a fence? that's your fucking plan?

Ahem...excuse me while I laugh.

What's so sad in this situation is that they really mean it. They're going to build a giant fucking fence on the Mexico-US border. This fence, meant to stem the tide of illegal immigration that has steadily risen over the last decades, is nothing more than election-year posturing for a Congress desperate to appear to have done "something".

The 800 pound gorilla here is of course that the fence is actually a giant unfunded mandate. Signed into law today by the President without new funding, its 700 miles will cost far more than the previously budgeted $1.2 billion Congress already approved. A single 14-mile section being built in San Diego is currently estimated to cost $126 million before the project's end. Final estimates will likely range from $6 billion to $8 billion, not including costs to train and maintain new border patrol guards.

This means that subsequent sessions of Congress will have to appropriate funds for its completition. If they do not, this "War on Mexicans" will be relegated to the dustbin along with other historical flops such as the "War on Drugs" and oh yeah, the now-accomplished "War in Iraq".