The Border: Security Congestion - Real problem or pork barrel opportunity?

Border Lines: Border Security Congestion: "The El Paso Times called again (June 13) for Congress to pass the Putting Our Resources Towards Security (PORTS) bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the Democratic congressman who was the Border Patrol chief in the El Paso district in the early 1990s.

...the fundamental reason for the exceedingly long border crossing times is not inadequate staffing and infrastructure, as they claim.

Rather, the problem is uncritical acceptance of the border security paradigm imposed on border affairs after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011. The resulting border security buildup has become a powerful disincentive for border crossings. ...

The PORTS bill uses the rhetoric of security to win favor for the channeling of ever more federal resources toward the border region, which has benefited over the past ten years from an injection of billions of dollars for new Border Patrol, ICE, and CBP facilities, the deployment of an array of Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security agents, a phalanx of new checkpoints and fortified POEs, and wasteful real and virtual fences."