Expert -- and I -- agree that virtual fences don't work. They've been tried and failed. However where real fences have been tried, like in San Diego, they have been very effective. The cost differential is mild compared to the amount of money already thrown away on these experimental programs.
Washington Post
Since 1995, spending on border security has increased tenfold, from $1.2 billion to $12.7 billion, and the number of Border Patrol agents has more than doubled, from 5,000 to 12,319, according to the House Appropriations Committee. Yet the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has jumped from 5 million to more than 11 million.
In that same time no less than 2 "virtual fences" have been tried and failed. They obviously don't work and other than someone scratching someones business buddies back to the tune of $2.5 billion in taxpayer money, the latest "virtual fence", called the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet) awarded to Boeing, is doomed to failure as well.
The Department of Homeland Security and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service spent $429 million since 1998 on video and remote surveillance on the borders. But nearly half of 489 planned cameras were never installed, 60 percent of sensor alerts are never investigated, 90 percent of the rest are false alarms, and only 1 percent overall resulted in arrests, the Homeland Security inspector general reported in December.
That was really successful! And people are complaining about a few billion for a real fence.
Last week the House passed HR 6061 The Secure Fence Act and the Senate will be voting on HR 6061 which provides700 miles of physical border fence next week.
"There has been a huge amount of money poured into the border . . . but the track record of the performance of these technologies is disappointing," said Doris Meissner, former INS commissioner.
Because they don't work and people keep proposing them because they
don't want them to work. There are enemies in our midst that want these illegal aliens to keep pouring across. They make big money on them. Of course it's at the expense of the American taxpayer.
I'd say these "virtual fences" are "virtually" worthless.
