Mission accomplished?

As the Department of Homeland Security pushes to complete 670 miles of fencing along the Mexican border by the end of this year, it is confronting the sharpest resistance yet while conceding that physical barriers alone do not stop illegal crossings.

This from the NY Times today. The Bushies have built their wall on much of the southern border by now, but even they have to admit it isn't worth much:

Mr. Chertoff acknowledged in an interview that constructing physical barriers — as of last month, about 309 miles of fence had been built — is not the key to stopping illegal immigration, but he defended the fence’s usefulness.

Of course he did. This Administration isn't likely to admit its mistakes. The good news is that more and more people are calling them on it:

Opposition to the fence intensified last month after Mr. Chertoff used authority provided by Congress to waive more than two dozen environmental laws and others to push ahead with construction. Mr. Chertoff said his department needed to bypass the laws if it was to meet the goal set by Congress two years ago of completing at least 670 miles of fence by the end of this year.

Fourteen United States representatives, all Democrats, including Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, have said they support a lawsuit filed in April by two environmental groups — the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife — that challenges Mr. Chertoff’s waiver.

Here's hoping they win that one in court, and we can begin the important work of restoring this critical transnational habitat and our relationships with friendly neighbors. Though, like resolving the quagmire we've created in the Middle East, that work will be dumped on the next Administration, along with a bundle o' debt that will make such restoration damn near impossible.