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 State Senator Bob Worsley has proposed putting 300 watch towers,
complete with the latest technology, to put what he called extra
"eyes on the ground" capable of watching over the roughly 350 miles
of border Arizona shares with Mexico.
"People in my state don't trust what the federal government is
telling us when it comes to border security," said Worsley, a
Republican. "This is a way to verify what we're being told."
The virtual fence bill narrowly passed a Senate committee on Monday,
with Republican lawmakers concerned about the price and privacy
problems. It was expected to be tough going before the Senate
appropriations committee and would need to be approved by the full
Senate and House and signed by the governor before it becomes law.
"I'm not sure that it's a good, wise use of money just to tell the
federal government, ‘Ha-ha, we can see what you're doing and we don't
agree with what you're doing,'" Republican Senator Chester Crandell
said during committee debate.
Crandell also said the federal government should be paying for such
projects.
Arizona, with its Republican-controlled legislature and governor,
has clashed repeatedly in recent years with President Barack Obama's
Democratic administration. Chief among the battles is how to handle
the flow of people illegally coming across the porous border into
Arizona from Mexico. Worsley said the virtual fence would allow
Arizona to be better prepared if a federal immigration bill sought
by Obama is passed this year and signed into law.
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Under Worsley's proposal, the virtual fence would consist of towers
placed within 1 mile (kilometer) of the sprawling border in
southern Arizona that would be equipped with radar and video
cameras. Anyone with an Internet connection would be able to see
what was happening, according to the plans.
Worsley said he already has been in contact with a Utah company that
produces such systems and that there are plans to erect a test unit
at the state capitol in a few weeks.
In January 2011, the Obama administration blocked a virtual fence
project, which had come under criticism, in favor of other security
measures. That project cost about $1 billion and was designed to
pull together video cameras, radar, sensors and other technologies
to catch illegal immigrants and smugglers trying to cross the
border.
(Editing by Ken Wills)
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