North Country Times
December 31, 2008
Border Field State Park in Imperial Beach has long been a meeting place for people separated by the nation's immigration laws, but a new fence being built on the U.S.-Mexico border site threatens to end that tradition, local human rights advocates say.
A group of elected officials recently joined an effort by those advocates to halt construction of the fence in that area.But immigration officials and other local lawmakers say the new barrier is needed to keep smugglers from exploiting the aging and deteriorating steel fence.
"Halting the construction of infrastructure at the park would only make the area more difficult to manage," said Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon. "This project ... is an important part of our efforts to control the border."
The plaza and an obelisk monument on the border were dedicated in 1971 by then-first lady Patricia Nixon as a symbol of friendship between the two countries. The plaza sits on a mesa overlooking the beach, called Monument Mesa, which is the southwestern most part of the U.S.-Mexico border.
On the Mexican side of the border, there is a bullring called Plaza Monumental de Toros and a lighthouse.Within the park there is a half-acre plaza called "Friendship Park" where family and friends who are unable to travel across the border meet to talk and visit. They often exchange caresses and kisses through holes cut in the steel-mesh and chain-link fence.
For some people, it is the only safe and legal way to see and touch their loved ones. A secondary fence will create an empty space between the two barriers that could prevent those exchanges in the future, human rights activists say.
U.S. Border Patrol officials say they plan to build a gate on the second fence that would allow people to continue meeting each other. The gate would be open and watched by Border Patrol agents during the day and closed at night, but the design has not been finalized.The secondary fence will create a no-man's land between the two barriers that immigration authorities say is intended to prevent or slow illegal crossings.
In April, the Bush administration waived more than 30 environmental laws and regulations to finish building 670 miles of fence along the Southwest U.S. border, including the segment at Friendship Park and another a few miles east in an area called Smuggler's Gulch.
Michael Fisher, chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector, said in an interview last month that the department is looking at various designs for a gate that would allow people to continue visiting each other across the border at Friendship Park during certain times of the day.
But some critics said the agency should allow people to participate in the design process.
"We need to ensure Friendship Park lives up to its name, a place that fosters human relations in spite of fences, where families can share meals and greet each other," said John Fanestil, executive director of the Foundation for Change, a San Diego-based activist group that promotes human rights.
Human and immigrant rights groups, including the American Friends Service Committee and the Border Angels, have organized several protests in recent months at the park calling attention to the new fence.
Last month, a group of local elected officials joined them, co-signing a letter to Barack Obama's presidential transition team asking for construction to stop.The group included Reps. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, and Susan Davis, D-San Diego; state Sens. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, and Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego; San Diego City Councilwoman Donna Frye; and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, among others.
"Direction to DHS (Department of Homeland Security) contractors halting all border fence construction on (Friendship Park) would send a powerful message to the peoples of the U.S.-Mexico border region," according to the letter. "It would also give new staff at DHS time to solicit new proposals for the redesign of security measures that will ensure continued public access to Friendship Park."
Border Patrol officials, who have a station near the park and watch the park on a regular basis, said that while much of what happens there are innocent family gatherings, there are those who try to take advantage of the gaps in the border.
In some segments of the fence, the barrier has been cut and repaired so many times that it has become ineffective at stopping illegal activity, including smuggling drugs, officials say.
"I fully respect what goes on in that park. It's unique because it is somewhat open," Fisher said. "Unfortunately, the smugglers exploit that as well. We have documented cases where people are selling false documents through the fence. They are selling drugs through the fence. They are smuggling people and babies through the area."
A spokesman for Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, said the new fence is needed and should not be stopped. Bilbray, who served as mayor of Imperial Beach in the 1980s, has been a long-standing advocate for building a border fence in San Diego County.
"Seems like everyone is looking for an excuse not to build the (new) fence," Bilbray spokesman Kurt Bardella said. "National security is something that should never be compromised."
William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, a North Carolina-based group that advocates for stricter immigration controls, said critics of the border fence simply do not want immigration enforcement.
"They don't want borders," Gheen said. "That's why we call them the open-border lobby."
http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2008/12/31/news/sandiego/z73edd918dfd554538825752f00708d56.txt
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
FINISHING THE WALL: County says project 'substantially' done
The Monitor
December 26, 2008
The border fence is nearly done in Hidalgo County.
The vertical posts required by the federal government for border security are in place along almost all of the 20.26 miles of levee-fence, and the concrete barriers intended for flood protection are up in more than 80 percent of the project.All that remains in those places is welding steel caps onto the posts, sodding the ground along the fence and putting down caliche roads for U.S. Border Patrol agents.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security declared four segments of the county's levee-fence substantially complete in the past month, and county officials say the remaining six segments should be done by Jan. 31.
That timeline would mean Hidalgo County would barely miss the upcoming Wednesday deadline set by Congress when it passed the 2006 act mandating construction of 670 miles of fence along the southwest United States, but the levee-fence would be finished days after President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Obama said in early December that he wants to evaluate what's working along the border before considering whether to finish what remains to be built of the fence when he takes office.
Along most of the border, there may not be much left to reconsider.
ALMOST DONE
Nowhere has construction on the border fence been slower than in the Rio Grande Valley.
Homeland Security has met widespread opposition in Starr and Cameron counties as it contended with hundreds of condemnation lawsuits and flood-control issues along the Rio Grande.
But progress in Hidalgo County has been steady since the department compromised with county officials earlier this year to fold levee improvements and fence construction into one project.
Under the levee-fence plan, Hidalgo County agreed to contribute $44 million to the project - or about 24 percent of its cost - with the county's Washington representatives promising to support a bill in Congress that would reimburse the county.
With the funding in place, Homeland Security agreed to incorporate its fence into the International Boundary and Water Commission's levees to bypass land acquisition battles and make improvements to levees the IBWC claims are unsafe.
Comprised of a U.S. Section and a Mexican Section, the IBWC is responsible for coming up with bi-national solutions to issues that arise during the application of treaties between the United States and Mexico regarding flood control and other issues in the border region. The U.S. Section is a federal government agency and is responsible for maintaining the flood control system in the Valley.
The levee-fence that has been built in Hidalgo County incorporates the Border Patrol's tactical requirements - a wall of posts sunk deep into the earth and rising up to 18 feet from the ground - into concrete levees meant to keep at bay a swollen Rio Grande and expensive flood insurance premiums.
Hidalgo County officials said throughout construction that they were opposed to the border fence for social and economic reasons, but they argued it was best to partner with Homeland Security to make improvements to the levees.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last year that parts of Hidalgo County south of Expressway 83 would be designated a special flood hazard area if the levees were not fixed, potentially costing property owners up to $150 million in annual premiums.
With the 20 miles of levee-fence and improvements to an additional 13 miles of regular levees scheduled to be complete by mid-January, the western portion of Hidalgo County will be protected from Rio Grande flooding, said Godfrey Garza, the general manager of Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1.
About 20 miles of river levee on the eastern side of the county still need improvements to avoid the FEMA flood designation.
"For us, it's a levee project. It's all we care about," Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said last week. "Hidalgo County is not in the business of American immigration. We're in the business of protecting our residents from floods and protecting our economic development."
OBLIGATED?
Despite starting construction a month behind schedule as the county reached a final agreement with Homeland Security on the levee-fence plan, the construction crews building the structure have run into few problems, Garza said. Permit issues relating to gas lines did slow construction, however, on two segments near Peñitas that will be the last to be finished.
The only border fence segment in Hidalgo County not scheduled for completion by the end of January is one Hidalgo County isn't building.
Homeland Security halted a two-mile segment of standalone fencing near Los Ebanos in November because of flooding concerns.The department also halted about 13 miles of fence in Starr County because of similar concerns.
The biggest question mark in border fence construction lies with Hidalgo County's neighbor to the east.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced this week that it had completed 526 miles of the border fence by Dec. 12, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said 600 miles should be complete by the time Obama takes office.
Of the remaining 70 miles of fencing expected to be left along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, almost 40 of it will be in Cameron County.
The work in that county has stalled as landowners fought condemnation suits in court and its government tried, unsuccessfully, to mimic Hidalgo County's levee-fence.
Homeland Security said Cameron County's proposal to combine the Rio Grande's levees with the planned border fence was not feasible with the International Boundary and Water Commission already planning levee improvements in the Cameron County area.The decision to reject Cameron County's request also came back to the issue of funding: Hidalgo County went to the feds' table with $100 million in bond money, but Cameron County did not offer any funding in its proposal.
With the levee-fence alternative dead in Cameron County, Homeland Security awarded three contracts worth a combined $37 million to build the 15- to 18-foot-tall steel barrier.
Border fence opponents took Obama's appointment of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be homeland security secretary as a ray of hope that fence construction would be halted, and the Cameron County Commissioners Court even took the step of writing a letter to Obama requesting its stoppage.
But Homeland Security officials insist there will still be a fence built along the rest of South Texas' border with Mexico.
"We're still planning to build fence there," CBP spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said. "We've got contracts for them. Once you sign a contract, you're obligated to do that work."
NO REGRETS
A line of 18-foot posts encased in an imposing concrete barrier stretches on for two miles on both sides of the Progreso-Nuevo Progreso International Bridge.
The two segments - a total of about 4.5 miles split only by the bridge that allows American access to an array of touristy goods on the other side of the border - were declared "substantially complete" by Homeland Security earlier this month.
With the levee-fence nearly finished in Hidalgo County, officials said they will turn their focus toward getting reimbursed for the $44 million they invested in the project.
Even with the delays in Cameron County and the slim possibility that a new presidential administration could change course on the fence, Hidalgo County's Salinas said his county made the "hard decision" to partner with Homeland Security on the levee-fence.
"If they were going to spend money in Hidalgo County, we might as well make it a project that's going to hold water," Salinas said. "And that's what we tried to do."
http://www.themonitor.com/news/county_21391___article.html/fence_hidalgo.html
December 26, 2008
The border fence is nearly done in Hidalgo County.
The vertical posts required by the federal government for border security are in place along almost all of the 20.26 miles of levee-fence, and the concrete barriers intended for flood protection are up in more than 80 percent of the project.All that remains in those places is welding steel caps onto the posts, sodding the ground along the fence and putting down caliche roads for U.S. Border Patrol agents.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security declared four segments of the county's levee-fence substantially complete in the past month, and county officials say the remaining six segments should be done by Jan. 31.
That timeline would mean Hidalgo County would barely miss the upcoming Wednesday deadline set by Congress when it passed the 2006 act mandating construction of 670 miles of fence along the southwest United States, but the levee-fence would be finished days after President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Obama said in early December that he wants to evaluate what's working along the border before considering whether to finish what remains to be built of the fence when he takes office.
Along most of the border, there may not be much left to reconsider.
