Border Fence Controversy

The hot immigration/homeland security topic of the moment is the idea of building a 2,000-mile steel fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

According to a story published in USA Today the idea was once considered radical but lately has gained support and momentum.

The lawmaker behind the proposal is California Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter and, depending on the source, he is either brilliant or demented.

In the conservative news commentary site, MichNews, J. Grant Swank praises Hunter, saying that “finally somebody with some power is realizing that security is the item maximum.”

The liberal San Diego City Beat trashed Duncan, labeling him “off his nut” and, in an editorial, Knight Ridder’s Miami Herald said a U.S.-Mexican border wall would symbolize the antithesis of democracy. The editorial went on to point out that “even the Berlin Wall didn’t work until East German border guards started shooting those attempting to jump over it.”

Well, that sounds like a bit of a desperate long shot on the part of the Herald’s editorial board, which of course, failed to mention that terrorists can easily sneak into the country through the porous border.