have forgotten all about it and it is necessary. somehow the entire argument has been reduced to a physical wall we have once tried with physical and electronic surveillance and fencing through sbi-net, the secure border initiative. and it did not work. like, i don t know why we re not having that conversation either. it s very important. i m going to continue to repeat it, because i hope somebody will hear it. and remember also, there s a question about what will constitute the wall you re talking about and kaitlan collins asked the president about whether it s going to be concrete, steel slats or whatever he said. take a listen. you ran your campaign promising supporters mexico is going to pay for the wall. here we go again. and the wall would be made of concrete. you just said earlier the wall would be made of steel. i said i m going to build a wall. i never said concrete. i know you re not into the construction business. you don t understand something. we now have a great
wall. which, again, i do not think donald trump understands the position he truly is in. a government shutdown is not going for anyone. so i remember back not just a few months ago, when it was you know, there was a government shutdown, and folks said it was the democrats who shut down the government, even though the republicans were still in charge of all in washington right now. but the government shutdown is never good for anyone. so it does not behoove president trump. voters who voted for trump they are sick of arguing about the border since 2006. they want to see action. so he is speaking to his base. he is not he is not talking about comprehensive immigration reform. of course not. because republicans don t want that. he is talking about a wall. and now he s saying the american taxpayers are going to pay for it. yeah. they are going to. what you are saying about the year you brought up is that is the year that there was supposed to be the secure border initiati
that. they may not believe it but it actually is true. you can look at the number of folks who are saying they re undecided they don t know but they may have a good relationship with hillary clinton. but they don t exactly many of especially establishment republicans have a great relationship with the extreme right of their party. and they all that s right. they have to keep that in mind. because, they want to get reelected. that s right. so how does she get past that? part of it has to do with saying this these are the things that i plan to put in place. this bill that was comprehensive immigration bill that was passed two years ago now, it needs to be reintroduced and we have to solve for the gap that exists in this country. it s not just a wall, carol, and we also have to acknowledge that the wall is not even it s not physically capable of being built. there was something called the secure border initiative that i know firsthand, as a former homeland security s
we ve got to have stronger border surveillance and security. that is probably going to be more of a combination of virtual borders, virtual patrols. while the obama administration initially embraced the virtual fence this past march it suspended new work which had already been scaled down in size. the plan known as the secure border initiative was pitched as the big fix in border security. it was going to be a high tech system that would all but stop illegal immigration. you heard president bush talking about it. boeing got the contract to build it, a huge contract. but more than four years and almost $1 billion of your money later, here s what we have to show for the money. a handful of cameras and two small sections along arizona s southern border totalling, wait for it, 53 miles. that s right 53 miles of virtual fence and even that has problems. the censors have been known to be thrown off by things like tumbleweeds, rain.
which had already been scaled down in size. the plan known as the secure border initiative was pitched as the big fix in border security. it was going to be a high tech system that would all but stop illegal immigration. you heard president bush talking about it. boeing got the contract to build it, a huge contract. but more than four years and almost $1 billion of your money later, here s what we have to show for the money. a handful of cameras and two small sections along arizona s southern border totalling, wait for it, 53 miles. that s right 53 miles of virtual fence and even that has problems. the censors have been known to be thrown off by things like tumbleweeds, rain. too many promises from boeing, not enough oversight from the government, from dhs. going forward, secretary napolitano says technology will be tailored to the needs of each region along the border and might include elements of the program that she axed. earlier i talked to fran townsend who was homeland security a