Stephens Washington Bureau: - The Senate on Thursday voted to spend $3 billion to beef up border security by hiring thousands of federal agents and constructing a 700-mile border fence. The funding would pay for 23,000 full-time border patrol agents in an effort that Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) claimed would "help restore American confidence in our immigration system."The measure reflects Republicans' efforts to pass parts of an immigration reform plan backed by President Bush. The broader immigration reform legislation died in the Senate last month. Pryor, the main Democratic sponsor of the bill, said the funding would give the United States "full operational control" over its border with Mexico. The bill passed the Senate 89-1 as an amendment to the 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill. . . . The funding would be used for four unmanned airplanes, 105 miles of ground-based radar and camera towers and 300 miles of permanent vehicle barriers. It also would be used to purchase 45,000 detention center beds to effectively end the practice of capturing immigrants entering illegally and releasing them back into Mexico. [Read More]Tags: border control, border fence, federal funding, Mark Pryor, US Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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