SAN DIEGO -- Local congressman Duncan Hunter said cross-border smuggling could drop if 700 miles of new border fence is built as soon as possible.

“We need to start production of that fence. We’re going to have obstruction in bureaucracy. Some of the officials in Homeland Security think we need radars and sensors, which you may need, but there is no substitute for impediment. We have to have that fence,” said Hunter.

Hunter said San Diego’s border fence cut smuggling in half and lowered crime rates.

The new fence is planned for the U.S.-Mexico border from California to Texas.

Mexico’s foreign secretary is threatening to take the matter to the United Nations, saying the fence is a bilateral issue.

President George W. Bush has said he would sign the border fence bill into law.