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U.S. Cancels Virtual Border Fence

SUNK COST

Mexico divide deemed too expensive.

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Getty Images,John Moore

At least we know when to cut our losses. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has canceled the controversial “virtual border fence,” deeming the high-cost and over-schedule program to be too ineffective to justify the $1 billion it has already cost taxpayers. "There is no 'one-size-fits-all' solution to meet our border technology needs,” Napolitano said in declaring the high-tech Secure Border Initiative-network, which covers 53 miles of the 2,000-mile border, to be effectively over. The Border Patrol is already more staffed than it has been in its 86-year history, and Napolitano said, the border would be secured through mobile and tower-based surveillance, drones and thermal-imaging devices.

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