Posted on 10/01/2007 3:26:30 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
McALLEN, Texas — The first public forum of a new state border security group Monday turned into a one-sided referendum on the federal government's planned border fence, with local and state officials agreeing the structure will do little to stop illegal immigration.
But the Border Security Council told frustrated local officials that they were virtually helpless to stop the federal project to build hundreds of miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress has budgeted $1.2 million for the fences.
Instead, state officials said they wanted to secure the border by stopping drug and human trafficking and terror-related activities.
"The idea of fences is to keep terrorists from our country. I say that fences do not make arrests," McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez told the eight of the eleven members of the council who attended the meeting, the first of three this week in border cities.
Rodriguez said the money being spent on the new fence should instead pay for more Border Patrol agents.
But state officials said that wasn't their department.
"We have nothing to do with immigration. We are not building a fence here. We are not stopping immigration. We are focused on border security and economic security," said Secretary of State Phil Wilson, one of the council's members.
"I differ with you sir," Rodriguez said.
The Legislature created the Border Security Council earlier this year as part of a $110 million bill for border security efforts among multiple state agencies. Some of that money will be used for grants to local law enforcement agencies.
The council is supposed to advise Gov. Rick Perry on how to allocate the border security grants and develop accountability standards for the money. It is also holding meetings Tuesday in Laredo and Wednesday in El Paso.
"The council has no jurisdiction but we're all concerned about" the fence, said Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos, who led the panel.
Many of the 11 speakers during Monday's meeting told the council they also needed more money for police officers and better equipment at the border.
"The fence is yesterday's solution for tomorrow's problem. A fence is not going to work. It's not the solution," said Steve McCraw, state homeland security director.
Monica Weisberg Stewart, representing a group of local border officials, said more infrastructure, new technology and increased manpower are needed to help secure the border.
"Our nation's focus, or one might say obsession, with keeping Mexicans out of the United States has taken away our focus to keep out people who truly want to do our country harm," said Stewart of the Texas Border Coalition.
Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada and other city officials planned to meet Tuesday to discuss what they can do to stop the fence from being built on city property.
Since a blueprint of the fence construction was leaked earlier this year, local officials in the Rio Grande Valley, the most populated part of the Texas-Mexico border, have been angry about the prospects and are planning an organized opposition. In addition to hurting diplomatic relations with Mexico and damaging the cross-border economy, it could also damage ecosystems and cut wildlife off from the only source of fresh water in the region.
But earlier Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told The Associated Press that the fence would actually be better for the environment because illegal immigrants degrade areas along the border with waste and garbage.
Chertoff said the department exceeded its goal to complete 150 miles of fencing along the Mexican border by the end of the 2007 fiscal year, which was Sunday.
The U.S. government plans to complete 370 miles of fencing and put 200 miles of vehicle barriers on the southwest border by the end of 2008.
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Associated Press writer Eileen Sullivan contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
We are doomed!/s
The fence is a force multiplier. It just reduces manpower requirements.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
If fences and walls don't work, then why is the White House and almost every prison and jail surrounded by them?
The focus of this legislation (thankfully!) is not "wildlife" or "ecosystems."
As for the dry observation that our enforcing American immigration law could result in our "hurting diplomatic relations with Mexico," the obverse of this--i.e. that our willfully ignoring our own laws would ingratiate us with a country that evidently does not recognize our national sovereignty--is such an unserious thought as to be unworthy of comment.
In seconds one can google photos of border fences from all over the world that not only work, but work well. A double chain link fence topped with razor wire and accompanied by patrols armed with automatic weapons is surprisingly effective. The anti-fence individuals in the above article simply don’t think the US should have a border or enforce immigration. It is that simple.
Mexico controls its own southern border with military patrols. We should do the same.
Let’s build it and see LOL.
And of course he will use the 1.5 million in a way that will stop illegals...........new car for him, new laptops for his staff, new offices etc etc for HSL.......
Screw these dumbass LEO’s and their Goobermint shadows.....
Build the fence.......
Triple the number of Border patrol agents......
Cut foreign aid to Mexico and Canada if they takle no action to secure their side of the border.......
Fine employers who employ illegals 10k per day per illegal......sugar ant theory. clean up the goodies and vermin will seek food elsewhere.
Post a bounty on those who hire illegals. Its got to be cheaper than us paying for the social services, hospitals, jails, etc. of the trash that they are attracting.
Why do I use the word trash? Simply put, if you’re a wanted Mexican criminal, where do you go to get away from the Federales? El Norte. If you’re sick and since Mexican doctors won’t treat you if you can’t pay, where do you go? El Norte. And so on.
You got it right. Boats don’t swim but they can keep your feet dry !!!
I bet that’s what they said about Interstate-10 & 20, can’t be done.
Well, you see (you know) that it will work on a couple of levels, more enforcement and an armed response to criminal activity would carry it to the next level.
What we are hearing from via this conference is the border and Rio Grande Valley contingent standing to gain more from continued ILLEGAL immigration and new funds for congtinued NON enforcement.
how will these politicians get their kickbacks from the Coytes if they go someplace else!
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