Conservative Republicans often tout how they favor decision-making made on the local level.

That may be true in some instances, but not in many others where their ideology and fears about the changing demographics of America trump the GOP’s supposed preference for local decision-making.

Take this example: The Senate voted this week to require actual fencing along 700 miles of border with Mexico instead of vehicle barriers and high-tech equipment. That well-known expert on border security and immigration - U.S. Sen Jim DeMint, R-S.C. - offered a plan that passed by a 54-44 vote, requiring the actual fencing.

DeMint is just your average Southern Republican politician who will take every opportunity  to make immigration and border security measures even more restrictive and punitive. A fence bill had already passed both houses of Congress and been signed into law by then-President George W. Bush, who was against border fencing before he was for it.

Much of the required 700 miles of border fencing has already been completed. The remaining stretches to be completed are mostly along our part of the border - with much of it in the Brownsville area. Our region has been the most vociferous in its opposition to the ill-advised fence, with several private landowners taking the federal government to court in alleging their rights as property owners have not been properly addressed.

Oh yes, the rights of private property owners, which is supposedly another bedrock belief of conservative Republicans - unless, of course, it means confisicating private property to build a border fence. In that case, GOP politicians like DeMint want even more fencing, no matter the cost or consequences.

Even with just a small portion of the border fence to go, DeMint wanted to make sure the remaining sections are all actual/physical fencing as opposed to high-tech equipment and vehicle barriers. The original bill called for a combination of both, but alas, time to revise that legislation so a politician like DeMint can go back home to South Carolina and tout his efforts to beef up border security.

So, a guy who has likely never been to the border area, or most certainly our part of the country, takes it upon himself to tell the Department of Homeland Security and its Border Patrol agency that it must build physical fencing even it they deem that high-tech monitoring and vehicle barriers would be just as effective.

DeMint contends that all-physical fencing is needed because of drug trafficking battles in Mexico. He offered no proof, of course, that more physical fencing would be more effective than vehicle barriers or equipment monitoring. Federal law enforcement experts have often said in the past that a combination of physical fencing, vehicle barriers, and high-tech monitoring work best as opposed to just fencing.

It’s not really about drug trafficking for DeMint and other Republicans like him. It’s really about immigration and keeping more of it from the south coming into the United States - legal or illegal. More physical fencing makes them feel better that something is being done to keep more Mexicans out of the United States.

There are actually reasonable Republicans on the immigration and border security issue. One Republican senator, George Voinovich, opposed DeMint’s measure, saying that the U.S Customs and Border Protection agency was the best judge of where actual fencing is needed along the border. You know how how Republicans in Congress are always saying it’s best “to listen to the commanders on the ground” in Iraq? Guess it doesn’t apply to the Border Patrol sector chiefs along the U.S.-Mexico border. In that case, it’s better for DeMint & Co., to listen to their own prejudices and biases as opposed to actual facts and knowledge.

Voinovich also pointed out that it can cost up to $5 million per mile  to build physical fencing.

If the federal law enforcement agencies which know border security best deem that vehicle barriers and high-tech monitoring are just as good and a whole lot cheaper, shouldn’t that be the way to go, Voinovich asked. No senator, we must stop all of the dishwashers, landscapers, housekeepers, and construction workers out of the country, and oppose any measures that would allow them to come in legally, depending on the needs of our industries.

Thank goodness for good ol’ boy Southern Republican senators like Jim DeMint and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. They’ve never been to the border, but they sure are experts when it comes to border security and immigration.

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