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Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll indicated the American people favor a proposal to build a 2,000-mile security fence by a 51-to-37 percent margin. The total illegal alien population was estimated by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge at 8 to 12 million in December 2003, but Lou Dobbs of CNN regularly uses 20 million as a more realistic number of illegal aliens in the US. The sea of illegal aliens provides a cover and an environment in which terrorists can hide, and the tide of in-coming illegal aliens provides terrorists with a reliable means of entry.

As long as the per-capita income differential between the US (over $30,000) and Mexico (less than $4,000) continues to be so wide, it will be difficult to stop immigrants. Mr. Bush's guest-worker proposal would create a legal means - a renewable three-year work visa - for new immigrants to enter the country and take jobs that Americans don't want. Illegal immigrants already living here would become eligible for guest-worker status after paying a fine.

By one estimate each year between 400,000 and 1 million undocumented migrants try to slip across the rivers and deserts on the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) US-Mexico border. In 2005 over 1.2 million illegal immigrants were apprehended by the Border Patrol. By one estimate the Border Patrol catches 1 out of every 4 illegal border crossers, and this is typically the estimate public officials use in discussing the problem. Official Border Patrol statistics are that 1 in 5 illegal aliens are apprehended and arrested. Other estimates suggest it is much higher. These numbers are obviously wildy inconsistent with each other, by as much as an order of magnitude.

Apprehensions along the southern border make up about 97-98% of the total apprehensions. Most of those apprehended near the southern border are Mexicans. Statistics are kept of those apprehended near the southern border who are "Other Than Mexicans" or "OTM's". The number of OTM's apprehended near the southern border has been clearly and dramatically increasing from 28,598 in 2000 to 65,814 in 2004. By another estimate over 155,000 non-Mexican individuals were apprehended trying to enter the United States along the Southwest border in fiscal year 2005.

As of 2005, just over 80 miles of federally enforced barriers and fencing were at strategic points on the border, mainly in Texas and California. Operation Gatekeeper, which sealed much of the San Diego border with 14 miles of fencing and stadium lighting. A 10-foot-tall

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