ALMOST DONE
Nowhere has construction on the border fence been slower than in the Rio Grande Valley.
Homeland Security has met widespread opposition in Starr and Cameron counties as it contended with hundreds of condemnation lawsuits and flood-control issues along the Rio Grande.
But progress in Hidalgo County has been steady since the department compromised with county officials earlier this year to fold levee improvements and fence construction into one project.
Under the levee-fence plan, Hidalgo County agreed to contribute $44 million to the project - or about 24 percent of its cost - with the county's Washington representatives promising to support a bill in Congress that would reimburse the county.
With the funding in place, Homeland Security agreed to incorporate its fence into the International Boundary and Water Commission's levees to bypass land acquisition battles and make improvements to levees the IBWC claims are unsafe.
Comprised of a U.S. Section and a Mexican Section, the IBWC is responsible for coming up with bi-national solutions to issues that arise during the application of treaties between the United States and Mexico regarding flood control and other issues in the border region. The U.S. Section is a federal government agency and is responsible for maintaining the flood control system in the Valley.
The levee-fence that has been built in Hidalgo County incorporates the Border Patrol's tactical requirements - a wall of posts sunk deep into the earth and rising up to 18 feet from the ground - into concrete levees meant to keep at bay a swollen Rio Grande and expensive flood insurance premiums.
Hidalgo County officials said throughout construction that they were opposed to the border fence for social and economic reasons, but they argued it was best to partner with Homeland Security to make improvements to the levees.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last year that parts of Hidalgo County south of Expressway 83 would be designated a special flood hazard area if the levees were not fixed, potentially costing property owners up to $150 million in annual premiums.
With the 20 miles of levee-fence and improvements to an additional 13 miles of regular levees scheduled to be complete by mid-January, the western portion of Hidalgo County will be protected from Rio Grande flooding, said Godfrey Garza, the general manager of Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1.
About 20 miles of river levee on the eastern side of the county still need improvements to avoid the FEMA flood designation.
"For us, it's a levee project. It's all we care about," Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said last week. "Hidalgo County is not in the business of American immigration. We're in the business of protecting our residents from floods and protecting our economic development."
OBLIGATED?
Despite starting construction a month behind schedule as the county reached a final agreement with Homeland Security on the levee-fence plan, the construction crews building the structure have run into few problems, Garza said. Permit issues relating to gas lines did slow construction, however, on two segments near Peñitas that will be the last to be finished.
The only border fence segment in Hidalgo County not scheduled for completion by the end of January is one Hidalgo County isn't building.
Homeland Security halted a two-mile segment of standalone fencing near Los Ebanos in November because of flooding concerns.The department also halted about 13 miles of fence in Starr County because of similar concerns.
The biggest question mark in border fence construction lies with Hidalgo County's neighbor to the east.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced this week that it had completed 526 miles of the border fence by Dec. 12, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said 600 miles should be complete by the time Obama takes office.
Of the remaining 70 miles of fencing expected to be left along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, almost 40 of it will be in Cameron County.
The work in that county has stalled as landowners fought condemnation suits in court and its government tried, unsuccessfully, to mimic Hidalgo County's levee-fence.
Homeland Security said Cameron County's proposal to combine the Rio Grande's levees with the planned border fence was not feasible with the International Boundary and Water Commission already planning levee improvements in the Cameron County area.The decision to reject Cameron County's request also came back to the issue of funding: Hidalgo County went to the feds' table with $100 million in bond money, but Cameron County did not offer any funding in its proposal.
With the levee-fence alternative dead in Cameron County, Homeland Security awarded three contracts worth a combined $37 million to build the 15- to 18-foot-tall steel barrier.
Border fence opponents took Obama's appointment of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be homeland security secretary as a ray of hope that fence construction would be halted, and the Cameron County Commissioners Court even took the step of writing a letter to Obama requesting its stoppage.
But Homeland Security officials insist there will still be a fence built along the rest of South Texas' border with Mexico.
"We're still planning to build fence there," CBP spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said. "We've got contracts for them. Once you sign a contract, you're obligated to do that work."
NO REGRETS
A line of 18-foot posts encased in an imposing concrete barrier stretches on for two miles on both sides of the Progreso-Nuevo Progreso International Bridge.
The two segments - a total of about 4.5 miles split only by the bridge that allows American access to an array of touristy goods on the other side of the border - were declared "substantially complete" by Homeland Security earlier this month.
With the levee-fence nearly finished in Hidalgo County, officials said they will turn their focus toward getting reimbursed for the $44 million they invested in the project.
Even with the delays in Cameron County and the slim possibility that a new presidential administration could change course on the fence, Hidalgo County's Salinas said his county made the "hard decision" to partner with Homeland Security on the levee-fence.
"If they were going to spend money in Hidalgo County, we might as well make it a project that's going to hold water," Salinas said. "And that's what we tried to do."
http://www.themonitor.com/news/county_21391___article.html/fence_hidalgo.html
Tensions rise with U.S.-Mexican border fence
USA Today
December 28, 2008
EL PASO — The fence that the U.S. government is erecting along the border with Mexico had been a vague notion to Victor Serrano — until he drove by a new section near his house last month.
An 18-foot-high, steel-mesh structure planted in Jersey barriers stood behind a four-lane boulevard. The view of sprawling Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, was gone.
"I was like, oh, man, I can't believe this is happening," Serrano, 20, says, standing in his yard three blocks from the border. "We're actually going to have a Berlin Wall here."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has installed hundreds of miles of steel fence along the U.S.-Mexico border that stretches 1,934 miles from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas. The $2-billion fence — or "wall," to opponents — is the most visible symbol of stepped-up U.S. efforts to stop illegal border crossings, and the most controversial.
As construction crews have moved into El Paso, a working-class, largely Hispanic city of 600,000 in Texas' western corner, emotions have intensified. Some residents quietly support the fence, saying it will make their city safer and improve conditions for legal El Paso residents. Many others say it will destroy the sense of community the two cities had.
The crews have been greeted with protests and lawsuits seeking to halt building. Local officials are pleading with President-elect Barack Obama to stop the project he voted for in late 2006, or to begin tearing it down.
"It does violence to our sense of community," says El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, whose county has sued the federal government over the fence. "For 400 years, people have been going back and forth across the river. All of a sudden for the first time, you see this major structure separating the communities."
Crossing the border
Fencing already blocks 70% of the 693-mile border in California, Arizona and New Mexico, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Border Patrol and Census Bureau figures.
Much of the border in those states is vacant desert. About half of the fencing is a thigh-high barrier aimed only at stopping vehicles.
A total of 670 miles of fence will be in place by the end of 2008, including sections at the east and west end of Texas' 1,241-mile border with Mexico. In the rest of the state, the Rio Grande will serve as the blockade.
The fence does not stop people from crossing the border legally. Thousands of cars from Juarez line up each day at the three bridges leading to El Paso, where visitors shop boulevards packed with discount stores offering $6 sweaters and $10 jeans.
Nor is fencing new to El Paso. A chain-link fence about 6 feet high has stood for years in the crusty embankment on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, which itself is virtually dry. The fence was useless, Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Ramiro Cordero says.
Cordero plays a surveillance-camera video showing people hauling bales of marijuana into El Paso through a slit in the fence.
Another video shows a pickup suspected of carrying marijuana escaping Border Patrol pursuit by driving through the fence into Juarez.
Five miles outside El Paso, in Sunland Park, N.M., where suburbs fade to desert, a five-strand barbed-wire fence stands in the sand. "This is what protected our country," Cordero says.
A few feet away, the new fence rises out of the desert and extends endlessly into the horizon. The quarter-inch-thick mesh still allows a view of Mexico but is weaved tightly enough to prevent easy climbing.
Cordero says the new fence will not stop people from digging underneath it, driving around it or cutting through it with a blowtorch. Nearly 2,000 people a day are caught trying to sneak into the USA from Mexico, Border Patrol figures show.
But in urban areas, where most of the border is under video surveillance, agents can spot someone trying to climb or cut the fence and have a few extra seconds to catch him before he enters the USA and disappears into a city, Cordero says.
"It makes the job a lot easier when you have that fence," he says.
Dividing communities
In an El Paso neighborhood of small houses and neat lawns next to the border, Oscar Davila walks his two dogs and says the new fence makes him feel safer from the drug-related violence raging in Juarez. "We can stop people from coming here," says Davila, 42, a maintenance worker.
Ruben Alvarado, 55, a custodian whose mother and sister live in Juarez, is skeptical. "To me, Juarez and El Paso are the same city. I don't care how many fences you put up, the people will still try to come over illegally."
Serrano, the El Paso Community College student who recently saw the new fence for the first time, says it takes away some of his pride at being a frontera, a border resident. "What made us proud is that we can easily see Juarez," he says. "With the wall, it's like, are we allowed over there?"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-28-fence-inside_N.htm
December 28, 2008
EL PASO — The fence that the U.S. government is erecting along the border with Mexico had been a vague notion to Victor Serrano — until he drove by a new section near his house last month.
An 18-foot-high, steel-mesh structure planted in Jersey barriers stood behind a four-lane boulevard. The view of sprawling Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, was gone.
"I was like, oh, man, I can't believe this is happening," Serrano, 20, says, standing in his yard three blocks from the border. "We're actually going to have a Berlin Wall here."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has installed hundreds of miles of steel fence along the U.S.-Mexico border that stretches 1,934 miles from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas. The $2-billion fence — or "wall," to opponents — is the most visible symbol of stepped-up U.S. efforts to stop illegal border crossings, and the most controversial.
As construction crews have moved into El Paso, a working-class, largely Hispanic city of 600,000 in Texas' western corner, emotions have intensified. Some residents quietly support the fence, saying it will make their city safer and improve conditions for legal El Paso residents. Many others say it will destroy the sense of community the two cities had.
The crews have been greeted with protests and lawsuits seeking to halt building. Local officials are pleading with President-elect Barack Obama to stop the project he voted for in late 2006, or to begin tearing it down.
"It does violence to our sense of community," says El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, whose county has sued the federal government over the fence. "For 400 years, people have been going back and forth across the river. All of a sudden for the first time, you see this major structure separating the communities."
Crossing the border
Fencing already blocks 70% of the 693-mile border in California, Arizona and New Mexico, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Border Patrol and Census Bureau figures.
Much of the border in those states is vacant desert. About half of the fencing is a thigh-high barrier aimed only at stopping vehicles.
A total of 670 miles of fence will be in place by the end of 2008, including sections at the east and west end of Texas' 1,241-mile border with Mexico. In the rest of the state, the Rio Grande will serve as the blockade.
The fence does not stop people from crossing the border legally. Thousands of cars from Juarez line up each day at the three bridges leading to El Paso, where visitors shop boulevards packed with discount stores offering $6 sweaters and $10 jeans.
