Will Private Donations, Convict Labor Build Arizona Border Fence?

The federal government has virtually pulled the plug on a high tech border fence. A project in Texas to place security video cameras on private land has proved a bust. But, using public donations and cheap convict labor, an Arizona lawmaker is working to build a fence to secure the state porous border with Mexico against illegal immigrants. A state law that goes into effect July 20 allows Arizona to build a barrier on the state 370-mile border with Mexico, provided it can raise sufficient private donations and persuade public and private landowners to let them build it on their land. In addition to questions over the funding for the fence, a state senator said it was not clear if the project would get permission to build from landowners, including the U.S. federal government. The U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Interior, and the Department of Agriculture all administer federal lands on the border. Then there is the Tohono Oodham Indian reservation, which has sovereign powers independent of the state.