Obama urging him to halt any further construction of the fence , one of the many border - and immigration-related political debates that have carried over from the Bush administration . To the Border Patrol agents stationed in Yuma Sector , there is no debate . To them , the fence is a success story . From a Vietnam War-vintage Huey helicopter , pilot Chad Smith points across the border to Mexico 's Highway 2 and then to the barriers that help stop illegal immigrants from making a sprint into southern Arizona . `` You can see the triple-layer fencing , '' Smith tells us as he lowers the helicopter and hovers over what was once a major crossing point for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers . `` Steel fence right on the border , the pedestrian fence about 90 feet north of that , and then the chain-link fence with the barbed wire . '' The fence has three layers in areas where there is an urban neighborhood on the Mexican side . Smith is among those who say their flights are less hectic now because while you can still clearly see the trails in the sand and in
On CNN 's `` State of the Union , '' CNN host and chief national correspondent John King goes outside the Beltway to report on the issues affecting communities across the country . King recently traveled to Arizona , to explore the debate over how to control illegal immigration . A fence separates the United States from Mexico in the U.S. Border Patrol 's Yuma Sector in San Luis , Arizona . SAN LUIS , Arizona -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Yuma desert is below : San Luis , Arizona , to one side and San Luis , Mexico , to the other . On this clear day , the Colorado River is glistening , birds playfully circling over what any map defines as the U.S.-Mexico border in this area . But from a helicopter above , the border is a steel barrier that stands out along the riverbank and against the desert sands , and is the dividing line that gets the most attention from those crying to cross illegally and those who believe recent efforts to bolster U.S. border security have been riddled with wrong choices . Just this past week , eight Democrats in Congress wrote President