Nor is fencing new to El Paso. A chain-link fence about 6 feet high has stood for years in the crusty embankment on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, which itself is virtually dry. The fence was useless, Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Ramiro Cordero says.
Cordero plays a surveillance-camera video showing people hauling bales of marijuana into El Paso through a slit in the fence.
Another video shows a pickup suspected of carrying marijuana escaping Border Patrol pursuit by driving through the fence into Juarez.
Five miles outside El Paso, in Sunland Park, N.M., where suburbs fade to desert, a five-strand barbed-wire fence stands in the sand. "This is what protected our country," Cordero says.
A few feet away, the new fence rises out of the desert and extends endlessly into the horizon. The quarter-inch-thick mesh still allows a view of Mexico but is weaved tightly enough to prevent easy climbing.
Cordero says the new fence will not stop people from digging underneath it, driving around it or cutting through it with a blowtorch. Nearly 2,000 people a day are caught trying to sneak into the USA from Mexico, Border Patrol figures show.
But in urban areas, where most of the border is under video surveillance, agents can spot someone trying to climb or cut the fence and have a few extra seconds to catch him before he enters the USA and disappears into a city, Cordero says.
"It makes the job a lot easier when you have that fence," he says.
Dividing communities
In an El Paso neighborhood of small houses and neat lawns next to the border, Oscar Davila walks his two dogs and says the new fence makes him feel safer from the drug-related violence raging in Juarez. "We can stop people from coming here," says Davila, 42, a maintenance worker.
Ruben Alvarado, 55, a custodian whose mother and sister live in Juarez, is skeptical. "To me, Juarez and El Paso are the same city. I don't care how many fences you put up, the people will still try to come over illegally."
Serrano, the El Paso Community College student who recently saw the new fence for the first time, says it takes away some of his pride at being a frontera, a border resident. "What made us proud is that we can easily see Juarez," he says. "With the wall, it's like, are we allowed over there?"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-28-fence-inside_N.htm
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Public Works Contractor Sukut Construction, Inc. Begins Work on Fence Bordering U.S. and Mexico
(This is a press release from a contractor that is proud of the work that they are doing on the border wall in California's Otay Mountain National Wilderness Area.)
Press Release Newswire
December 23, 2008
Santa Ana, Calif. (PRWEB) December 23, 2008 -- Sukut Construction, Inc. has broken ground on a $11.2 million project to help build a strategic section of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Mexican border fence in the rugged foothills of Otay Mesa.
The project calls for construction of 5.2 miles of border fence and an adjacent access road. Sukut has been subcontracted by Granite Construction for the site development and road construction.
The section of border fence will be constructed at the Otay Mesa illegal border crossing in the foothills above the Tijuana River. The site is south of the city of Dulzura and eight miles from the nearest major road, Highway 94. The remoteness of the location and the steep, rocky terrain make this a popular illegal border crossing, and contribute to the complexity of the job.
"Sukut is California's largest mass excavation company with the equipment and knowledge to successfully complete this type of job," said Sukut Construction, Inc. CEO/President Michael Crawford.
Sukut will begin by widening the 2.5 miles of existing dirt road used by the U.S. Border Patrol to make the route safe for heavy equipment, constructing a 32-foot-wide and 5.2-mile border fence access road. The location's steep grade will require switchback roadway with a maximum grade of 15 percent at the steepest points.
Sukut will use extensive drilling and blasting to clear 530,000 cubic yards of rock in the foothills and employ geo-grid slope stabilization to prevent any rock slides across the Mexican border just three feet away. The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2009.
Sukut Construction, Inc. is California's largest mass excavation and grading contractor, moving 150 million cubic yards of earth per year. Founded almost 40 years ago and headquartered in Santa Ana, California, with offices in Los Angeles, Riverside and Oceanside, California, the company is nationally recognized for its work on residential, commercial, industrial and retail development mass grading; public works; highway, roads and infrastructure construction; flood and storm water pipe and structures; golf courses and resorts; landfill construction and environmental cleanups; and emergency landslide repair and stabilization.
Information is available on the company's website at http://www.sukut.com/ or by calling Sukut headquarters at (888)-SUKUT01 or (888) 785-8801.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/12/prweb1708734.htm
Press Release Newswire
December 23, 2008
Santa Ana, Calif. (PRWEB) December 23, 2008 -- Sukut Construction, Inc. has broken ground on a $11.2 million project to help build a strategic section of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Mexican border fence in the rugged foothills of Otay Mesa.
The project calls for construction of 5.2 miles of border fence and an adjacent access road. Sukut has been subcontracted by Granite Construction for the site development and road construction.
The section of border fence will be constructed at the Otay Mesa illegal border crossing in the foothills above the Tijuana River. The site is south of the city of Dulzura and eight miles from the nearest major road, Highway 94. The remoteness of the location and the steep, rocky terrain make this a popular illegal border crossing, and contribute to the complexity of the job.
"Sukut is California's largest mass excavation company with the equipment and knowledge to successfully complete this type of job," said Sukut Construction, Inc. CEO/President Michael Crawford.
Sukut will begin by widening the 2.5 miles of existing dirt road used by the U.S. Border Patrol to make the route safe for heavy equipment, constructing a 32-foot-wide and 5.2-mile border fence access road. The location's steep grade will require switchback roadway with a maximum grade of 15 percent at the steepest points.
Sukut will use extensive drilling and blasting to clear 530,000 cubic yards of rock in the foothills and employ geo-grid slope stabilization to prevent any rock slides across the Mexican border just three feet away. The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2009.
Sukut Construction, Inc. is California's largest mass excavation and grading contractor, moving 150 million cubic yards of earth per year. Founded almost 40 years ago and headquartered in Santa Ana, California, with offices in Los Angeles, Riverside and Oceanside, California, the company is nationally recognized for its work on residential, commercial, industrial and retail development mass grading; public works; highway, roads and infrastructure construction; flood and storm water pipe and structures; golf courses and resorts; landfill construction and environmental cleanups; and emergency landslide repair and stabilization.
Information is available on the company's website at http://www.sukut.com/ or by calling Sukut headquarters at (888)-SUKUT01 or (888) 785-8801.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/12/prweb1708734.htm
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Texas landowners win small victory on border fence
Associated Press / Houston Chronicle
December 18, 2008
McALLEN, Texas — Dozens of South Texas landowners whose land is being condemned for the border fence scored a victory when a federal judge ordered that juries will decide the value of their property rather than an appointed land commission as the government had requested.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen set the stage for a series of trials to begin in March with his order signed Wednesday. While the trials will be restricted to determining how much the government pays landowners for the property, it gives Texas landowners their first opportunity to take an issue related to the border fence before a jury.
"I'm proud of him, he's doing his job," Eloisa Tamez, a landowner facing condemnation near Brownsville, said Thursday. "To have this kind of news before the holidays is like a Christmas gift for me."
The federal government has filed more than 300 condemnation lawsuits against South Texas landowners to make way for portions of the 670 miles of fencing it is building along the U.S.-Mexico border. So far about 500 miles is up, but it has been slow going in the Rio Grande Valley, where opposition is widespread.
Federal prosecutors had argued that the number of jury trials would swamp the courts, result in uneven payments and be extremely complex. A panel of land experts appointed by the court would be a more efficient option and more fair since it would be difficult to find enough unbiased jurors in an area where the fence has been a hot-button issue for months, the government said.
But Hanen, based in Brownsville, sided with landowners, 28 of whom are set for trial next year and all requested juries. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately return a call for comment.
"This court is a firm believer in the jury system and the ability of everyday citizens to set aside their personal beliefs, biases and prejudcies to decide cases solely on the evidence presented within the context of a court's instructions," Hanen wrote in his order.
Hanen also cast doubt on the government's claim that about 80 cases will eventually need juries to determine land values. He suggested that even among the 28 cases scheduled for trial so far, similar parcels could be clustered in groups of three to be heard by the same jury. Most property owners settled with the government out of court.
The condemnations range from a quarter acre to more than 12 acres, but in many cases those are just slivers taken from tracts covering hundreds of acres north of the Rio Grande. Land commissions are generally believed to award lower compensation than juries, eminent domain attorneys say.
Each case will offer its own complexities, from calculating the impact on hunting leases to the value of the land left in the no-man's land between the fence and the river.
Kimberli Loessin, an attorney representing some of the landowners, wrote in an e-mail, "Landowners are pleased and believe that Judge Hanen did the right thing."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6172232.html#
December 18, 2008
McALLEN, Texas — Dozens of South Texas landowners whose land is being condemned for the border fence scored a victory when a federal judge ordered that juries will decide the value of their property rather than an appointed land commission as the government had requested.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen set the stage for a series of trials to begin in March with his order signed Wednesday. While the trials will be restricted to determining how much the government pays landowners for the property, it gives Texas landowners their first opportunity to take an issue related to the border fence before a jury.
"I'm proud of him, he's doing his job," Eloisa Tamez, a landowner facing condemnation near Brownsville, said Thursday. "To have this kind of news before the holidays is like a Christmas gift for me."
The federal government has filed more than 300 condemnation lawsuits against South Texas landowners to make way for portions of the 670 miles of fencing it is building along the U.S.-Mexico border. So far about 500 miles is up, but it has been slow going in the Rio Grande Valley, where opposition is widespread.
Federal prosecutors had argued that the number of jury trials would swamp the courts, result in uneven payments and be extremely complex. A panel of land experts appointed by the court would be a more efficient option and more fair since it would be difficult to find enough unbiased jurors in an area where the fence has been a hot-button issue for months, the government said.
But Hanen, based in Brownsville, sided with landowners, 28 of whom are set for trial next year and all requested juries. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately return a call for comment.
"This court is a firm believer in the jury system and the ability of everyday citizens to set aside their personal beliefs, biases and prejudcies to decide cases solely on the evidence presented within the context of a court's instructions," Hanen wrote in his order.
Hanen also cast doubt on the government's claim that about 80 cases will eventually need juries to determine land values. He suggested that even among the 28 cases scheduled for trial so far, similar parcels could be clustered in groups of three to be heard by the same jury. Most property owners settled with the government out of court.
The condemnations range from a quarter acre to more than 12 acres, but in many cases those are just slivers taken from tracts covering hundreds of acres north of the Rio Grande. Land commissions are generally believed to award lower compensation than juries, eminent domain attorneys say.
Each case will offer its own complexities, from calculating the impact on hunting leases to the value of the land left in the no-man's land between the fence and the river.
Kimberli Loessin, an attorney representing some of the landowners, wrote in an e-mail, "Landowners are pleased and believe that Judge Hanen did the right thing."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6172232.html#
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Protester stops work on border fence
Associated Press / Houston Chronicle
December 17, 2008
EL PASO, Texas — A 55-year-old Army veteran hunkered down in front of construction crews who were building the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday, halting work for about eight hours before she was arrested.
