Obama Signs Border Security Bill, Beefing Up Surveillance

Alex Wagner
Alex Wagner
White House Correspondent
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President Obama signed into law a $600 billion border security bill Friday that will beef up surveillance on the U.S.- Mexico border. In a statement released Thursday, the president said the bill will make "an important difference" as his administration "continues to work with Congress toward bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform to secure our borders, and restore responsibility and accountability to our broken immigration system."

In a press briefing on Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano hailed the bipartisan support for the bill and said the new law "demonstrates the border is not and should not be a political issue." She focused on the resources the Obama administration has allocated to border security and called the legislation "another step forward . . . on top of the significant progress the administration has already made."

The new law will pay for 1,500 additional Border Patrol agents, as well as construction of "forward operating bases" for agents to detain people on the border. It will increase the number of unmanned surveillance drones to provide real-time information to authorities about illegal crossings, heighten communication between federal agents and local police, and pay for additional ATF, FBI and other agents to target drug and human trafficking rings. The law will be funded by raising fees on foreign-based personnel companies that use U.S. visa programs, including the popular H-1B program, which brings skilled workers to the United States.

Though many senators were absent from Congress because of the August recess, the bill was passed by voice vote in the Senate during a special session on Thursday. The House passed the measure on Tuesday, also in a special session.

The bill's sponsors in the Senate, Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), echoed the White House's sentiments and expressed hope that the legislation would be the first step toward passing immigration reform legislation. Said Schumer, "It's my hope that the bill we're passing today will break the deadlock." But on Thursday, GOP Sens. John McCain and John Kyl, both of Arizona, cast doubt on the bill's efficacy in battling cross-border violence, and accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of "needless political maneuvering" in bringing the Senate back from its August recess.

In response to questions as to how feasible comprehensive reform might be in an election year, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "We'll get reform when Democrats and Republicans are willing to go back and be leaders."

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/13/obama-signs-border-security-bill-beefing-up-surveillance/

i liked that last sentence, what gibbs said.
i hope obama pulls through on this.

Believe it when it happens - not before. Since it WON'T happen, it's not believeable.

how do I get them to add a fortune teller emoticon on here,,lol


believe it when it happens, unless its something you oppose in which case you should feel free to predicate all day about what the outcome of that something is gonna be ,,,,,

In case it has escaped your notice, it's ALREADY happening ... it's called ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, and your boy in the short pants wrongly sitting in the Big Boy chair isn't doing a damned thing to stop it ... including this 'bill'. Anyone who believes he has ANY interest in cutting off the flow of future vote fraud perpetrators is seriously mistaken ... it's called 'denial'.

yeah, just because he APPROVES additional funding and personell at the border doesnt mean he is actually DOING anything,,,,,,lol


sigh

Its all smoke and mirrors. Until we see some real action, other than Oblowme putting on another dog & pony show, nothing is going to change.

i'll give it credit... although 1500 workers and 600 billion dollars?
my math ain't real good, but thats about 400 million each...

They wont see any money...if they did, Im sure Oblowme would quickly pass a "Working Tax" against them.

Your math is waaaaaaay off




Add training cost of these new agents and the construction costs of these "forward operating bases"
Now add in cost of unmanned drones with the control consoles, ground based vibration and IR / heat sensors with monitoring equipment, new communications equipment.

It add up better?