The battered ribbon of carbon-steel and wire-mesh fencing has divided much of this city from Mexico for more than a decade. It helped inspire the Bush administration's plans for more than 700 miles of new fencing along the porous, 2,100-mile southwestern border.Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., whose district includes part of the two-layered fence, touts the barricade as virtually impenetrable. "If you get over my fence," the presidential candidate said this month during a debate in New Hampshire, "we sign you up for the Olympics immediately."
Border Patrol agent Shawn Moran acknowledges the barrier has cut the flow of illegal traffic into the USA dramatically, but he also suggests Hunter hasn't seen his fence lately. In spots along the approximately 75 miles of fence from California to Texas, illegal immigrants and drug runners have gashed the barrier repeatedly, often with saws to make holes big enough to squeeze people through.
Read More