Judy Ackerman, one of about a dozen people at a peaceful protest east of El Paso on Wednesday, was handcuffed by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers after several hours of figuring out which authority was responsible for removing her.
Ackerman was arrested on a charge of criminal trespass, a state misdemeanor. Ed Hernandez, one of three local attorneys who volunteered Wednesday to defend Ackerman, said the retired Army sergeant major was released from jail late Wednesday afternoon after being issued a summons to appear in court.
Work on the fence resumed immediately after Ackerman was led away. Before her arrest, the white-haired woman sporting a reflective vest and hard had cheerfully chatted with authorities. About 20 workers were milling around the site, leaning against heavy equipment and dump trucks and taking pictures of her with their cell phones.
"They have a job to do, but today their job is to take a break," said Ackerman, who spent 26 years in the Army.
Ackerman crossed a canal before workers arrived and took up a position on a levee where large steel poles were being erected. The levee is in a desolate area several miles east of downtown El Paso, near the 370-acre Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.
"They have this wonderful park here, and the wall is messing it up," said Ackerman, who said she's never been arrested before. "This is life. The river is life. But not the wall; the wall is death."
Ackerman was on land maintained by the International Boundary and Water Commission land, the binational agency that maintains the boundary between Mexico and the U.S.
Al Riera, the principal engineer for the IBWC, said officials there were notified about her presence early Wednesday and told to contact authorities to have her removed. Officials spent several hours trying to figure out the proper authority. Riera said this is the first such protest on IBWC land.
Government officials said Tuesday that 500 miles of fencing has been built along the Southwest border.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6170233.html#
December 17, 2008
EL PASO, Texas — A 55-year-old Army veteran hunkered down in front of construction crews who were building the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday, halting work for about eight hours before she was arrested.
Judy Ackerman, one of about a dozen people at a peaceful protest east of El Paso on Wednesday, was handcuffed by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers after several hours of figuring out which authority was responsible for removing her.
Ackerman was arrested on a charge of criminal trespass, a state misdemeanor. Ed Hernandez, one of three local attorneys who volunteered Wednesday to defend Ackerman, said the retired Army sergeant major was released from jail late Wednesday afternoon after being issued a summons to appear in court.
Work on the fence resumed immediately after Ackerman was led away. Before her arrest, the white-haired woman sporting a reflective vest and hard had cheerfully chatted with authorities. About 20 workers were milling around the site, leaning against heavy equipment and dump trucks and taking pictures of her with their cell phones.
"They have a job to do, but today their job is to take a break," said Ackerman, who spent 26 years in the Army.
Ackerman crossed a canal before workers arrived and took up a position on a levee where large steel poles were being erected. The levee is in a desolate area several miles east of downtown El Paso, near the 370-acre Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.
"They have this wonderful park here, and the wall is messing it up," said Ackerman, who said she's never been arrested before. "This is life. The river is life. But not the wall; the wall is death."
Ackerman was on land maintained by the International Boundary and Water Commission land, the binational agency that maintains the boundary between Mexico and the U.S.
Al Riera, the principal engineer for the IBWC, said officials there were notified about her presence early Wednesday and told to contact authorities to have her removed. Officials spent several hours trying to figure out the proper authority. Riera said this is the first such protest on IBWC land.
Government officials said Tuesday that 500 miles of fencing has been built along the Southwest border.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6170233.html#
Border Wall opponent halts construction at Rio Bosque
Newspaper Tree
December 17, 2008
A border wall opponent has stopped construction of a portion of the structure that is to separate the Rio Bosque Park, a wetland in the Lower Valley that is the last remnant of the thick groves of trees and vegetation that once thrived along the banks of the river, from the Rio Grande.
Judy Ackerman stood in the way of construction crews this morning, denying them access to the construction site, which is on International Boundary and Water Commission property directly adjacent to the park. Ackerman is a Northeast El Paso resident active in environmental issues.
Bill Addington, another border wall opponent, said that city of El Paso police and Border Patrol were on the scene, but had not arrested Ackerman yet.
"I hope others will replicate this," said Addington, who made national news when the Wall Street Journal wrote the government's demand he take down a footbridge crossing the Rio Grande. [video] [article]
He said the action by Ackerman marks "the first time anyone has impeded the construction that I know of, and I've been paying attention to this very closely."
Doug Mosier, Border Patrol spokesman, said he didn't know of any other similar instances.
He said that officials still were gathering information.
"The protester at this moment has not been arrested, although that may be forthcoming," he said at about 11:15 a.m. "But we need to wait and see what happens here."
The 372-acre Rio Bosque Park is described on its Web site as a remnant of the wetlands and riverside forests that "once graced the banks of the Rio Grande in the Paso del Norte region. They were the most productive natural habitats in the region, but today they are virtually gone. At Rio Bosque, the environment is still changing, but in a new way. Here, a diverse partnership is working to bring back meaningful examples of the unique and valuable ecosystems once found in our river valley." [link]
A newsletter put out by the Center for Environmental Resource Management, which manages the park, stated the impact of the wall: "At the Park, the visual impact of the fence will be immediate and obvious. The ecological impact will be gradual and more subtle, but no less real. For many animals, the fence will be a barrier to movement between the Rio Grande and the Park and a barrier to genetic exchange. Over time, the fence will affect what species get established at Rio Bosque and, for some species, the long-term health and viability of the populations present."
http://www.newspapertree.com/news/3211-border-wall-opponent-halts-construction-at-rio-bosque
December 17, 2008
A border wall opponent has stopped construction of a portion of the structure that is to separate the Rio Bosque Park, a wetland in the Lower Valley that is the last remnant of the thick groves of trees and vegetation that once thrived along the banks of the river, from the Rio Grande.
Judy Ackerman stood in the way of construction crews this morning, denying them access to the construction site, which is on International Boundary and Water Commission property directly adjacent to the park. Ackerman is a Northeast El Paso resident active in environmental issues.
Bill Addington, another border wall opponent, said that city of El Paso police and Border Patrol were on the scene, but had not arrested Ackerman yet.
"I hope others will replicate this," said Addington, who made national news when the Wall Street Journal wrote the government's demand he take down a footbridge crossing the Rio Grande. [video] [article]
He said the action by Ackerman marks "the first time anyone has impeded the construction that I know of, and I've been paying attention to this very closely."
Doug Mosier, Border Patrol spokesman, said he didn't know of any other similar instances.
He said that officials still were gathering information.
"The protester at this moment has not been arrested, although that may be forthcoming," he said at about 11:15 a.m. "But we need to wait and see what happens here."
The 372-acre Rio Bosque Park is described on its Web site as a remnant of the wetlands and riverside forests that "once graced the banks of the Rio Grande in the Paso del Norte region. They were the most productive natural habitats in the region, but today they are virtually gone. At Rio Bosque, the environment is still changing, but in a new way. Here, a diverse partnership is working to bring back meaningful examples of the unique and valuable ecosystems once found in our river valley." [link]
A newsletter put out by the Center for Environmental Resource Management, which manages the park, stated the impact of the wall: "At the Park, the visual impact of the fence will be immediate and obvious. The ecological impact will be gradual and more subtle, but no less real. For many animals, the fence will be a barrier to movement between the Rio Grande and the Park and a barrier to genetic exchange. Over time, the fence will affect what species get established at Rio Bosque and, for some species, the long-term health and viability of the populations present."
http://www.newspapertree.com/news/3211-border-wall-opponent-halts-construction-at-rio-bosque
Border fence construction halted for hours due to protest
El Paso Times
December 17, 2008
EL PASO - A lone protester at the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park temporarily halted construction of the border fence Wednesday, setting up a standoff with the Border Patrol.
Bill Addington, another activist at the site in the Lower Valley, identified the protester as Judy Ackerman of Northeast El Paso.
"There's a group of us of about 25 out here, but she's the only one on the construction site itself," Addington, who also served as Ackerman's spokesman. "We believe the Border Patrol is going to seek an arrest warrant to have her removed."
El Paso Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said it was likely an arrest warrant will be sought through the U.S. attorney's office and federal courts. Ackerman was a founding member of Friends of the Rio Bosque and a member of the Sierra Club.
Conservationists have argued the 15-foot, steel-mesh border fence, will upset the park's ecological balance.
Department of Homeland Security officials said the federal government is constructing the fence along 670 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_11253293
December 17, 2008
EL PASO - A lone protester at the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park temporarily halted construction of the border fence Wednesday, setting up a standoff with the Border Patrol.
Bill Addington, another activist at the site in the Lower Valley, identified the protester as Judy Ackerman of Northeast El Paso.
"There's a group of us of about 25 out here, but she's the only one on the construction site itself," Addington, who also served as Ackerman's spokesman. "We believe the Border Patrol is going to seek an arrest warrant to have her removed."
El Paso Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said it was likely an arrest warrant will be sought through the U.S. attorney's office and federal courts. Ackerman was a founding member of Friends of the Rio Bosque and a member of the Sierra Club.
Conservationists have argued the 15-foot, steel-mesh border fence, will upset the park's ecological balance.
Department of Homeland Security officials said the federal government is constructing the fence along 670 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_11253293
3 more drug-smuggling tunnels found near Nogales
Tucson Citizen
December 16, 2008
U.S. Border Patrol agents and Nogales police found three smuggling tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border in the past week.
The finds bring to six the number of tunnels found along the border this fiscal year, the agency said in a news statement.
From the beginning of fiscal year 2003 to the end of last fiscal year, law officers have uncovered 34 tunnels along the border, the Border Patrol said.
The federal fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
The latest finds were:
• On Dec. 10, Border Patrol agents patrolling near the border found a tunnel about one foot from the fence separating the United States from Mexico.
• Friday, Nogales, Ariz. police officers patrolling near downtown Nogales found another tunnel east of the DeConcini Port of Entry, about eight feet north of the border, the Border Patrol statement said. Mexican law officers helped with the investigation and they found the entrance to the tunnel in Mexico, about two feet south of the international fence separating the U.S. and Mexico.
• Saturday, Nogales police officers, patrolling the border area in a federal anti-illegal immigration program found a tunnel west of the DeConcini Port of Entry along International Street. The tunnel's entrance is believed to be in Mexico in the Grand Tunnel area, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Esmeralda Marroquin. The Grand Tunnel is a flood control culvert running under the border.
The smuggling tunnels are being guarded by Border patrol agents until their exits can be filled with cement, Marroquin said.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/105348.php
December 16, 2008
U.S. Border Patrol agents and Nogales police found three smuggling tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border in the past week.
The finds bring to six the number of tunnels found along the border this fiscal year, the agency said in a news statement.
