CBP cleared minor hurdles this week

Congress has reprogrammed hundreds of millions of dollars for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to move forward on building physical fencing along the US southern border Monday while the US Fish and Wildlife Service has granted the agency a few of the permits for building the virtual fence under the Secure Border Initiative-Network (SBInet).

CBP received notice that $400 million would become available for the fencing projects, which had stalled because the agency ran out of money to build them. Congress transferred the funds from the virtual fencing project, which is on hold until 2009, at the agency's request, CBP spokesperson Angela de Rocha told HSToday.us.

The agency has begun to award contracts to continue toward its goal of building 670 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing along the southern border by the end of the calendar year, de Rocha said. With only about 370 miles of the fencing built so far, CBP officials have acknowledged to Congress that they may not obtain the goal of completing the project by the end of the year, but that remains the agency's declared deadline.

CBP required the transfer of funds for the physical fence because of rising costs, de Rocha explained.

"Some of the contracts came in way over what the estimates were. That was because of the increased cost of fuel and the increased cost of construction materials," she said. "To complicate matters in Texas, there is a lot of other construction going on and so we have to compete, for instance, for cement."

CBP contractors redesigned some segments of the fence to take into fight cost increases, de Rocha added.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), meanwhile, continues to fight to gain access to some of the border land it requires to send Border Patrol agents to the new fencing. While DHS plans the relocation of only 13 residences along the border, it requires access to other lands to build access roads or gain entry to those roads so that the US Border Patrol can patrol along the border.

Also Monday, the US Fish and Wildlife Service granted CBP five permits to build towers on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. DHS still has many other permit requests pending with various agencies at the US Department of Interior, but the Buenos Aires permits clear the way for CBP to begin construction of surveillance towers in the refuge in support of the virtual fencing of SBInet.

While CBP officials welcome the permits, the virtual fence project remains stalled until at least the first quarter of 2009 while the agency tests equipment and awaits further funding for the project.