The Border Fence That Never Was Is Now An Ugly Memory
Mar 11, 2011
Miami, FL (Law Firm Newswire) March 11, 2011 – Now the nation sees it and now it does not. Like a shell game, the border fence that never really was now exists as a stinging reminder of how out of control comprehensive immigration reform was.
“Really, what were people thinking when it came to the border fence?” asked Larry S. Rifkin, managing partner at Rikfin & Fox-Isicoff, an immigration law firm with law offices in Miami, Florida and Orlando, Florida. “It was originally proposed as an invisible fence on the U.S.-Mexico border during the George Bush era, when the powers that be thought they could manage to get a deal on immigration reform.”
The wheeling and dealing during that period of time proposed to pay for a 1, 969 mile invisible, secure border fence, in trade for a legal path to become a citizen for those undocumented aliens in the U.S. The nation was taken with the idea and the visuals of tracking down illegals trying to get across the border with high tech security, infra-red cameras, low flying surveillance planes and much more – much like something George Orwell may conceive.
That virtual fence got a lot of media ink and was eventually canceled by the Obama administration on Jan. 14. “Of course, not too many people realized that there was a white elephant in their living room and it had cost taxpayers in the neighborhood of $1 billion for the first 53 miles of towers, radar, cameras and sensors. If the first 53 miles was worth $1 billion, the other 1,918 would have cost about $36 billion, give or take. Can you imagine? All in the name of keeping illegal aliens in their own backyard,” Rifkin said.
The times, they were changing when the U.S. was hit with a monumental economic crisis. In the process, those backing the Star Wars technology to track illegals began to get hostile by 2010. They were so hostile to reform that they did not pass the DREAM Act. Along came the drug wars and everyone dove for cover under their desks. The political climate was hardly conducive to a virtual fence or anything else for that matter.
“Today, the political climate is still chilly when it comes to immigration reform, only now, the states are starting to do their own thing and making the immigration waters even muddier. Where things are at right now is that no one really knows what to do with anything done to this point in time, because they no longer know what U.S. immigration policies are anymore. A scary thing to contemplate,” Rifkin said.
And there the matter sits, amidst controversy that is either a smokescreen or genuine confusion. “Draw your own conclusions about which it is and in the meantime, perhaps give some consideration to whether or not comprehensive immigration reform will ever be tackled,” Rifkin said. Judging by the government’s track record, the answer to the question may well be that CIR is permanently stalled.
To learn more or to contact an Orlando immigration lawyer or Miami immigration attorney, visit http://www.rifkinfox.com.
Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, P.A.
1110 Brickell Avenue
Suite 210
Miami, Florida 33131
Toll Free: (866) 681-0202
