Bush Says Border Fencing Makes SenseYahoo News/Associated Press
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
May 18, 2006[Excerpt]
SAN LUIS, Ariz. - President Bush peered across this hot, dusty and very busy illegal crossing point on Thursday, hoping to offer conservatives balking at a broad immigration bill firsthand evidence that he's serious about tightening the nation's 2,000-mile border with Mexico.
He said fences would help stop people from sneaking into the United States.
The president showed off a section of the border that is seeing a rising tide of illegal immigrants and other smuggling. The United States is responding with increased manpower — including help from the National Guard — and a newly beefed-up enforcement zone that features two layers of tall fencing, a concrete culvert, floodlights, watch towers and camera surveillance.
"I think it helps to have the president out here, seeing the part of the area of the country that one time was overrun by people coming in here, that's beginning to get settled down because of a strategy that's being employed," Bush said later in a packed room at the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector headquarters about 30 miles away.
"People's work is making a difference," the president said. "But we do not have full control of the border."
Bush wants a sweeping immigration overhaul that combines enhanced border security measures with a guest worker program.
But he faces stiff resistance from conservative Republicans, particularly in the House, who prefer a get-tough approach and largely oppose a Bush-backed guest worker program, which they see as providing amnesty for criminal behavior. House legislation that passed last year would make all illegal immigrants subject to prosecution as felons.