I believe I don't have enough fingers on one hand to count the many times that a "virtual fence" system has failed and been scrapped at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. Add it all up and we're talking multi-billions. Yet politicians keep playing the "virtual fence will work" game instead of just throwing a real barrier up there. Of course they don't want it to work and that's why they keep proposing this crap.

Houston Chronicle

The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.

The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.

Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability, officials said.

"The virtual fence didn't work so we'll build another virtual fence".

How many illegal aliens has the virtual fence caught in the last 4 months?

... the towers have resulted in more than 3,000 apprehensions ..., said Greg Giddens, executive director of the SBI program office in Washington.

But that's just a fraction of the several hundred illegal immigrants believed to cross the border daily near southwest of Tucson.

Several hundred illegal aliens cross just that sector each day (at least that's what they figure since the stuff doesn't work it could be much higher) and they're proud of the fact that they've caught 3,000 over 5 months.

Let's do a little math using their rough figures. "Several hundred a day" so say a low 200 a day. 200*150 days=30,000 illegal aliens have crossed that one single sector that it monitors over 5 months and they've caught 3,000. 10%, a success! But wait that means 27,000 illegal aliens whom we have no idea what their criminal records are - or their terroristic intentions are - made it in here while our "Homeland Security" twiddled their thumbs.

Meanwhile the San Diego Otay-Mesa double layered fence that requires no fancy technology and was the model for the Secure Fence Act has reduced crossings by as much as 94%. Which one works? Which one is more cost effective?

Boeing was awarded an $860 million contract to provide the technology, physical fences and vehicle barriers.

"Boeing has delivered a system that the Border Patrol currently is operating 24 hours a day," Boeing spokeswoman Deborah Bosick said. She declined further comment.

"Operating a system" and "having a system that works" are two different things. The Secure Fence Act's cost was a couple billion. Meanwhile we've once again thrown away $860 million on a piece of shit.

Tipped by: Freedom Folks