The Great Wall: Militarizing the US/Mexico Border

Back in May, J.D. Hayworth (R/Minuteman-Az) had this to say:

“As for Mexican President Vicente Fox’s concern that the border will become militarized, don’t make me laugh. There are areas all along the border that already resemble a war zone. The border has already been militarized by the drug smugglers, human smugglers, and Mexico’s own military. Anyone living along the border will tell you that Fox’s concerns are not only absurd but insulting as well.”

I wrote about it in a post that provided J.D. with the definition of the word in order to clear up any confusion as to what is happening down here in the Borderlands. Now, three months later, the line is crawling with National Guard troops from all across the country as well as armed vigilante operations interspersed between Border Patrol checkpoints and local law enforcement units that are re-interpreting federal immigration laws to arrest “suspected illegal immigrants.”

sígame…
The Great Wall of America™ is growing everyday

The feds are planning to build another stretch of fence along Arizona’s border with Mexico in Cochise County.

A Border Patrol spokesman says the project will connect with existing fencing in the Douglas and Naco areas. The result, he he says, will be to create a continuous barrier between the towns – along about a 40-mile stretch of border.

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In addition to these “official” barricades being constructed, the racist vigilante Minutemen have received some manna from hell.

A Washington-based company is donating up to $7 million worth of fiber-optic security fencing material for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to use in any new barriers the group erects to try to keep illegal immigrants out of Arizona.

The mesh has embedded sensors that can differentiate between human and animal contact and conditions such as high winds or heavy rain. Tied into cameras and alarms, the system can alert monitors to the precise location of any intrusion.

[snip]

FOMGuard USA represents FOMGuard Co., a South Korean enterprise that developed the fencing material.

May said the mesh security fencing was designed for use along the demilitarized zone with North Korea.

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This deal stinks worse than a dead skunk along one of the dirt roads travessing the Tohono O’odham Nation.  First the Minutemen ran out of volunteers to complete their original fence project.  Then, their accounting practices were called into question. Now, they are getting $7 million dollars worth of technology/hardware donated?!?

Who ARE these people?

FOMGuard is typical of Fiber Optic Sensor Fence developed by FOMGuard Inc. which protects from various intrusion attempts through perfect detection for cutting or excess force. It injects lightwave pulse to Fiber Optic Sensor Netattached at the fence and checks the timing and strength of the returning pulse.

FOMGuard is the only perimeter security system in Asia passed USAF technical evaluation test over 3 years after being adopted by FCT Program of US DoD. In the test, FOMGuard got outstanding achievement that location accuracy of ±25cm, no false alarm, 100% detection for intrusion of fence top and corner,easy maintenance, interface with annunciator.

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The .pdf of the actual product can be found here.  Also, according to Security Middle East Magazine:

FOMGuard is a fiber optic sensor fence solution that was approved by the USAF in 2004. FOMGuard injects lightwave pulses into the Fiber Optic Net made of specially designed fiber optic cable and checks the timing and strength of the returning pulses. If it detects irregular pulses the system immediately displays the intrusion location and generates an audible and visible signal. FOMGuard adopts the OTDR technology measuring optical fiber status, which functions as important part providing pinpoint accuracy of FOMGuard. FOMGuard perfectly detects cutting, putting excess force for pass through, climbing over, and intruding at the top by using ladder and at the bottom by digging ground. It gives an alarm pinpointing the intrusion spot with a marginal error of ± 25cm using the patented software algorithm, PINPOINTGuard. FOMGuard is designed for the existing iron fence or on the block fence instead of barbed wire, or can be installed as stand alone.

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United States Air Force and Korea-based Certifications can be found here.  Finally, from a 2005 Issue of Government Computer News:

According to Charles Harvey, CTO of Washington-based International Trade and Technologies Inc., which helps Korean companies crack the U.S. market, the FOMGuard system has been tested and deployed at certain U.S. military bases. It consists of a net of fiber-optic cables thrown over a perimeter fence. The net links back to a central surveillance system and, thanks to the fiber optics, can pinpoint within inches where a security breach may occur.

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Nope, nothing to see here. A vigilante militia is being GIVEN top-notch security technology to do as they wish. The silence from the government is deafening because they are giving the wink-wink nod-nod treatment to Chris Simcox and his racist band of thugs. It is the SAME hardware being used to guard military bases for FSMs sake!

M – I – L – I – T – A – R – I – Z – A – T – I – O – N

Am I the only one horrified at the thought that they may be using these walls someday for the purpose of keeping us locked in?

Crossposted from my humble blog

Author: Man Eegee

30-something Xicano Democrat in Tucson, Arizona. I have a passion for social justice issues as well as seeking to help ignite a productive dialog regarding immigration reform. Lately I spend most of my time on Tw