“If Fences Don’t Work, Why is There One Around the White House?”

The problem of illegal immigration at the Southwest border – involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors coming into the U.S. at unprecedented rates – is the worse it has ever been.  The Border Patrol agents are over-whelmed and lacking adequate resources to handle the influx; and the Obama Administration’s proposed solutions to stem the tide are under-whelming to say the least.

 

Of course, the illegal immigration problem isn’t new.  The Federal government claims to have been working on fixing the problem for the past several years.  The Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill last year; and now, Democrats, including Obama, are warning House Republicans that if they don’t act soon, the president will act unilaterally.

 

Last week, Bill O’Reilly had Charles Krauthammer on his Fox News show to discuss immigration reform.  When O’Reilly asked Krauthammer how he would secure the border, Krauthammer had a simple solution, he said:

 

“You start with a fence.  It's very simple.  People say, ‘Oh, fences don’t work.  You make a ladder.’  Well, then you build two fences, triple strand fences.  San Diego did that in the mid 90’s and within a decade, the illegal immigration rate at that point was reduced by 90% and people ended up going through other places like Arizona.  If fences don’t work, why is there one around the White House?  If they don’t work, why is it that the Israeli fence which separate Israel from the West Bank has cut down terror attacks within Israel by 99%.  Fences work.  Yes, there are parts of the border where you can’t have a fence, fine.  So you don’t have it in those areas and you do heavy patrols.  But there is no reason why a rich country like us cannot put a fence across – a double fence, a triple fence and patrol it all the time.  That would have a tremendous impact.”

 

To Krauthammer I say – Touché. (French in origin, used to admit that someone has made a clever or effective point in an argument)

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel