| | |  Americas & Beyond 
Obama Signs Border Bill to Increase Surveillance
 Julia Preston - New York Times
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August 14, 2010
| | President Obama signed the $600 million bill on Friday. (Luke Sharrett/New York Times) | |
President Obama signed into law a $600 million bill on Friday to pay for 1,500 new border agents, additional unmanned surveillance drones and new Border Patrol stations along the southwest border.
The measure sailed through Congress in little more than a week with broad bipartisan support, demonstrating the pressure on politicians to look strong on border enforcement. Introduced on Aug. 5, the bill was approved the same day by the Senate by unanimous consent, and passed again by the Senate on Thursday in a special session during the Congressional recess. The House had passed the bill in a special session on Tuesday.
Mr. Obama requested the funds in June, after he announced he would send 1,200 National Guard troops to support agents along the border.
The administration has been under pressure to strengthen border enforcement since Arizona adopted a tough law in April to crack down on illegal immigration, saying the federal government was failing to do its job. After the administration sued Arizona, a federal court stayed important parts of that law.
The two senators from Arizona, John McCain and Jon Kyl, both Republicans who have criticized the administration’s border measures as weak, surprised Democrats by signing on as sponsors of the spending bill.
Under a proposal by Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, the new resources will be paid for by steep increases on visa fees for high-tech workers brought to the United States by Indian companies who bring in thousands of temporary employees each year.
Some Republicans still said they wanted more resources for the border. “Right now, it seems more like an effort to receive positive press than to genuinely improve the critical border situation,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama.
Immigrant advocates said they were disappointed that the only major immigration legislation this year included no measures to grant legal status to illegal immigrants already in this country.
Senator McCain, campaigning in Arizona, also clarified his position on another immigration controversy, telling The Associated Press that he did not favor a change to the Constitution to revoke the right to citizenship for American-born children of illegal immigrants.
Asked if he would support changing the 14th Amendment, Mr. McCain said: “No. I mean, first of all we’d have to have hearings, we’d have to find out what the argument would be, but I certainly don’t at this time.”
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