DHS more and more seems like the bumbling Barney Fife of the government- eager to get stuff done, always strutting around as if it's smarter than what it is, and having to be rescused by smarter people. Here's the deal. Apparently when DHS decided to put in a barrier, it didn't do what ANYONE with sense on a border with another country would do.. doublecheck the property lines. Lazy DHS decided to take the word, apparently, of a man whose fence had been on Mexico property for a long time (and who was probably ticked that he now had to give back that extra land.)

When the barrier was built in 2000, the project was believed to cost about $500,000 a mile. Estimates to uproot and replace it range from $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Michael Friel, the spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said the barrier was "built on what was known to be the international boundary at the time." He acknowledged the method used was "less precise than it is today."

The International Boundary and Water Commission, a joint Mexican-American group that administers the 2,000-mile border, said the border has never changed and is marked every few miles by tall concrete or metal markers.

This part cracks me up.

Sally Spener, a commission spokeswoman in El Paso, said the agency is generally consulted for construction projects to ensure that treaties are followed. The commission is working with the Department of Homeland Security "to develop a standardized protocol" for building fences and barriers.

heh. People have been getting their property lines marked out for years, decades, even. But DHS has to *develop a standardized protocol*. Duh!