Arizona Will Raise Private Funds To Build Border Fence

Lawmakers in Arizona are so intent on building a wall along the US-Mexico border that they’re passing the hat to get it done – it’s going to have to be a very big hat.

This most recent idea to come from the Arizona legislature is called SB1406, signed by Governor Jan Brewer and set to take effect in mid-July. In essence the law, sponsored by Sen. Steve Smith, calls for the creation of a web site to raise private funds to complete the fence along the entire border in Arizona. An Associated Press report says that even though Arizona is “strapped for cash” some state legislators insist on moving ahead with a border wall.

“We’re going to build this site as fast as we can, and promote it, and market the heck out of it,” said Smith, a first-term Republican senator.

There’s no estimate, yet, as to how much the wall is going to cost, but it’s believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars. There are a few things that are assumed:

• construction will start once enough money is raised
• the sponsors believe that Arizona can build the fence for less money than the federal government
• landowners along the border will have to give their consent for the construction on their property
• inmate labor, at 50 cents an hour, will help defray the cost

Part of the marketing pitch for donations could include providing certificates declaring that individual contributors “helped build the Arizona wall,” Smith said. “I think it’s going to be a really, really neat thing.”

Neat.

There’s a similar web site, keepazsafe, that’s being used to raise funds for defense of SB1070, and already more than $3.7 million has been raised. In 2009 the Government Accountability Office calculated the cost of a border fence to be

…from $400,000 to $15.1 million per mile (1.6 kilometers), while costs for vehicle barriers ranged from $200,000 to $1.8 million. Costs varied by such things as types of fencing geography, land costs and labor expenses…

Opponents of the measure classified it as a symbolic legislation that does not address border security: “a feel-good distraction from pressing for more comprehensive action on border and immigration issues.”

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[Photo by ThreadedThoughts]