WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Technical problems have forced the Bush administration to retool a high-tech "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border and will delay the first phase for at least three years, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in theUnited States, many from Mexico. Immigration is a highlycharged topic and a major issue in the campaign for November'sU.S. presidential election.
Department of Homeland Security officials and congressionalauditors told lawmakers on Wednesday that problems found in the28-mile (45 km) pilot project built near Nogales, Arizona, byBoeing Co. will require a change in plans, the Post reported.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had announcedon Friday, during a review of border-control efforts, that theso-called Project 28 was finally ready for service in effortsto stop illegal crossings.
The $20 million project of sensor towers and advancedmobile communications was supposed to be completed in mid-2007but had been delayed by software problems.
The surveillance system was designed to complement aplanned 700-mile (1,130-km) border fence that has drawnopposition along its route.
While the Department of Homeland Security took over thehigh-tech project from Boeing last week, authorities confirmedthe initial deployment did not work as planned or meet theneeds of the U.S. Border Patrol, the Post said.
The newspaper quoted the department official responsiblefor border security, Gregory Giddens, as saying: "we ... havedelayed our deployment as we work through the issues on Project28. While there is clear urgency of the mission, we also wantto make sure we do this right."
The Post report cited congressional investigators sayingthat, because of the new troubles, the first phase will not becompleted until near the end of the next president's firstterm.
Republican presidential front-runner Sen. John McCain ofArizona is fighting conservative criticism that he has been toosoft on illegal immigration.
The Democratic candidates, New York Sen. Hillary Clintonand Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, accuse the Bush administrationof heavy-handed tactics.
Giddens told the Post construction of the physical fencewas costing about $4 million (2 million pounds) per mile butthat the Department of Homeland Security hoped to cut theaverage cost to $3 million per mile.
President George W. Bush's 2009 budget contains no funds toadd fencing beyond the 700 miles meant to be completed thisyear, the paper said.
"The total cost is not known," the Post said Richard Stana,the Government Accountability Office's director of homelandsecurity and justice issues, told the lawmakers.
Stana said this was because Department of Homeland Securityofficials "do not yet know the type of terrain where thefencing is to be constructed, the materials to be used or thecost to acquire the land".
(Writing by JoAnne Allen; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
