The border wall along the US Mexico border. America's shame and an insult to our neighbors to the south
The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday the provision, which would have added 300 miles to current border fencing, is no longer part of a $42.8 billion spending bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Tunnel discovered within 100 yards of the US Border in Mexicali BC by Mexican Federal Police
Police arrested eight men Monday afternoon, who are believed to be involved with digging a tunnel that was headed towards Calexico, Ca. The men were found on a corner house located on 134 Callejon Madero, just 2 blocks south of the border. Currently, they are being detained at the local police department in Mexicali, Mexico. At about 2 p.m. police says a concerned citizen called police and said there was suspicious active in the home. Minutes later police moved in to find 8 men digging a tunnel which was headed north to the United States.
The border wall has gained a new, and very visible opponent. Interviewed by 02138, the magazine about all things Harvard, alumnus Tommy Lee Jones minced no words when asked about his thoughts on the barrier.
The idea of a fence between El Paso and Brownsville bears all the credibility and seriousness of flying saucers from Mars or leprechauns. Or any manner of malicious, paranoid superstition. In other words, it’s bullshit.
(T)he talk is worth headlines, the talk is worth attention, and that might lead to votes. It’s a predatory approach to democracy by those who would instill fear and then propose themselves as a solution. It’s very destructive. Very, very destructive. And it’s the perfectly wrong thing to do.
First of all, it won’t work. You can’t build a fence that I cannot get over, through, or under if I want to go to Mexico. In that [border] country, you cannot do it. It’s a complete folly. Ecologically, it’s a complete disaster, and sociologically, it’s a complete disaster. It’s an act of fascist madness.
But that isn’t bad enough, Jones says. What building a border wall is really all about is electoral politics at its most cynical.
And the people who are being appealed to, the voterships that are removed from that country, are being spoken to as if it’s time to fence their backyard so the stray dog doesn’t get in. “OK, let’s just build a fence.” That’s as far removed from reality as can be, and entirely cynical by those who would manipulate these people. It’s a sad day for the democratic process to see people manipulated through fear and insecurity.
Jones’ incisive view is based not on ideology but on life experience. He grew up Midland and lived in San Antonio for three decades.
EL PASO — County commissioners are opposing construction of a wall along the nation’s southern border with a resolution.
The El Paso County Commissioners Court voted 3-1 Monday in favor of a resolution that calls for stopping the building of the border wall and says local law enforcement officials should not enforce federal immigration laws.
The resolution also emphasizes placing a moratorium on immigration raids, ensuring the enforcement of labor laws and civil protection regardless of a worker’s immigration status and stopping programs that criminalize immigrants.
Commissioner Veronica Escobar said the commissioners aren’t advocating having open borders or not enforcing immigration laws with the vote.
“It’s very important we tell the federal government we want a voice in policies that impact our daily lives,” Escobar said. “If we allow federal or state policymakers to create policy that impacts us without expressing our own concerns, we are not doing our constituents justice.”
Commissioner Miguel Teran, who put the item on the agenda, said some current immigration proposals are based on racism.
“Nine-eleven (the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001) came in from the north, but we’re not building walls over there. We’re building them here,” he said.
The vote was preceded by mostly favorable comments about the resolution, which was first presented in another form last week by advocates of immigrant rights.
“You’re joining the ranks of many communities across the country that are saying we’re not going to be part of this anti-immigrant movement,” said County Attorney Jose Rodriguez.
Two people spoke against the resolution. Commissioner Dan Haggerty voted against it.
“If it’s not your job to enforce immigration laws, by God it’s not your job to hinder the enforcement of immigration laws,” Armando Cardoza said. “If you support this resolution, all you do is kick America right in the crotch,” he said.
The fence is intended to help secure the border from illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and terrorism.
A coalition of Texas border mayors and county executives stretching from El Paso to Brownsville oppose building of the border wall. Residents don’t want the fence cutting through their land and say it will keep them, livestock and wildlife from the life-sustaining river.
Good for these Commissioner to be taking the correct stand against all the hype and hysteria this debate has generated.
Local landowners and politicians say they are being ignored by officials in Washington with regards to the proposed construction of a border fence – again.Tuesday, the White House announced President Bush was threatening to veto a House homeland security bill that mandated considering local input on the construction of the proposed fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. According to the Associated Press, the administration said the mandate for local input would “serve as an impediment to gaining control of the border.”
Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas considered the proposed veto a disgrace.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “In other words, we don’t have a vote on the border?”
Salinas added that not only is the path of neglect being traveled by Washington a detriment to the democratic way of life, but the entire fence proposal is equal to a dishonor.
“The wall of shame is exactly what they want to build,” he said. “I invite every member of the Senate that has never been to Laredo, Texas, to come and see us.”
Joseph Hein, a local schoolteacher who sits on the Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee and owns a 580-acre ranch that sits on the banks of the river, said Washington policymakers are trying to regulate a part of the country they have little knowledge about.
“The best way (to put it) is, if you were to give me the opportunity to make decisions for New York, or Wyoming,” he said. “Unless you’re really there and you know what’s going on, you’re making decisions without having factual knowledge of the area.”
Hein said Washington is under the impression that people opposed to the fence are against secure borders, which is inaccurate. He said that instead, more technology and manpower, what the government has dubbed a “virtual fence,” is the answer. He also said he felt the fence proposal is financially motivated more than it is a means of security.
“Any fence you put up in the area is going to need repair,” he said. “Whoever gets the contact is going to get super-rich.”
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, an advocate for the consideration of local input, has not been swayed by the length of the debate.
“We should not have Washington telling us how to deal with border security,” he said Thursday.
In a letter sent last month to Rep. David Price, D-N.C., chairman of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Cuellar suggested that the addition of specific language to the committee’s Homeland Security Appropriations bill. The letter states the language “speaks to the importance of maximizing cost-effectiveness, local consultation, minimizing intrusion on local communities, as well as consideration of terrain and existing natural barriers.”
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who voted for the fence’s construction last year, said he was disappointed by Bush’s statements.
“In Washington, people tend to view things as a one-size-fits-all and to look at local and state participation as interference,” he said. “I don’t feel that way at all.” The senator also said that the difference in terrain among various border states needs to be considered by the Bush administration because Texas, Arizona and California are very different.
Cuellar said the senator’s comments indicate the that the border fence is not a straight-party issue, although he did say Republicans have authored four amendments that seek to strike out any language mandating local consultation.
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U.S.-Mexico border fence is deja vu all over again
One of the most interesting things about years passing and thinking that we progress from year to year is finding out how little some things really change.
An Associated Press article out of Washington that appeared in the May 21, 1942, El Paso Herald-Post. The headline
“Senate Okays $50,000 For E.P. Border Fence.”
“The senate voted $50,000 today to build a 25-mile long barbed-wire fence along the Mexican border west of El Paso, although Minority Leader McNary questioned the wisdom of using essential materials for such a project.
How does this jibe with our good neighbor policy toward Mexico?’ McNary asked when the item came up as an amendment to a $425,703,000 appropriations bill for the State, Justice and Commerce departments and the federal judiciary.
We want to keep the good neighbor policy on both sides of the border,’ retorted Senator McCarran.
Is the fence supposed to keep out smugglers or cattle?’ McNary asked.
Smugglers,’ McCarran said.
Well,’ said McNary, shaking his head, ‘it must be quite a fence.’
The Senate passed the measure, carrying $204,625,000 more than the House voted, and returned it to the House.
The fence has been sought by immigration and customs authorities for years. It will simplify patrolling the border.”
That was 66 years ago. Wonder what the headlines will read in another 66 years?
Charlie Edgren / El Paso Times Staff
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