New Border Fence Construction in Arizona Could Start by Year's End
Arizona officials are coming together to show their strong support for a border fence, but plans to start construction are underway even with only raising a fraction of the funds needed to build the fence.
Several members of the Arizona Legislature's border security advisory committee are urging state officials to start building the first mile of the fence along the border of Mexico.
Local reports indicate that the advisory committee has only raised about $30,000 of the estimated $2.8 million needed to build just one mile of fencing. The goal of the committee is to have the fence span 200 miles along the border.
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State representative State Sen. Steve Smith is optimistic and feels that after construction begins and residents see the fence for themselves they will begin to donate too, according to reports in The Arizona Republic.
Those familiar with the situation stated that even without the full amount needed to complete the fence construction could still begin by the end of the year by relying of private fencing companies, donated supplies and prison inmate labor, Smith said.
The Arizona Legislature created the committee in 2010 for the specific purpose of advising and also recommending actions to the governor related to the security of the boarder. The committee is made up of a combination of state lawmakers, police officials and state department figures.
However, records indicate that the committee has not made a recommendation since March of 2011. The committee has also stated that a state law requiring the committee to file monthly status reports is cumbersome and is another example of bureaucracy of getting in the way of action.
"I don't think we have enough info to make a recommendation … There's so much technology that's important given the challenging terrain," Rep. Russ Jones, co-chairman of the committee, told FoxNews.com.
He explained that he is currently working to adjust the law requiring the monthly reports.
"Reporting once a month becomes cumbersome … we don't have enough new information to go through the bureaucracy," Jones said.
