A once radical idea to build a 2,000 mile steel and wire fence on the U.S.-Mexican border is gaining momentum amid warnings that terrorists can easily sneak into the country.

"You have to be able to enforce your borders," says California Rep. Duncan Hunter, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He`s proposing a fence from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas. "It`s no longer just an immirgration issue. It`s now a national security issue."

Fencing the border, originally proposed in the debate over how to stop illegal immigration, is controversial.

Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar says is makes more sense to use a mix of additional agents, better surveillance and tougher enforcement of immigration laws--and fences.

But Hunter points to the experience in San Diego, where the number of illegal immigrants arrested is one-sixth of what it was before the fence was built.

"People have made stupid editorial comments about the Great Wall of China," he says, "but the only thing that has worked is that fence."

I WAANNA FENCE!!! LMAO

why not a wall instead? lol