From the beginning of fiscal year 2003 to the end of last fiscal year, law officers have uncovered 34 tunnels along the border, the Border Patrol said.
The federal fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
The latest finds were:
• On Dec. 10, Border Patrol agents patrolling near the border found a tunnel about one foot from the fence separating the United States from Mexico.
• Friday, Nogales, Ariz. police officers patrolling near downtown Nogales found another tunnel east of the DeConcini Port of Entry, about eight feet north of the border, the Border Patrol statement said. Mexican law officers helped with the investigation and they found the entrance to the tunnel in Mexico, about two feet south of the international fence separating the U.S. and Mexico.
• Saturday, Nogales police officers, patrolling the border area in a federal anti-illegal immigration program found a tunnel west of the DeConcini Port of Entry along International Street. The tunnel's entrance is believed to be in Mexico in the Grand Tunnel area, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Esmeralda Marroquin. The Grand Tunnel is a flood control culvert running under the border.
The smuggling tunnels are being guarded by Border patrol agents until their exits can be filled with cement, Marroquin said.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/105348.php
Southwest border fence hits 500-mile mark
Associated Press
December 16, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has completed 500 miles of fencing along the Southwest border, 170 miles short of its goal.
At this pace, the administration expects to have at least 600 miles complete by Jan. 20, when Barack Obama takes over as president, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said earlier this month.
The president-elect said last week that he wants to evaluate what's working on the border as he considers whether to continue building the 670 miles of fencing. But by Chertoff's estimation, there will not be much left to build.
Homeland Security officials earlier this year said the fence would not be completed by Dec. 31, as planned. About 160 miles have been built since August, despite calls by some groups to delay construction.
As of Dec. 12, 500 miles had been completed, said Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Friel.
The fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is not intended to stop illegal immigration altogether, but make it more difficult for people to enter the U.S. illegally, Bush administration officials say.
It has been controversial and has faced several lawsuits, none successful so far.
Congress authorized the fence in 2005 to help secure the border and slow illegal immigration, and gave the homeland security secretary the power to waive the federal laws. Obama, as a senator, voted for the fence.
Congress has set aside $2.7 billion for the fence since 2006. But there's no estimate how much the entire system — the physical fence and the technology — will cost to build, let alone maintain.
In September, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham told Congress his agency needed an additional $400 million to complete the project, citing higher costs for fuel, steel and labor. Congress approved the $400 million and the Bush administration believes it now has enough money to finish the fence.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks revived the immigration debate and advanced the idea of a border fence. Intelligence officials have said gaps along the Southwestern border could provide opportunities for terrorists to enter the country.
The overall plan for security on that border includes additional Border Patrol agents, more enforcement of immigration laws, the fence and a high-tech "virtual fence" using surveillance technology. The administration has met its goal of adding 6,000 new agents to the Border Patrol force by the end of this year, bringing the total to about 18,000.
Boeing Co. has the contract for the technology portion of the fence, as well as for some construction work. The company's contract for the technology expires in 2009.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jE_bOUpQb6MxrxSQno3N6gEdY-MAD954375O3
December 16, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has completed 500 miles of fencing along the Southwest border, 170 miles short of its goal.
At this pace, the administration expects to have at least 600 miles complete by Jan. 20, when Barack Obama takes over as president, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said earlier this month.
The president-elect said last week that he wants to evaluate what's working on the border as he considers whether to continue building the 670 miles of fencing. But by Chertoff's estimation, there will not be much left to build.
Homeland Security officials earlier this year said the fence would not be completed by Dec. 31, as planned. About 160 miles have been built since August, despite calls by some groups to delay construction.
As of Dec. 12, 500 miles had been completed, said Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Friel.
The fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is not intended to stop illegal immigration altogether, but make it more difficult for people to enter the U.S. illegally, Bush administration officials say.
It has been controversial and has faced several lawsuits, none successful so far.
Congress authorized the fence in 2005 to help secure the border and slow illegal immigration, and gave the homeland security secretary the power to waive the federal laws. Obama, as a senator, voted for the fence.
Congress has set aside $2.7 billion for the fence since 2006. But there's no estimate how much the entire system — the physical fence and the technology — will cost to build, let alone maintain.
In September, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham told Congress his agency needed an additional $400 million to complete the project, citing higher costs for fuel, steel and labor. Congress approved the $400 million and the Bush administration believes it now has enough money to finish the fence.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks revived the immigration debate and advanced the idea of a border fence. Intelligence officials have said gaps along the Southwestern border could provide opportunities for terrorists to enter the country.
The overall plan for security on that border includes additional Border Patrol agents, more enforcement of immigration laws, the fence and a high-tech "virtual fence" using surveillance technology. The administration has met its goal of adding 6,000 new agents to the Border Patrol force by the end of this year, bringing the total to about 18,000.
Boeing Co. has the contract for the technology portion of the fence, as well as for some construction work. The company's contract for the technology expires in 2009.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jE_bOUpQb6MxrxSQno3N6gEdY-MAD954375O3
Friday, December 12, 2008
Border tunnel found after bus tire sinks into road
San Diego Union-Tribune
December 11, 2008
SAN YSIDRO: A short and incomplete cross-border tunnel was discovered yesterday when a bus tire sank into a roadway along the border fence.
The tunnel, which extended about 10 feet into the United States, was about 15 feet underground and 3 feet in diameter, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
The tunnel had no U.S. exit, and authorities were working with Mexican officials to find the entry in Tijuana.
The bus carries people who are being sent back to Mexico by the U.S. government. It was being driven on a dirt road that runs along the fence, Mack said.
Authorities regularly find tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border that are used to smuggle drugs and people. The discoveries have ranged from simple holes to engineering feats that extend for more than a quarter-mile underground.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20081211-0716-1bo11tunnel.html
December 11, 2008
SAN YSIDRO: A short and incomplete cross-border tunnel was discovered yesterday when a bus tire sank into a roadway along the border fence.
The tunnel, which extended about 10 feet into the United States, was about 15 feet underground and 3 feet in diameter, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
The tunnel had no U.S. exit, and authorities were working with Mexican officials to find the entry in Tijuana.
The bus carries people who are being sent back to Mexico by the U.S. government. It was being driven on a dirt road that runs along the fence, Mack said.
Authorities regularly find tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border that are used to smuggle drugs and people. The discoveries have ranged from simple holes to engineering feats that extend for more than a quarter-mile underground.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20081211-0716-1bo11tunnel.html
Texas county files appeal to stop border fence
Associated Press
December 11, 2008
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Texas county filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court this week in the latest bid to stop construction of hundreds of miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In asking the court to review a lawsuit previously dismissed by a federal court judge, lawyers for El Paso County contend that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff overstepped his legal authority when he waived 37 federal laws that could have slowed or blocked construction of fencing along the border.
Attorneys for the county also allege that Chertoff violated the 10th Amendment, which grants states the right to enforce laws neither prohibited by nor delegated to the federal government.
Congress authorized the fence to help secure the border and slow illegal immigration, and then gave Chertoff the power to waive the federal laws in 2005.
Previous legal challenges to the waiver authority, which includes a lawsuit by several environmental groups in San Diego, failed to gain traction in courts. The Supreme Court also declined to hear border fence challenges.
El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez said Wednesday he believed the 10th Amendment protects the county and other jurisdictions from Chertoff's action.
"From our point of view, we think that we have made some compelling arguments about why the Supreme Court should take up our case," Rodriguez said. "This case is a much more significant case than (the San Diego) one. That involved fewer laws. It wasn't anywhere near the 37 laws. The secretary also waived any state and local laws that are derived from or related to those statutes."
Homeland Security officials said they expect to prevail.
"Every time a group has challenged our use of the waiver authority in court, the court has ruled that the waiver was lawful and constitutional. We expect the same result here," DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said in an e-mail. "Groups like this one claim to be interested in border security — so long as the measures taken to protect the border do not affect them."
Cory Briggs, a San Diego lawyer who represented the environmental groups, said the Supreme Court's rejection of border fence claims suggests the court wasn't interested in the border.
Denise Gilman, a clinical law professor at the University of Texas in Austin, said the 10th Amendment was "one of the most under litigated portions" of the Constitution. She said El Paso's suit, based on the court's history, stood a "50/50 probability, and it may even be lower than that."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jE_bOUpQb6MxrxSQno3N6gEdY-MAD9509BSO4
December 11, 2008
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Texas county filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court this week in the latest bid to stop construction of hundreds of miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In asking the court to review a lawsuit previously dismissed by a federal court judge, lawyers for El Paso County contend that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff overstepped his legal authority when he waived 37 federal laws that could have slowed or blocked construction of fencing along the border.
Attorneys for the county also allege that Chertoff violated the 10th Amendment, which grants states the right to enforce laws neither prohibited by nor delegated to the federal government.
Congress authorized the fence to help secure the border and slow illegal immigration, and then gave Chertoff the power to waive the federal laws in 2005.
Previous legal challenges to the waiver authority, which includes a lawsuit by several environmental groups in San Diego, failed to gain traction in courts. The Supreme Court also declined to hear border fence challenges.
El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez said Wednesday he believed the 10th Amendment protects the county and other jurisdictions from Chertoff's action.
"From our point of view, we think that we have made some compelling arguments about why the Supreme Court should take up our case," Rodriguez said. "This case is a much more significant case than (the San Diego) one. That involved fewer laws. It wasn't anywhere near the 37 laws. The secretary also waived any state and local laws that are derived from or related to those statutes."
Homeland Security officials said they expect to prevail.
"Every time a group has challenged our use of the waiver authority in court, the court has ruled that the waiver was lawful and constitutional. We expect the same result here," DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said in an e-mail. "Groups like this one claim to be interested in border security — so long as the measures taken to protect the border do not affect them."
Cory Briggs, a San Diego lawyer who represented the environmental groups, said the Supreme Court's rejection of border fence claims suggests the court wasn't interested in the border.
Denise Gilman, a clinical law professor at the University of Texas in Austin, said the 10th Amendment was "one of the most under litigated portions" of the Constitution. She said El Paso's suit, based on the court's history, stood a "50/50 probability, and it may even be lower than that."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jE_bOUpQb6MxrxSQno3N6gEdY-MAD9509BSO4
Tunnel found next to border fence in Nogales
Arizona Daily Star
December 12, 2008
U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered another tunnel in Nogales on Thursday afternoon.
