Posted on 07/02/2007 11:21:31 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
LAREDO — A small portion of fencing along the Rio Grande completed here in 2005 offers glimpses into what might be in store for broader swaths of the Rio Grande Valley if a longer proposed border fence is built.
While the barrier along the wider Rio Grande Valley probably wouldn’t look like the 8-foot-tall, black-painted, wrought iron, decorative fencing at Laredo Community College, the existing fence was completed with some of the same purposes in mind — namely thwarting undocumented immigrants and drug smugglers.
Completed in 2005 by military engineers, the roughly mile-long barrier connects the south and north ends of the school’s 200-acre main campus. Stone walls enclose the other sides of the college, which enrolls about 8,000 students a semester and is on land previously occupied by a fort.
The fence is topped with spiked bars that curve out toward Mexico. A pre-existing dirt access road runs just outside the fence, followed by brush, mesquite trees and buildings in the distance in Mexico. A U.S. Border Patrol helicopter flew over the area on a recent day.
Before the fence was erected, undocumented migrants would routinely cross the main campus property, which lies just east of the Rio Grande, to get to the railroad tracks to head north to look for work. Generally, these have not caused many problems, according to the head of the college.
“Once every 10 years someone might steal some clothing from a clothesline,” said college president Ramón H. Dovalina, whose last day in the office before retirement was scheduled for May 31. He headed the college for 12 years.
Some students had been assaulted and robbed down at the river flood plane, he said, but he said he thinks those incidents were done by locals rather than Mexican immigrants.
But drug smugglers have used the campus as a staging point for marijuana shipments, he said.
“We had problems with drug smugglers,” he said. Shortly before the fence was built, smugglers brought across seven or eight large bags of marijuana, he said. They hid them in the college’s tennis courts until the bags could be loaded onto SUVs near the student housing area.
A similar incident happened after the fence was erected, he said.
“So the fence really is not a deterrent in a lot of ways,” he said.
However, because of the college’s proximity to the river “there have always been a lot of crossers,” he said. But now the fence slows them down so Border Patrol can locate them, or it forces crossers to each end of the fence, he said.
Before the fence he would see migrants crossing through campus at least once a week, some in groups of two to three and some in bunches of as many as 12 to 13, he said. After the fence was erected he’s only seen a woman with a baby, who was stopped by the fence and caught by Border Patrol, he said.
The college has had a good relationship with Border Patrol, which maintained a dirt road along the path where the fence was eventually built, Dovalina said. The agency approached the college about building a fence; the college thought it was a good idea and gave its blessing.
Aside from migrants and smugglers, the college decided to allow the fence because it was having problems with Border Patrol chasing crossers though campus property, tearing up soil, Dovalina said. “By building a fence you force the Border Patrol agents to use only the roads that existed,” he said.
The Border Patrol’s presence on the campus was almost as disruptive as that of illegal crossers, said Carlos X. Carrillo, chief patrol agent of the Laredo sector of U.S. Border Patrol.
“That’s why it was so important to collaborate on this issue,” he said.
Before the fence was built, the sector would get two to three telephone calls a week from the college regarding illegal border crossers, he said.
“That has gone literally to no calls a week,” he said. “It’s actually served its function.”
Some critics have said the broader proposed border fencing would not be an effective deterrent for undocumented immigrants determined to work in the United States, where wages are often higher than in Mexico. Some in the Valley’s agriculture, ecotourism and retail industries also are concerned that the proposed fence would put a damper on business.
But there hasn’t been an impact on Laredo commerce from the fence at the community college, said Dennis E. Nixon, president and CEO of International Bank of Commerce–Laredo and chairman and CEO of its parent International Bancshares Corp.
However, a broader fence along the border would be problematic, said Nixon, who is also chairman of the Alliance for Security and Trade, a Laredo-based organization that opposes a border fence.
Rather, the Rio Grande is an adequate deterrent and should be cleared to allow U.S. Border Patrol more access and visibility, he said.
“Back in medieval days, a moat was a perfectly acceptable barrier,” he said.
Los dos Laredos ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
“Is the fence a deterrent or not? You decide.”
I wonder why they have one around the white house if they’re as ineffective as the OBL claims they are.
Its a start.
We should follow up with mine fields, machine gun towers, regular patrols, quick-reaction forces and helicopter gunships.
Sounds like the head of the college has learned very well in how to “sit on a fence”.
Been wondering the same thing myself........
Perhaps they should remove that fence. It just makes the citizens of DC feel bad about themselves.
ping
ping
Great idea. And station BP agents at the ends of the fence to catch all those people going around it. Or, station them in all of the open areas between segments of fence/wall, so that you finally gain a sealed border.
Mine fields, blah blah... around a college campus? You afraid of the students, or are the students afraid of the Border Patrol agents who used to drive across the campus?
Geeze, do people actually read the articles or do they just see words like “Mexico” and “border” and just go into a fugue state?
BUMP!
Demand a border fence! Build it NOW!! Beef up the border patrol and close our borders!
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Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!
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So, reading throught his article, it looks like Don Dovalina doesn't think the fence accomplished anything except keeping those nasty ol' Border Patrol agents out.
'Bout time he retired.
Pity the Rio's not twice as wide and three times as deep.
” “The Border Patrol’s presence on the campus was almost as disruptive as that of illegal crossers, said Carlos X. Carrillo, chief patrol agent of the Laredo sector of U.S. Border Patrol.
“That’s why it was so important to collaborate on this issue,” he said.
Before the fence was built, the sector would get two to three telephone calls a week from the college regarding illegal border crossers, he said.
“That has gone literally to no calls a week,” he said. “It’s actually served its function.” “
The border fence is a deterrent to giving education to hispanics, since now the border crossers don’t end up on campus of an educational institution. Clearly a sign of nativism, xenophobia, etc.
Maybe if we renamed the border fence a ‘border condom’ the liberals would start appreciating it more.
“Pity the Rio’s not twice as wide and three times as deep.”
Put in a wall?
Bump this thread...
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