"Give Officials Access, Landowners on Border Are Told"
"Federal officials are warning landowners along the southern border that they have to give the government access to their property as it considers where to build a fence intended to block illegal immigration.
The Homeland Security Department announced on Friday that it was sending the warning letters to about 150 landowners from Texas to California who have refused to grant access.
That represents 10 percent of the landowners contacted, with the most resistance in Texas and Arizona. Final decisions have not been made on the exact location of the fence, which is to be erected in segments along the 1,952-mile border.
The plan is to have 370 miles of fencing for pedestrians and 300 miles of barriers for vehicles in place by the end of next year. Currently, a combined total of 284 miles is barricaded.
After determining the location of the fence, the government will buy the property it needs or force its sale.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff also said Friday that a high-technology system along a 28-mile section of the border in Arizona that uses cameras, radar and ground sensors, had passed its first test after months of delays.
The prison planet being constructed before your eyes!
Computer software glitches and other problems have held up its initial acceptance by the government. Now that the problems have been resolved, the system will be subject to live tests by Border Patrol officers to see whether it performs as promised, Mr. Chertoff said.
Only then will the government formally accept the equipment, which could ultimately be installed along large border stretches where no physical fence is planned."
