El Cenizo (Texas) council to meet with 'We Build the Wall', paving way to border barrier

Laredo Morning Times ^ | August 19, 2019 | Maria Salas

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At Wednesday's El Cenizo City Council meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to have a meeting with an organization that was started through a crowdfunding webpage to build privately funded sections of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.

El Cenizo City Commissioner Salvador Hernandez posted an agenda item to have a meeting with the organization We Build The Wall to discuss future planning to construct a barrier on the end of the riverbank picnic area in the city.

"(We Build the Wall) will be in charge of putting up the barrier, cleaning the area, putting cameras and making it safe for the residents to be down (at the riverbanks)," Hernandez said. "I know that it's a big issue. People don't use the picnic area because they don't feel comfortable and that barrier would make the city safer."

In his conversations with Border Patrol agents, Hernandez said he's been told that the people who are trying to cross over are people that want to bring narcotics. He said that according to what Border Patrol agents have told him, El Cenizo is the main point of narcotics.

"It is more than illegal people just trying to cross here," Hernandez said. "I am not against immigration. I am not against people wanting to come to the country. I am looking to protect my residents."

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Small town on the border, just a few miles South of Laredo.

Laredo should be high on next year's priority list, if money comes through. But for now, Laredo is the biggest city on the border without significant barrier. It is likely to catch a bunch of traffic diverted by the big wall building effort underway in the neighboring Rio Grande Valley Sector of the border.