Border Security Update: No fence, just ‘walkway and stairs’

April 4, 2013

By Cheryl K. Chumley

Convenience: Border security now includes handrails and steps so illegal immigrants don't fall.

(The Washington Times) - Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz sent out a series of tweets on Tuesday during his visit to the U.S.-Mexico border by Yuma, Ariz. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words.

One tweet included a photo of a pathway with wooden steps, bordered by a yellow handrail.

“No fence on this part of the border,” Mr. Chaffetz tweeted, as reported by the Blaze. “It is a walkway and stairs.”

Shortly after came another tweet with a second picture of the railed pathway, as it wove near a body of water: “No fence, You can walk across the border, with handrails,” Mr. Chaffetz wrote.

Mr. Chaffetz also witnessed nine attempting to cross the border — and getting caught by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

He tweeted: “CBP just apprehended 9 Romanians crossing the border about 3 miles. This is the USA-Mexico border.”

Mr. Chaffetz made the border trip as a preview of congressional subcommittee hearings he’s expected to hold and attend on national security in May, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

“As the immigration debate heats up, one of the key metrics is securing the border, and I think everybody on both sides of the aisle agreed that was pivotal,” he said, to the Tribune. “The most important thing for me is to talk to the people who are actually out there doing it.”

Mr. Chaffetz’s visit came a week after four senators, led by Sens. Chuck Schumer and John McCain, visited the border by air and ground — and saw first-hand a woman’s failed attempt to climb an 18-foot fence into the United States.