http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/29/0429fence.html
Link: Border barrier going up quickly, but its future is uncertain.
(...)
"Border fences have been sprouting across California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for decades — dating to the 1940s, when the International Boundary and Water Commission built 234 miles of fence to keep out foot-and-mouth disease.
"As a result, the U.S. fence is a patchwork of old and new construction in varying conditions.
"In San Diego, rusted, corrugated metal wades ashore from the Pacific Ocean onto a beach and then becomes a nine-mile wall that dips into canyons, runs along hillsides and sits beside a highway. In Arizona, the border from Yuma to Douglas is scattered with short vertical posts, some connected by horizontal rails, mesh fencing, and World War II surplus corrugated steel sheets.
"In New Mexico, 15-foot poles poke up from the desert floor on either side of the Columbus port of entry, rust-colored pipes just inches apart that allow enough space to wriggle a hand between. And in Texas, dull gray panels of thick steel fencing curve along the Rio Grande through downtown El Paso, patched here and there with mismatched pieces of metal.
"Over the years, surveillance cameras, ground sensors and unmanned aerial drones have been used in spots along the border. But the current building spree is the first comprehensive federal push to seal the entire stretch with either physical fencing or detection and surveillance technology.
"The path hasn't been smooth...."
