700-Mile Border Fence Between the United States and Mexico

700-Mile Border Fence Between the United States and Mexico

In an effort to stem the tide of illegal immigration coming up from Mexico, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed the “Secure Fence Act of 2006,” which was signed by President Bush. The bill calls for the construction of about 700 miles of fencing along the Mexico-U.S. border. There are already several walls or fences between the two countries, most notably in highly populated areas. However, opponents argue the proposed wall would harm environmentally sensitive areas, hurt the economies of border towns, and is not worth the cost.

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Candidate Responses

"This bill enhances our control ove the border, allowing us to better deal with future illegal immigrants as well as drug traffickers and potential terrorists," he said in a statement after the vote.

"A comprehensive solution to our immigration crisis must include strengthening our borders," she said in a statement in mid-2007.

"I accept the basic idea of better border security you need to be talking with (Mexico) to get cooperation, border security can't be on just one side of the fence," he said in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

"The first step is to control our borders and stop illegal trafficking. At the same time, it is unrealistic to think that we can deport more than 12 million people," he said on his campaign web site

"So we need a fence. We need a technological fence; we need a tamper-proof ID card," he said during a presidential debate

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