governmental organization, said he is in favor of fence construction in general, but not this particular project.
He has accused the government of inflating estimates of the number of miles of completed fencing by including permeable vehicle barriers. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 actually called for building at least 700 miles of “double fencing.” He said the government needs to follow through with this plan.
According to a report by Congressional Research Service, double fencing significantly reduced apprehensions in the San Diego sector.
At the Imperial Beach station and Chula Vista station, primary fence was constructed beginning in fiscal year 1990 and secondary fence was constructed in fiscal year 1996.
Apprehensions at Imperial Beach station decreased from 202,173 people in fiscal year 1992 to 9,112 people in fiscal 2004.
But the majority of the drop occurred from fiscal year 1995 to 1998 — a period of time during which there was fence construction and an increase in agents and other resources deployed along the border.
Meanwhile, apprehensions at Chula Vista station decreased from 158,952 people in fiscal year 1992 to 9,923 people in fiscal year 2004. The rate of decline in the mid-1990s lagged behind the rate of decline at Imperial Beach station, thereby suggesting that as enforcement was ramped up at Imperial Beach station, migration shifted to Chula Vista.
“There is no question the double fence works. The single fence is just not effective,” Spencer said.
Spencer is also concerned that the government won’t even build a single layer of fencing along the 1/2-mile section of border near his property. Last week, a section of single-layer fence was finished on the other side of the San Pedro River, he said.
Morrissey said the government is first targeting fence construction projects in the areas where there is a lot of illegal cross-border activity. “Just like any other thing you are approaching systematically, as you solve major problems, then you start to look for minor problems,” he said.
Herald/Review reporter Jonathon Shacat can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathon.shacat@bisbeereview.net.
con air wrote on Mar 31, 2008 4:28 AM: