We are going to be out of business unless we get some relief. The operation will stop.
W. Ralph Basham, the commissioner of the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection division, at a Congressional hearing on Wednesday when he asked for more money to cover the increased costs for building the Fence along the border that the U.S. shares with Mexico.
As reported in this morning's New York Times.
The expected $4 million per mile for pedestrian barriers has been upped to $7.5 million, and the anticipated $2 million per mile for vehicle fencing has increased to $2.8 million.
Estimated projections for the project now total $400 million.
That's a little bit less than the $500 million that our presidential candidates are expected to spend in their efforts to get to the White House.
And it's just a smidge more than we're spending per day in Iraq (at least as of February 2008).
I have yet to hear either candidate mention or take a position on the Fence, which may well become the most costly Maginot line in history.
To date 341 miles of the Fence has already been laid along our 2,000-mile border.
By design the Fence is intended to stop illegal immigrants from Central and South America, as well as the free passage of the endangered jaguar.
