Security First

Senate votes to build 370-mile fence on Mexican border.

The Senate voted to build 370 miles of triple-layered fencing along the Mexican border Wednesday and clashed over citizenship for millions of men and women who live in the United States illegally.

Amid increasingly emotional debate over election-year immigration legislation, senators voted 83-16 to add fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the southern border. It marked the first significant victory in two days for conservatives seeking to place their stamp on the contentious measure.

PowerLine, on the vote:

Which means that even most Democrats have figured out how serious Americans are on the issue of border security.

The Senate has moved on to debate an amendment that would strip the "path to citizenship" and guest worker provisions out of the current bill.

Michelle is worried about possible trade-offs in this deal.

John Hawkins has a new regular column on Wednesdays at Human Events, and he uses it this week to deal with some immigration myths.

We’ve got to bring the illegal aliens “out of the shadows?” They’re in the shadows? Really? I seem to remember hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens proudly announcing that they were boycotting American businesses as they marched in the streets, made demands in Spanish, and waved foreign flags. Quite frankly, I think most Americans liked them a little better when they were still “in the shadows.”

They’re “immigrants.” This is a rhetorical trick designed to lump in unwanted visitors who’ve entered our country without permission with legal immigrants, who are welcome here. But, referring to illegal immigrants as “immigrants” is like referring to burglars as “occupants” of a house. Yes, they may be standing in the living room, but they have no right to be there and calling them “occupants” confuses the issue. People aren’t up in arms about “immigrants.” They’re up in arms about “illegal immigrants,” and trying to muddy that distinction is intellectually dishonest.

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Sister Toldjah took a deep breath before commenting on the President's speech, and her thoughts are worth reading:

We’ve got a better chance of getting something done with a GOP Congress and president than we do with a Democratic congress and potential future liberal president. We can’t and should not destroy ourselves with the ‘all or nothing’ demands people have placed on the admin to resolve the issue. It’s not going to be resolved overnight and it’s certainly not going to be resolved with a Democratic Congress and president.

Freeman Hunt likes the sound of the fence vote:

Our relationship with Mexico? You mean the one where their corrupt military officials aid drug traffickers in crossing our border? Or the one where their government is so oppressive that their citizens have to flee to the United States for a better life? Or maybe the one where the Mexican government encourages illegal immigration to the United States to prop up the Mexican economy with the money the illegal immigrants send back?

Sounds like a relationship that could use some boundaries.

IMAO has opinions from the cat-pundits.

Iowa Voice is glad the Senate may finally be getting it.

And, Sen. Frist blogs the fence vote, with an indication of further Senate action:

We will continue to strengthen and improve this legislation over the next several days by voting on and adopting a series of Republican amendments focused on border security and interior enforcement.