Congress passes border and port security bills

Members of Congress rushed to go back to their districts to campaign on Friday, but not before they approved a 700-mile long border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and gave their assent to major portions of an ambitious port security bill. Congress also passed a separate $34.8 billion homeland security spending bill that contained an estimated $21.3 billion for border security, including $1.2 billion for the fence and associated barriers and surveillance systems. Educated readers know that the U.S.-Mexico border is much longer than 700 miles, leaving many to wonder what exactly the point is, other than clever politics. This year’s immigration controversy has forced many in both parties to advocate building a fence, and although many, including President Bush, wanted one as part of a more comprehensive program including amnesty or guestworkers, that was not to be. Instead, Congress and the president hope the voting public will see the new effort as a good step forward, even if interested parties in Washington do not. Congress also approved $380 million to hire 1,500 more Border Patrol agents and build detention facilities to hold 6,700 more illegal immigrants.

On the port security front, Congress gave DHS $400 million a year over five years for risk-based grants for training and exercises at ports (how these grants are allocated has been a constant source of grief for municipal planners, or at least those who see themselves as being short-changed). The bill also requires America’s twenty-two largest ports (many of which, including Long Beach and Oakland were among those shortchanged) to install radiation detectors by the end of the year, and establishes pilot programs at three foreign ports to do the same.

-read more about the port security bill in Jim Abrams’s AP report; read more about the border security bill in this AP report