Border bamboozlement & betrayal.(THE LAST WORD)(George W. Bush signs Homeland Security Act of 2002)

President Bush picked Scottsdale, Arizona, as the venue for his October 4 signing of the nearly $34 billion Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. "The bill I sign," said the president, "helps us address one of the central issues facing all states, but particularly a state like Arizona, and that's illegal immigration."

Many of the news reports covering the signing reported that the legislation included $1.2 billion for the construction of 700 miles of fence along our border with Mexico. Television news reports on the story (on both American and Mexican networks) were accompanied by file video footage of workers constructing sections of border fence in the San Diego area, giving the impression that the new 700-mile fence is already going up.

Mexico's Foreign Secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, added to the illusion by condemning plans to build any border barrier as completely "offensive" to Mexico and said his country was even considering challenging the United States' right to do so at the United Nations. Many news stories recycled last year's quotes from Derbez' boss, President Vicente Fox, who called congressional efforts to build a fence "shameful" and compared any such barrier to the communist-built Berlin Wall.

Can it be that finally President Bush has shaken off his incredible fixation with abolishing our borders and flooding America with millions of "temporary guest workers" and amnestied illegal aliens? Don't hold your breath. The White House and the GOP congressional leadership believe they have already obtained everything they wanted from the presidential signing and photo-ops along the border: they have placated the restive masses of American voters, who were demanding with increasing bellicosity that their elected officials secure our disastrous borders. At present, we have only about 75 miles of our 2,100-mile U.S.-Mexico border fenced. That's right, 75 miles.

Facing a revolt from angry constituents and their conservative activist base, House Republican leaders gave in last year and voted for the 700-mile fence construction. In the Senate, however, Majority Leader Bill Frist, Arlen Specter, and other GOP leaders continued to side with the Bush White House and the Teddy Kennedy Democrats in demanding "comprehensive" immigration reform that coupled more promises of future border security enhancement with a front-loaded amnesty and guest-worker program. When it became too obvious to ignore that they would be severely punished in the November elections, the White ...