At 1:15 p.m. Thursday, bike agents patrolling in downtown Nogales spotted a piece of foam sitting about one foot north of the border fence, west of the Dennis Deconcini Port of Entry, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
Under the foam, which was partially covered by dirt, agents discovered the exit of a tunnel. Agents sent a remote-controlled robot into the tunnel and determined that it went 15 feet east from the exit point into the Grand Avenue tunnel and south into Mexico. Mexican authorities determined it started in the same Grand Avenue tunnel in Mexico. The tunnel measured about 12-by-19 inches wide and was dug two feet below the surface, Daniels said. It was a rudimentary tunnel with no reinforcements or lights.
Officials welded a grate over the exit of the tunnel until a permanent filling can be done, he said.
It is the sixth tunnel discovered in fiscal year 2009, which started on Oct. 1. In fiscal year 2008, agents in the Tucson Sector found 14 illegal tunnels, more than any of the previous three years, agency figures show. Since the start of fiscal year 2003,40 tunnels have been found, the agency says.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/271409.php
December 12, 2008
U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered another tunnel in Nogales on Thursday afternoon.
At 1:15 p.m. Thursday, bike agents patrolling in downtown Nogales spotted a piece of foam sitting about one foot north of the border fence, west of the Dennis Deconcini Port of Entry, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
Under the foam, which was partially covered by dirt, agents discovered the exit of a tunnel. Agents sent a remote-controlled robot into the tunnel and determined that it went 15 feet east from the exit point into the Grand Avenue tunnel and south into Mexico. Mexican authorities determined it started in the same Grand Avenue tunnel in Mexico. The tunnel measured about 12-by-19 inches wide and was dug two feet below the surface, Daniels said. It was a rudimentary tunnel with no reinforcements or lights.
Officials welded a grate over the exit of the tunnel until a permanent filling can be done, he said.
It is the sixth tunnel discovered in fiscal year 2009, which started on Oct. 1. In fiscal year 2008, agents in the Tucson Sector found 14 illegal tunnels, more than any of the previous three years, agency figures show. Since the start of fiscal year 2003,40 tunnels have been found, the agency says.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/271409.php
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Border crossings shift back to California routes
Associated Press
December 9, 2008
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - In a flash the two men were over the double fence and into the San Diego parking lot. As a waiting pickup truck sped them away, the smuggler who boosted them over the 15-foot walls scrambled toward Mexico.
Border Patrol agents could only tag Juan Garcia's black sweatshirt with pepper spray bullets as he escaped back over the wall to Tijuana, red-eyed and coughing but $30 richer for a few seconds of daring labor.
It's just another night along the most heavily guarded stretch of U.S.-Mexico frontier, where Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal crossers have increased 28 percent since 2005 - even as apprehensions have dropped nearly 40 percent border-wide over the same period. While illegal crossings are impossible to count, experts look to Border Patrol apprehensions as the best indicator of migrant traffic.
The Tijuana area's surprising increase is a booming business for cut-rate daredevils like Garcia, who are willing to try almost anything to get their clients across."I'll get you a bicycle, and I'll throw you over the fence with the bike," said part-time smuggler Giovanni Lopez, 28, after watching Garcia climb over. "But I'll also get you a little helmet and everything, so the Border Patrol thinks you're...what's the word in English? Exercising."
And I cross over with you until a certain point, and I come back like this," he said, brushing away his tracks with an imaginary tree branch.
The Border Patrol's San Diego Sector - which covers 60 miles of border from the Pacific Ocean through strip malls and shanty towns into a boulder-strewn desert - is no stranger to such cat-and-mouse games. But its recent growth in traffic is driven by a curious convergence of strategies by both immigrants and the U.S. officials who chase them.
Analysts say the migrants encountering ever-increasing enforcement in the Arizona desert are bouncing back to California's traditional smuggling corridors, which offer shorter, cooler treks to cities and highways. The Border Patrol, meanwhile, takes migrants caught in Arizona to San Diego for deportation, hoping to break their ties to desert smugglers.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20217208&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222087&rfi=6
December 9, 2008
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - In a flash the two men were over the double fence and into the San Diego parking lot. As a waiting pickup truck sped them away, the smuggler who boosted them over the 15-foot walls scrambled toward Mexico.
Border Patrol agents could only tag Juan Garcia's black sweatshirt with pepper spray bullets as he escaped back over the wall to Tijuana, red-eyed and coughing but $30 richer for a few seconds of daring labor.
It's just another night along the most heavily guarded stretch of U.S.-Mexico frontier, where Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal crossers have increased 28 percent since 2005 - even as apprehensions have dropped nearly 40 percent border-wide over the same period. While illegal crossings are impossible to count, experts look to Border Patrol apprehensions as the best indicator of migrant traffic.
The Tijuana area's surprising increase is a booming business for cut-rate daredevils like Garcia, who are willing to try almost anything to get their clients across."I'll get you a bicycle, and I'll throw you over the fence with the bike," said part-time smuggler Giovanni Lopez, 28, after watching Garcia climb over. "But I'll also get you a little helmet and everything, so the Border Patrol thinks you're...what's the word in English? Exercising."
And I cross over with you until a certain point, and I come back like this," he said, brushing away his tracks with an imaginary tree branch.
The Border Patrol's San Diego Sector - which covers 60 miles of border from the Pacific Ocean through strip malls and shanty towns into a boulder-strewn desert - is no stranger to such cat-and-mouse games. But its recent growth in traffic is driven by a curious convergence of strategies by both immigrants and the U.S. officials who chase them.
Analysts say the migrants encountering ever-increasing enforcement in the Arizona desert are bouncing back to California's traditional smuggling corridors, which offer shorter, cooler treks to cities and highways. The Border Patrol, meanwhile, takes migrants caught in Arizona to San Diego for deportation, hoping to break their ties to desert smugglers.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20217208&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222087&rfi=6
Border fence case sent to high court
El Paso Times
December 11, 2008
EL PASO -- El Paso County filed an appeal Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court asking whether the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary, Michael Chertoff, have the legal authority to disregard federal, state and local laws to build the border fence.
Congress in 2005 passed the Real ID Act granting Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security statutory authority to waive law to construct the border fence.
El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez said Chertoff, through the Real ID Act, violated the Constitution and the 10th Amendment by broadly interpreting vague powers granted to him by Congress.
The 10th Amendment grants states the authority to create law if the Constitution hasn't already expressly delegates that authority to the federal government.
"We do think this does present for the court an opportunity to clarify for the national level what the authority is for declaring these kinds of waivers for the executive branch, and what circumstances you pre-empt state and local laws," Rodríguez said. "It was just kind of an unbridled authority that was given to the secretary."
Typically, when waiver authority has been granted to the executive branch by Congress, executive agencies were given specific parameters for which laws they may disregard, Rodríguez said.
Chertoff's authority to waive existing law has enabled him to disregard at least 37 federal statutes, such as the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Protection Act, as well as state and local laws, to accelerate the construction of the fence.
The county, the city, the Tigua tribe, the local irrigation district and environmental groups in September sued Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that Chertoff's use of waivers to construct the fence was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo dismissed the case, ruling that Congress constitutionally delegated its authority in waiver legislation.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_11191056
December 11, 2008
EL PASO -- El Paso County filed an appeal Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court asking whether the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary, Michael Chertoff, have the legal authority to disregard federal, state and local laws to build the border fence.
Congress in 2005 passed the Real ID Act granting Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security statutory authority to waive law to construct the border fence.
El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez said Chertoff, through the Real ID Act, violated the Constitution and the 10th Amendment by broadly interpreting vague powers granted to him by Congress.
The 10th Amendment grants states the authority to create law if the Constitution hasn't already expressly delegates that authority to the federal government.
"We do think this does present for the court an opportunity to clarify for the national level what the authority is for declaring these kinds of waivers for the executive branch, and what circumstances you pre-empt state and local laws," Rodríguez said. "It was just kind of an unbridled authority that was given to the secretary."
Typically, when waiver authority has been granted to the executive branch by Congress, executive agencies were given specific parameters for which laws they may disregard, Rodríguez said.
Chertoff's authority to waive existing law has enabled him to disregard at least 37 federal statutes, such as the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Protection Act, as well as state and local laws, to accelerate the construction of the fence.
The county, the city, the Tigua tribe, the local irrigation district and environmental groups in September sued Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that Chertoff's use of waivers to construct the fence was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo dismissed the case, ruling that Congress constitutionally delegated its authority in waiver legislation.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_11191056
Cameron County leaders ask Obama to stop border wall project
Rio Grande Guardian
December 10, 2008
BROWNSVILLE, December 10 - Last week El Paso County leaders wrote to President-elect Barack Obama asking him to stop construction of the border wall and now Cameron County leaders have followed suit.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Obama, Cameron County Commissioners Court said that at a time when the U.S. faces a severe financial crisis it was “irresponsible” to spend “billions of dollars on a wall that will not only scar our environmental landscape but also damage our relationship with communities and countries across the Americas.”
The commissioners, led by County Judge Carlos Cascos, said in the letter that the $6.3 billion the federal government plans to spend on the border wall “would be better spent on developing the infrastructure of the border region.”
The letter from the commissioners came on the same day Obama spoke about the border wall issue, in an interview with reporters from the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.
Asked if he supported the build-out of the fence and its continued construction, Obama told the reporters that he plans to talk with Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, his pick for Homeland Security secretary. “I want to discuss with her what our best options are, what our best strategy is, do an evaluation about what's working, what isn't working. And then we'll make a determination from there,” Obama said.
The Cameron County letter also came on the same day that the County of El Paso filed an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court on the federal lawsuit that challenges Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff’s statutory authority to issue a waiver of more than 30 federal laws, as well as any state and local laws related to such federal laws, to accelerate the construction of a border fence in El Paso County.
El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez is a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, a group comprising border mayors and county judges that has led the fight against the border wall plan.
Last week, El Paso leaders wrote to Obama's transition team urging that the border wall project be stopped. Among those participating were state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, who is also a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, and El Paso City Rep. Steve Ortega.
Here is the Cameron County letter to Obama in full:
Dear President-Elect Obama,
Congratulations on your historic election. We wish you the best and pledge to work with you and your administration over the course of the next four years.
As you well know from your visits during the election all along the U.S.-Mexico border our local economies thrive due to our close relationship with Mexico. In fact, in 2007 alone, the U.S.-Mexico export and import trade totaled $347.3 billion. Texas alone trades more with Mexico than all the European Union combined. At a time when our country faces a severe financial crisis, we believe it is irresponsible to spend billions of dollars on a wall that will not only scar our environmental landscape but also damage our relationship with communities and countries across the Americas. The $6.3 billion that the federal government plans to spend on the border wall would be better spent on developing the infrastructure of the border region.
The recent appointment of Governor Janet Napolitano clearly signifies the importance of immigration reform to your administration. We sincerely hope that our plan will not include the main component of immigration reform to your administration. We sincerely hope that our plan will not include the main component of immigration reform pursued by the Bush administration and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff--the border wall.
