Arizona calls for online donations in bid to build fence along entire border with Mexico



Arizona lawmakers want to erect a fence along the border with Mexico - whether the federal government thinks it's necessary or not.



They've got a plan that could get a project started using online donations and prison labour. If they get enough money, all they would have to do is get cooperation from landowners and construction could begin as soon as this year.



Governor Jan Brewer recently signed a bill that sets the state on a course to building a permanent barrier along its borders, and a website is being launched to raise money for the work.

Closed: A lone U.S. Border Patrol agent looks for footprints from illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.- Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer wants fencing along the entire border

State Senator Steve Smith, the bill's sponsor, said:. 'We're going to build this site as fast as we can, and promote it, and market the heck out of it.'

Mr Smith, a first-term Republican from Maricopa, Arizona - which is strapped for cash and mired in a budget crisis - is already using public donations to pay for its defence of the SB1070 illegal immigration law.



Part of the marketing pitch for donations could include providing certificates declaring that individual contributors 'helped build the Arizona wall'.

Mr Smith Smith said: 'I think it's going to be a really, really neat thing.'

Construction would start 'after we've raised a significant amount of money first' but possibly as soon as later this year.

Mr Smith added: 'If the website is up and there is an overwhelming response to what we've done, and millions of dollars [are] in this fund, I would see no reason why engineering or initial construction or finalised plans can't be accomplished.'

Vocal supporters: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Republican Senator Steve Smith have both shown their strong support for tighter border control in Arizona. They plan to draw public donations to fund border fencing



The nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border already has about 650 miles of fence of one type or another, nearly half of it in Arizona.



The state's 376-mile border is the busiest gateway for both illegal immigrants and marijuana smuggling.



Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler said federal officials declined to comment on the Arizona legislation.



State Corrections Director Charles Ryan said getting inmate labour to help construct border fencing wouldn't be a problem.



Minimum-security prisoners already have been used to clear brush in immigrants' hiding spots near the border, and clean up trash and other material dumped by border-crossers.

Costly business: The federal government estimates that the cost of fencing and patrols can range between $400,000 and $1.8 million a mile, depending on terrain. Arizona has a 376-mile border with Mexico

Work crews of Arizona inmates also have been used to refurbish public buildings, build sidewalks and construct park facilities.



Mr Ryan said that, at 50 cents an hour, 'we are a relatively inexpensive labour force'.

Arizona's existing border security fund is being used to pay for legal costs of defending SB1070 in court, though Mrs Brewer's 2010 executive order creating the fund allows its money to be used for any 'border security purpose'.

A federal judge has blocked implementation of key parts of SB1070, but Mrs Brewer has said she'll take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.



The fund has already received nearly 44,000 donations totaling more than $3.7 million, collected online and through mailed donations since May 2010.

Plugging the gaps: Large parts of the state's border has old fencing or none at all. The border is not only a hotspot for illegal immigration but also for the illicit drugs trade

Roughly half of the money has been spent, and Mrs Brewer's spokesman Matthew Benson said the balance was also needed for SB1070-related legal expenses.



Mr Smith and other supporters of the border-fence legislation haven't produced any cost estimates for the state project, saying only that the state should be able to do it far more inexpensively than the federal government.



That still could be put the state's costs in the tens of millions of dollars or more.



A 2009 report by Congress' Government Accountability Office said costs of federal fencing work to keep out people on foot ranged from $400,000 to $15.1 million per mile, while costs for vehicle barriers ranged from $200,000 to $1.8 million.



' My constituents want this thing fixed and fixed once and for all, and we're going to do it. People should not be dying in the desert'

Costs varied by such things as types of fencing geography, land costs and labour expenses, the report said.

Mrs Brewer signed the Arizona fence bill on April 28, and it will take effect with most other new state laws on July 20.



It took the bill about two and a half months to land on her desk, easily winning approval on party-line votes during a legislative session dominated by budget-balancing work.

During committee hearings and floor debates, Republicans said the state had a legal and moral obligation to take action because the federal government hadn't done enough to secure the border.



Senator Al Melvin of Tucson said during a February committee hearing: 'My constituents want this thing fixed and fixed once and for all, and we're going to do it. People should not be dying in the desert.'

Democrats questioned the project's feasibility and called it a feel-good distraction from pressing for more comprehensive action on border and immigration issues.

