Federal Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she won't start any new border construction projects while her department reviews how those projects were chosen. Homeland Security already has signed many construction contracts, including some for low-priority projects at tiny border checkpoints in North Dakota and Montana.
North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan says Homeland Security officials are treating the economic stimulus like a bottomless pit of taxpayer money. He issued a statement today calling on the Obama administration to suspend its plan to spend hundreds of millions on border checkpoints.
Dorgan says the plans include money for new ports of entry at 22 northern border sites, including nine in North Dakota. He says each facility would cost at least $11 million.
Dorgan says it's wrong to spend that much money for new facilities at ports that see only a few vehicles each hour. He says the port of Antler, for example, gets only two trucks and 36 passenger cars a day, yet the plans call for it to be demolished and rebuilt for $14 million.
