The Border Compromise

The major infrastructure provisions of the "Bipartisan Immigration Deal" regarding border security are an improvement over 700 miles of double-layered wall, but we're still going to get more than half of that along the U.S. Mexico boundary. The compromise includes:

* 18,000 new border patrol agents (and their trucks & trash)
* 370 miles of "fencing" and 200 miles of vehicle barriers
* 70 ground based radar and camera towers
* Four unmanned aerial vehicles

Lacking any real specificity as of yet, it is probably safe to assume that there were no rules incorporated in this compromise regarding the maintenance of wildlife corridors or mandating ecological review of the 370 miles of walls we'll be getting here in the borderlands. We don't pretend to know the impacts of the other compromises contained in the deal, but we suspect that conservationists in Bush's home state will be looking closely at the bill after being screwed last week by a lack of federal cooperation on wildlife refuges.

Was it too optimistic to hope for an immigration reform package that wouldn't also perpetuate the war economy along the border and would also reduce the ecological footprint of what is really an economic policy decision?

Alas.

- Lozen