McALLEN, Texas – A new map showing President Bush’s planned border fence has riled Rio Grande Valley officials, who say the proposed barrier reneges on assurances that the river would remain accessible to farmers, wildlife and recreation.
City officials in the heavily populated valley had anticipated a “virtual” fence of surveillance cameras and border patrols.
Instead, a Customs and Border Protection map depicts a structure running piecemeal along a 600-mile stretch of Texas from Presidio to Brownsville, a border region where daily life is binational.
“We were given the impression that they were not going to be building walls, that there would be more cameras, surveillance, boots on the ground,” said Mike Allen, head of McAllen Economic Development Corp.
“This is going to seriously affect the farmers,” he said. “They will not have access to water. It’s just going to create bedlam.”
The map was attached to a memo addressed to “Dear Texas Homeland Security Partner.” It outlines a plan to build 370 miles of fence and 200 miles of vehicle barriers, such as concrete barriers, by the end of 2008.
Of the 370 miles of fence, Texas is to have 153, Arizona 129, California 76, and New Mexico 12.
Environmentalists fear the fence will block Rio Grande water access to endangered cats such as ocelots and jaguarundi, and ruin key feeding and resting areas for migratory birds.
Russ Knocke, a spokesman for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, said environmental assessments were being conducted, but border security outweighed such concerns.
“For more than two decades this has been a problem that has been bubbling up,” he said. “There’s an expectation by the American people that we secure our borders.”
Chertoff has already waived requirements to get permits in environmentally sensitive areas in order to expedite construction of the fence, Knocke said.
Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said the fence would also damage the regional economy, which thrives on cross-border commerce.
Mexicans cross daily to make bank deposits, buy real estate, shop and work – activities Salinas said would be threatened by the ill feelings generated in Mexico by the fence.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