Border walls are currently under construction in all four southern border states, and hundreds more miles of walls called for by the Secure Border Fence Act are in the planning stages. In April 2008, for the fifth time, Secretary Chertoff used the power granted to him by the Real ID Act to waive laws along the border so that walls and roads could be built without regard to public health and safety or environmental protection.
In Texas, condemnation proceedings have been initiated against border municipalities and landowners, in spite of the fact that the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 obliges homeland security officials to consult with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, states, local governments, Native American Nations and property owners in communities affected by the wall.
For our country to prosper, we must lead the way in the safe, fast and secure movement of people and products in a post-9/11 world. To achieve success our borders and ports-of-entry need adequate staffing, state-of-the-art technology, modern infrastructure and effective enforcement.
We respectfully ask that you make the cancellation of the border wall on the Southern border a top priority of your Administration. Let us build bridges of friendship, safety and prosperity- not walls of hatred and division. We have the confidence that the CHANGE you have brought will help you lead this great country to a nation of hope and great optimism for our future generations.
Thanks for your leadership on this issue.
Sincerest regards,
Cameron County Judge Carlos CascosCameron County Commissioners Sophia Benavides, John Wood, David A. Garza and Edna Tamayo
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=23
December 10, 2008
BROWNSVILLE, December 10 - Last week El Paso County leaders wrote to President-elect Barack Obama asking him to stop construction of the border wall and now Cameron County leaders have followed suit.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Obama, Cameron County Commissioners Court said that at a time when the U.S. faces a severe financial crisis it was “irresponsible” to spend “billions of dollars on a wall that will not only scar our environmental landscape but also damage our relationship with communities and countries across the Americas.”
The commissioners, led by County Judge Carlos Cascos, said in the letter that the $6.3 billion the federal government plans to spend on the border wall “would be better spent on developing the infrastructure of the border region.”
The letter from the commissioners came on the same day Obama spoke about the border wall issue, in an interview with reporters from the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.
Asked if he supported the build-out of the fence and its continued construction, Obama told the reporters that he plans to talk with Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, his pick for Homeland Security secretary. “I want to discuss with her what our best options are, what our best strategy is, do an evaluation about what's working, what isn't working. And then we'll make a determination from there,” Obama said.
The Cameron County letter also came on the same day that the County of El Paso filed an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court on the federal lawsuit that challenges Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff’s statutory authority to issue a waiver of more than 30 federal laws, as well as any state and local laws related to such federal laws, to accelerate the construction of a border fence in El Paso County.
El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez is a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, a group comprising border mayors and county judges that has led the fight against the border wall plan.
Last week, El Paso leaders wrote to Obama's transition team urging that the border wall project be stopped. Among those participating were state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, who is also a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, and El Paso City Rep. Steve Ortega.
Here is the Cameron County letter to Obama in full:
Dear President-Elect Obama,
Congratulations on your historic election. We wish you the best and pledge to work with you and your administration over the course of the next four years.
As you well know from your visits during the election all along the U.S.-Mexico border our local economies thrive due to our close relationship with Mexico. In fact, in 2007 alone, the U.S.-Mexico export and import trade totaled $347.3 billion. Texas alone trades more with Mexico than all the European Union combined. At a time when our country faces a severe financial crisis, we believe it is irresponsible to spend billions of dollars on a wall that will not only scar our environmental landscape but also damage our relationship with communities and countries across the Americas. The $6.3 billion that the federal government plans to spend on the border wall would be better spent on developing the infrastructure of the border region.
The recent appointment of Governor Janet Napolitano clearly signifies the importance of immigration reform to your administration. We sincerely hope that our plan will not include the main component of immigration reform to your administration. We sincerely hope that our plan will not include the main component of immigration reform pursued by the Bush administration and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff--the border wall.
Border walls are currently under construction in all four southern border states, and hundreds more miles of walls called for by the Secure Border Fence Act are in the planning stages. In April 2008, for the fifth time, Secretary Chertoff used the power granted to him by the Real ID Act to waive laws along the border so that walls and roads could be built without regard to public health and safety or environmental protection.
In Texas, condemnation proceedings have been initiated against border municipalities and landowners, in spite of the fact that the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 obliges homeland security officials to consult with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, states, local governments, Native American Nations and property owners in communities affected by the wall.
For our country to prosper, we must lead the way in the safe, fast and secure movement of people and products in a post-9/11 world. To achieve success our borders and ports-of-entry need adequate staffing, state-of-the-art technology, modern infrastructure and effective enforcement.
We respectfully ask that you make the cancellation of the border wall on the Southern border a top priority of your Administration. Let us build bridges of friendship, safety and prosperity- not walls of hatred and division. We have the confidence that the CHANGE you have brought will help you lead this great country to a nation of hope and great optimism for our future generations.
Thanks for your leadership on this issue.
Sincerest regards,
Cameron County Judge Carlos CascosCameron County Commissioners Sophia Benavides, John Wood, David A. Garza and Edna Tamayo
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=23
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Obama wants to evaluate border wall issue with Napolitano
Rio Grande Guardian
December 10, 2008
GRANJENO, December 10 - President-elect Barack Obama has given the clearest indication yet that he wants to look again at the border wall issue.
In his first newspaper interview since becoming president-elect, Obama spoke with reporters Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons, of the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau, and reporter John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune.
Here are the questions and answers as they relate to border security and immigration:
Question: During the campaign you were critical of the border fence, but I think you voted for it?
Answer: I voted for the fence, but argued at the time and continued to argue that it was inadequate and a fence alone, without a broader, comprehensive immigration reform, was not going to work. And I continue to believe that we have to have much stronger border security, crack down on employers that are hiring undocumented workers, but provide a pathway to citizenship for those who have been here and, you know, have put roots down here, and often times have American children. We need to get them out of the shadows and put them on some path to legalization.
Question: Will you support the build-out of the fence and its continued construction?
Answer: You know, one of the things I want to do -- and I'm very pleased with [Arizona Gov.] Janet Napolitano as the next head of the Department of Homeland Security, because nobody has more experience on these border issues than she does -- I want to discuss with her what our best options are, what our best strategy is, do an evaluation about what's working, what isn't working. And then we'll make a determination from there.
Obama was also asked about NAFTA:
Question: On NAFTA, we've heard that you might support maybe a study and then a report, instead of a wholesale reworking of the agreement right away?
Answer: Well look, my economic team is reviewing these issues. You know, I've consistently said on trade issues that I want environmental and labor provisions that are enforceable in those trade agreements. But I also have said that I believe in free trade and don't think that we can draw a moat around the American economy. I think that would be a mistake.
Obama also spoke about his involvement, or lack of, with arrested Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the nation’s economic woes. Click here to read the interview.
Reynaldo Anzaldua, a No Border Wall coalition member who has been active in the fight against the border wall in Granjeno, told the Guardian he was “encouraged” by Obama’s comments.
“I am encouraged because it looks as though President-elect Obama is going to look at the border wall issue again. I am also encouraged by Gov. Napolitano’s appointment as Homeland Security secretary. What did she say? ‘You show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border’,” Anzaldua said, speaking in his personal capacity.
Anzaldua said he visited the border wall south of Tucson, Arizona, last week. “It is clear the border wall is not going work there. It is no real barrier. It is by no means effective,” Anzaldua said.
Anzaldua added: “I think those of us opposed to the border wall are going to see how we can pressure the politicians to not only stop construction of the border wall but to even tear down the existing wall. We are going to be working on tearing down this wall.”
Adrienne Evans, co-founder of No Wall–Big Bend coalition, said she too was hopeful that Obama would stop border wall construction. She pointed out that most border counties voted heavily for Obama and believes most border residents are opposed to the border wall.
“I drove a van proudly draped in large Barack Obama campaign signs throughout Texas in the last weeks before the election, my children and I braving the occasional hostilities directed at us. Along with countless Texans, I did the 'Obama dance' and happily cried my heart out when Obama won the presidency,” Evans told the Guardian.
“And now, we're holding our collective breath to see what he and Homeland Security Secretary-nominee Napolitano will do about the ugly, useless, devastating border wall, el muro de odio (the wall of hate), in our beautiful home state of Texas, on the 100-million-year-old river we share with Mexico, the Rio Grande.”
Last week, El Paso leaders wrote to Obama's transition team urging that the border wall project be stopped. Among those participating were state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, who is also a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, and El Paso City Rep. Steve Ortega.
“We ask you to stop building muros de odio on our southern border—let us stop building these ill-conceived walls founded in current notions of racism. As the next President of the United States, we hope your administration will lead the U.S. to once again be the beacon of hope to the world,” the letter stated.
“Let us make the case for safer, faster ports to move people and products in a 21st Century world. And most of all, let us work together, strengthened by the proud legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy to reach out to our neighbors, family and friends in all the Americas to build lasting bridges of friendship, safety and prosperity—not walls of hatred and division.”
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=22
December 10, 2008
GRANJENO, December 10 - President-elect Barack Obama has given the clearest indication yet that he wants to look again at the border wall issue.
In his first newspaper interview since becoming president-elect, Obama spoke with reporters Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons, of the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau, and reporter John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune.
Here are the questions and answers as they relate to border security and immigration:
Question: During the campaign you were critical of the border fence, but I think you voted for it?
Answer: I voted for the fence, but argued at the time and continued to argue that it was inadequate and a fence alone, without a broader, comprehensive immigration reform, was not going to work. And I continue to believe that we have to have much stronger border security, crack down on employers that are hiring undocumented workers, but provide a pathway to citizenship for those who have been here and, you know, have put roots down here, and often times have American children. We need to get them out of the shadows and put them on some path to legalization.
Question: Will you support the build-out of the fence and its continued construction?
Answer: You know, one of the things I want to do -- and I'm very pleased with [Arizona Gov.] Janet Napolitano as the next head of the Department of Homeland Security, because nobody has more experience on these border issues than she does -- I want to discuss with her what our best options are, what our best strategy is, do an evaluation about what's working, what isn't working. And then we'll make a determination from there.
Obama was also asked about NAFTA:
Question: On NAFTA, we've heard that you might support maybe a study and then a report, instead of a wholesale reworking of the agreement right away?
Answer: Well look, my economic team is reviewing these issues. You know, I've consistently said on trade issues that I want environmental and labor provisions that are enforceable in those trade agreements. But I also have said that I believe in free trade and don't think that we can draw a moat around the American economy. I think that would be a mistake.
Obama also spoke about his involvement, or lack of, with arrested Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the nation’s economic woes. Click here to read the interview.
Reynaldo Anzaldua, a No Border Wall coalition member who has been active in the fight against the border wall in Granjeno, told the Guardian he was “encouraged” by Obama’s comments.
