US | Mexican border Good Fences Make Good Borders New designs aim to exclude, but not offend, Mexican neighbors By Sam Gale Rosen Posted Nov 16, 2007 1:45 PM CST Copied A Border Patrol vehicle drove past a portion of the border fence, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, in El Paso, Texas. The fence had been welded with bars, right, to prevent people from going through it. (AP Photo/Victor Calzada) (Associated Press) Pity the designers of the new border fence with Mexico: They'd been asked to come up with a design that will keep out the most determined immigrants but doesn't read as unfriendly. The government has mandated the fence be "aesthetically pleasing" to folks in Mexico, who are, after all, allies. "They want to make it seem like you could shake hands through the fence," says one political science professor. Shake hands, maybe, but bust through with a blowtorch, no. In a recent 9-week "fence lab," the LA Times reports, engineers tested designs by having border-patrol agents try to get through them with typical smuggler tools like saws and ladders. Unfortunately, they penetrated pretty quickly. "I think they were impressed by the inventiveness," says one pretend coyote. Read These Next Mexico says it killed top drug trafficker. BBC apologizes after racial slur heard at BAFTAs. The author of an acclaimed novel is being sued over its contents. Middle East nations rip Huckabee's talk of Israeli takeover. Report an error