By Justin O’Brien
August 13, 2007

The Senate voted 89-4 on July 26 on an amendment to the Homeland Security spending bill that would provide $3 billion in emergency spending for border security. Senator Lindsay Graham (SC) introduced the amendment. Senator Ken Salazar (CO) also introduced an amendment directing that use of the funds be permitted for both the northern and southern borders in addition to the country’s maritime borders.

The bill’s margin of passage is an indicator of strong bi-partisan support in the Senate and can be viewed as a message from the body on the need to end illegal border crossings and unregulated entries to the country. Related U.S. Conference of Mayors’ policy calls for the strengthening of border security and key reforms to the immigration system, including a stronger, fair and efficient guest worker program.

The bill would provide funding for an additional 23,000 border patrol agents, 300 miles of vehicle barriers, and more than one hundred radar cameras for deployment in the southwest. The U.S. Border Patrol actively operates on both the northern and southern borders in addition to Florida and Puerto Rico.

The bill also provides funding for the controversial 700-mile border fence proposed by congress. In the immediate wake of the 9-11 terror attacks in New York City and Washington (DC) in 2001, the U.S. Conference of Mayors called for the “immediate development and implementation of a comprehensive national border surveillance system, including the use of the best available technological means to effectively and efficiently monitor breaches in border security.”

Differing opinions on the effectiveness of border fencing mark different border cities and border state communities. Cities and communities in South Texas remain opposed to the imposition of a border fence in their communities, while others in California and Arizona see value in such construction to stem illegal entries to the country, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and related violent crime. Policy on border fencing was referred for discussion to the Conference’s International Affairs Committee at the 74th Annual Conference of Mayors in Las Vegas in 2006.

For more information on the mayors’ border security and related policies, visit the website usmayors.org/borders.