Funds offered for border fence

San Diego Union Tribune

Federal budget also adds 1,000 agents nationwide

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 7, 2005

Border Patrol officials said yesterday that a federal budget allocation of $35 million to build five miles of secondary border fence south of San Diego should cover much of the cost, but not all of it.

Yesterday, national Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar discussed via teleconference several border security allocations from the fiscal year 2006 Homeland Security budget, including the hiring and training of 1,000 new Border Patrol agents nationwide.

Those hired will join roughly 700 other new agents paid for by a war appropriations bill passed this year. All are expected to be hired and trained by the end of next September. About 220 will work in the San Diego sector. As of Sept. 30, there were 11,268 agents working nationwide, Aguilar said. The budget, in effect since the beginning of October, also covers security infrastructure and technology to act as a "force multiplier" to agents, Aguilar said, and includes the completion of 14 miles of fencing south of San Diego. Five miles of that fence have yet to be put up.

Aguilar said that although $35 million should cover most of the work, how much it will cost or how long it will take to complete the massive project remains unclear. The project, among other things, requires the moving of an estimated 2 million cubic yards of earth to fill in a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch.

"I can't identify an end figure," Aguilar said yesterday. "We will know what we need when we apply the proper mix of resources."

Federal officials contend the additional fencing is necessary for border security and agents' safety. The cost includes not only fencing and grading, but also access roads, stadium-style lighting and surveillance cameras. Aguilar said the federal government is already negotiating to acquire property needed to begin construction, but he did not give an estimated completion date.

The fence project, particularly at Smuggler's Gulch, has been hotly contested by opponents who fear it will have dire environmental effects on both sides of the border, potentially destroying the Tijuana River wetlands. In February 2004, the California Coastal Commission stalled construction for environmental concerns.

Half a dozen environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the San Diego Audubon Society, filed a legal challenge to the fence project last year.

The path to construction was swiftly cleared in September, however, when Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived all laws and legal challenges blocking construction, using the authority given to him by legislation this year.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Diego will hear from the environmental groups, who are arguing that waiving laws and litigation is unconstitutional.

If they fail, their challenge could be dismissed the same day, said attorney Cory Briggs, who is representing the plaintiffs.

Meanwhile, proposals for even more fencing are in the works. Last month, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, introduced legislation that, among other things, calls for a 2,000-mile fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico at an estimated $1 million per mile.

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Leslie Berestein: (619) 542-4579; leslie.berestein@uniontrib.com