Editorial: Did Congress do anything?

Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006 | 7:41 a.m.

I n the final two weeks of last month, first the House and then the Senate passed a border-security bill approving the use of 700 miles of fencing to separate Mexico from parts of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Although immigration reform has been the top domestic issue for the past year, this simplistic fence bill was all that Congress was able to muster.

The bill deals only with a fence, and not the comprehensive solution that President Bush and many Democrats in the House and Senate have been wanting the Republican leadership to produce.

What the fence bill primarily accomplishes is a talking point for conservative Republicans while Congress is adjourned until after the general election. They can tell their base that they took a big and bold step in securing our Southwestern border from Mexican laborers, criminals such as drug runners and even, potentially, terrorists.

But did they even do that?

The bill approving the fence is merely philosophical. As the Houston Chronicle pointed out in an article last week, it appropriates not a penny for the actual construction of the fence, which is estimated to cost between $2.2 billion and $9 billion.

The newspaper quoted a leading proponent of the fence, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. His statement provided a preview of what we will be hearing from members of Congress who see the fence bill as a triumph they can boast about on the campaign trail. "This action puts us on a path toward achieving operational control of our borders and shows the American people that Congress has finally gotten serious about fixing our absolutely broken immigration system," Sessions said.

As the Chronicle story pointed out, though, much of those 700 miles pinpointed for fencing either cover rugged terrain, span sovereign Indian lands or encompass areas where property rights or environmental concerns will pose big problems.

President Bush did sign a Homeland Security spending bill last week that includes $1.2 billion for a "security barrier," but that could be anything - lighting, cameras, motion detectors ...

As we see it, the "path toward achieving operational control of our borders" could very well be a path to nowhere.