Rep Gabrille Giffords' office welcomes $24.4 M contract to repair/maintian border fence

U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS’ OFFICE WELCOMES $24.4 MILLION CONTRACT TO REPAIR, MAINTAIN BORDER FENCE
July 22, 2011

Also today, first woman takes over command in Nogales at Border Patrol’s largest station

TUCSON – The office of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords welcomed today’s announcement by the Department of Homeland Security that a $24.4 million contract has been awarded for maintaining the fence and other infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Also today, a member of Giffords’ staff is in Nogales, Arizona, to attend a change-of-command ceremony at the nation’s largest U.S. Border Patrol station.

In Washington today, DHS awarded a contract to maintain and repair fencing along the international border. The contract also includes maintenance of gates, roads, bridges, drainage systems, lighting and electrical systems as well as removal of vegetation and debris.

The contract covers maintenance of facilities along the entire length of the Arizona border with Mexico. The initial phase of the contract is worth $7,753,963, but with options it will be worth $24,408,330.

“Congresswoman Giffords has been a consistent voice for increased border security,” said Pia Carusone, chief of staff for Giffords. “Now that we have fencing and other necessary infrastructure along the border, it is essential that it be properly and fully maintained.”

Border security was one of the first issues Giffords addressed after taking office in January 2007. Just a few days after being sworn in, she told her colleagues in the House, “We need to increase border security using modern-era technology – radar, drones and electronic surveillance.”

Her call for improved border security increased after Douglas-area rancher Rob Krentz was killed in March 2010. Giffords paid tribute to Krentz on the House floor. No one has been arrested in connection with his murder, but it is suspected that the killer entered the United States illegally then fled back into Mexico.

Last summer, Giffords led congressional efforts to approve an emergency $600 million appropriation that included funding for more Border Patrol agents and surveillance technology for Arizona’s border with Mexico. That funding was signed into law by President Obama in August 2010.

This afternoon, Ron Barber, district director for Giffords, is attending a change-of-command ceremony at the Border Patrol station in Nogales. Leslie M. Lawson is being formally installed as patrol agent in charge, making her the first woman to lead the nation’s largest Border Patrol station.

Former top agent Al White was reassigned in June 2010 and several interim agents have been in charge since then.

Lawson graduated from the Border Patrol Academy in 1994. After that, she was assigned to California, Puerto Rico, Vermont and Washington, D.C. Since 2009, Lawson had been the U.S. Customs and Border Protection attaché to the U.S. embassy in Mexico City until May when she was assigned to Nogales.


http://giffords.house.gov/2011/07/us-rep-gabrielle-giffords-office-welcomes-244-million-contract-to-repair-maintain-border-fence.shtml