People are not confident we are going to do it. Indeed. money gets tight around here. We spent $30something billion on homeland security. but we could not find $1.8 billion to fund the fencing we voted to authorize and that DHS wantsfencing is a onetime expenditure that would reduce the number of Border Patrol agents. reduce the number of people who attempt to come in. and reduce the overall cost in the long run of making the border secure. But we did not do it. Why not? Well. those are the kinds of questions we are dealing with. Now. the President has done some things that indicate he is committed to border enforcement. On July 25. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar and National Guard Bureau General Steven Blum held a press conference on Operation Jump Start. That is where the National Guard is helping us at the border. as the President requested that they do. Chief Aguilar and General Blum explained: The National Guard is assisting themthe Border Patrolwith their "tactical infrastructure so they can be more effective. . . . better roads so they can move along the border laterally . . . " You have to be able to move along the border. You cannot have people elbow to elbow trying to stop people coming here illegally. When you see people come. you have to be able to move laterally along the border. And quote: "fences and lighting and sensors." So that is what the National Guard is doing. Now. yesterday. on August 1. we received a letter from Ralph Basham. the Border Patrol Commissioner. and Paul McHale. Assistant Secretary of Defense. announcing the fulfillment of President Bushs promise to deploy 6.000 National Guardsmen to the border by August 1. He met that goal.
Keywords matched
border enforcement Border Patrol