“I am encouraged because it looks as though President-elect Obama is going to look at the border wall issue again. I am also encouraged by Gov. Napolitano’s appointment as Homeland Security secretary. What did she say? ‘You show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border’,” Anzaldua said, speaking in his personal capacity.
Anzaldua said he visited the border wall south of Tucson, Arizona, last week. “It is clear the border wall is not going work there. It is no real barrier. It is by no means effective,” Anzaldua said.
Anzaldua added: “I think those of us opposed to the border wall are going to see how we can pressure the politicians to not only stop construction of the border wall but to even tear down the existing wall. We are going to be working on tearing down this wall.”
Adrienne Evans, co-founder of No Wall–Big Bend coalition, said she too was hopeful that Obama would stop border wall construction. She pointed out that most border counties voted heavily for Obama and believes most border residents are opposed to the border wall.
“I drove a van proudly draped in large Barack Obama campaign signs throughout Texas in the last weeks before the election, my children and I braving the occasional hostilities directed at us. Along with countless Texans, I did the 'Obama dance' and happily cried my heart out when Obama won the presidency,” Evans told the Guardian.
“And now, we're holding our collective breath to see what he and Homeland Security Secretary-nominee Napolitano will do about the ugly, useless, devastating border wall, el muro de odio (the wall of hate), in our beautiful home state of Texas, on the 100-million-year-old river we share with Mexico, the Rio Grande.”
Last week, El Paso leaders wrote to Obama's transition team urging that the border wall project be stopped. Among those participating were state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, who is also a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, and El Paso City Rep. Steve Ortega.
“We ask you to stop building muros de odio on our southern border—let us stop building these ill-conceived walls founded in current notions of racism. As the next President of the United States, we hope your administration will lead the U.S. to once again be the beacon of hope to the world,” the letter stated.
“Let us make the case for safer, faster ports to move people and products in a 21st Century world. And most of all, let us work together, strengthened by the proud legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy to reach out to our neighbors, family and friends in all the Americas to build lasting bridges of friendship, safety and prosperity—not walls of hatred and division.”
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=22
Monday, December 8, 2008
Mexico planting own 'green wall' along border
Austin-American Statesman
December 7, 2008
CIUDAD ACUA, Coahuila — Tractor-trailers rumble across the bridge above, but down on the Rio Grande, it's a peaceful autumn morning as ducks paddle the river and herons glide from bank to bank.
On the U.S. side of the river, in Del Rio , plans are moving ahead for a controversial security wall that will eventually stretch across 670 miles of the southwest border.
But on the Mexican side, authorities have begun work on an entirely different kind of wall: a so-called green wall, made of 400,000 trees to be planted along 217 miles of the Rio Grande.
Eventually, Mexican leaders hope the green wall will stretch the entire length of Mexico's shared border with Texas.
Officials in the state of Coahuila, where the project is beginning, call the green wall a rejection of the U.S. border barrier. The local Mexican officials hope the clusters of cypress, mesquite and ash trees will stand in stark contrast to the concrete and steel fencing being erected by the U.S. Homeland Security Department.
"This is a signal of protest, but it's also an opportunity for dialogue to find shared solutions to the question of immigration," said Gabriela de Valle del Bosque , Coahuila's environmental policy coordinator .
De Valle said the green wall will be an opportunity to bring more environmental consciousness to Mexican border communities. Area residents also will participate in riverside cleanups and classes on ecology and recycling.
Local officials hope the green wall will bring more attention to environmental worries associated with the U.S. border wall, particularly the migration of species such as white-tailed deer.
"If they put in the wall, Mexicans will find another way to get across, but the deer and other animals are not going to find a solution like Mexicans will," said Carlos Lombardo Gomez, who is in charge of technical matters associated with the green wall.
Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira said the green wall will result in Mexico's longest parkland corridor.
Moreira is no stranger to grand gestures. His administration has garnered national headlines in Mexico by ushering in a gay marriage law and has promised a state death penalty for murderous kidnappers, even though Mexico now outlaws the death penalty.
At a ceremony marking the start of the green wall, Moreira blasted the U.S. border barrier as a "wall of hate."
U.S. officials say the border fence is needed to bolster security along the southwest border. And supporters of the U.S. border wall warn that Mexico's green version could potentially aid drug runners and human smugglers.
Jim Gilchrist, president of the Minuteman Project, a U.S. activist group that monitors the border flow of illegal immigrants, said the green wall will "provide effective camouflage for criminal drug and human cargo cartels as they mass their illicit products behind the tree lines, awaiting delivery into the U.S. under cover of darkness."
So far, the state of Coahuila, which extends opposite Big Bend National Park almost to the outskirts of Laredo, has planted 2,500 trees along 25 miles of border. The state has approved about $1 million for the tree-planting program. Plans would extend the green wall in other border states such as Tamaulipas and Chihuahua.
The U.S. border wall is unpopular along much of the Texas border and has been opposed by most border communities in the state.
Despite that opposition, federal officials say that 90 percent to 95 percent of the 670-mile barrier should be completed or under construction before President Bush's term ends in January.
The City of Eagle Pass recently lost a court battle against the U.S. government over the border fence, and construction has begun near the city's downtown. Mayor Chad Foster , one of the border wall's most outspoken critics, said he doubts the change of administrations will halt the wall.
"I don't think President-elect Obama will take office soon enough to impact (the) damage being done in our town," Foster said.
So far, 426 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing have been built, according to the Homeland Security Department, but that includes just 25 miles in Texas.
Federal officials plan to build 116 miles in the state.
In Mexico, few think the green wall will have any real impact on the U.S. border barrier, but local residents are happy that it will bring more green spaces and parks.
Arturo de la Cruz Talavera, who runs daily at a park beneath the international bridge in Ciudad Acuña, is looking forward to the day when the green wall saplings grow into mature trees.
"The green wall is in favor of life, it will create oxygen," he said. "It's not like the steel wall, which just rejects."
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/12/07/1207mexgreenwall.html
December 7, 2008
CIUDAD ACUA, Coahuila — Tractor-trailers rumble across the bridge above, but down on the Rio Grande, it's a peaceful autumn morning as ducks paddle the river and herons glide from bank to bank.
On the U.S. side of the river, in Del Rio , plans are moving ahead for a controversial security wall that will eventually stretch across 670 miles of the southwest border.
But on the Mexican side, authorities have begun work on an entirely different kind of wall: a so-called green wall, made of 400,000 trees to be planted along 217 miles of the Rio Grande.
Eventually, Mexican leaders hope the green wall will stretch the entire length of Mexico's shared border with Texas.
Officials in the state of Coahuila, where the project is beginning, call the green wall a rejection of the U.S. border barrier. The local Mexican officials hope the clusters of cypress, mesquite and ash trees will stand in stark contrast to the concrete and steel fencing being erected by the U.S. Homeland Security Department.
"This is a signal of protest, but it's also an opportunity for dialogue to find shared solutions to the question of immigration," said Gabriela de Valle del Bosque , Coahuila's environmental policy coordinator .
De Valle said the green wall will be an opportunity to bring more environmental consciousness to Mexican border communities. Area residents also will participate in riverside cleanups and classes on ecology and recycling.
Local officials hope the green wall will bring more attention to environmental worries associated with the U.S. border wall, particularly the migration of species such as white-tailed deer.
"If they put in the wall, Mexicans will find another way to get across, but the deer and other animals are not going to find a solution like Mexicans will," said Carlos Lombardo Gomez, who is in charge of technical matters associated with the green wall.
Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira said the green wall will result in Mexico's longest parkland corridor.
Moreira is no stranger to grand gestures. His administration has garnered national headlines in Mexico by ushering in a gay marriage law and has promised a state death penalty for murderous kidnappers, even though Mexico now outlaws the death penalty.
At a ceremony marking the start of the green wall, Moreira blasted the U.S. border barrier as a "wall of hate."
U.S. officials say the border fence is needed to bolster security along the southwest border. And supporters of the U.S. border wall warn that Mexico's green version could potentially aid drug runners and human smugglers.
Jim Gilchrist, president of the Minuteman Project, a U.S. activist group that monitors the border flow of illegal immigrants, said the green wall will "provide effective camouflage for criminal drug and human cargo cartels as they mass their illicit products behind the tree lines, awaiting delivery into the U.S. under cover of darkness."
So far, the state of Coahuila, which extends opposite Big Bend National Park almost to the outskirts of Laredo, has planted 2,500 trees along 25 miles of border. The state has approved about $1 million for the tree-planting program. Plans would extend the green wall in other border states such as Tamaulipas and Chihuahua.
The U.S. border wall is unpopular along much of the Texas border and has been opposed by most border communities in the state.
Despite that opposition, federal officials say that 90 percent to 95 percent of the 670-mile barrier should be completed or under construction before President Bush's term ends in January.
The City of Eagle Pass recently lost a court battle against the U.S. government over the border fence, and construction has begun near the city's downtown. Mayor Chad Foster , one of the border wall's most outspoken critics, said he doubts the change of administrations will halt the wall.
"I don't think President-elect Obama will take office soon enough to impact (the) damage being done in our town," Foster said.
So far, 426 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing have been built, according to the Homeland Security Department, but that includes just 25 miles in Texas.
Federal officials plan to build 116 miles in the state.
In Mexico, few think the green wall will have any real impact on the U.S. border barrier, but local residents are happy that it will bring more green spaces and parks.
Arturo de la Cruz Talavera, who runs daily at a park beneath the international bridge in Ciudad Acuña, is looking forward to the day when the green wall saplings grow into mature trees.
"The green wall is in favor of life, it will create oxygen," he said. "It's not like the steel wall, which just rejects."
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/12/07/1207mexgreenwall.html
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
El Paso leaders write to Obama about border wall
Rio Grande Guardian
December 3, 2008
EL PASO, December 3 - El Paso leaders have written to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team urging the border wall project to be stopped. Details of the letter were unveiled at a press conference at El Paso Wednesday.
Among those participating were state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, who is also a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, and El Paso City Rep. Steve Ortega.
The press conference coincided with a two day conference in El Paso about the border wall hosted by the Border Ambassadors group.
Among those participating in the conference were Stefanie Herweck, a Weslaco resident and co-founder of the No Border Wall group, and Matt Clark, a member of Defenders of Wildlife.
As well as to Obama's transition team, the letter was also sent to Secretary of State designee Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Homeland Security designee Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Commerce designee Bill Richardson, and Presidential Transition Team Co-chair John Podesta.
Here below is the full letter:
Dear President-Elect Obama: All along the U.S.-Mexico border, our local economies thrive due to our close relationship with Mexico. In fact, in 2007 alone, the U.S.-Mexico export and import trade totaled $347.3 billion. Texas alone trades more with Mexico than all the European Union combined. At a time when our country faces a severe financial crisis, we believe it is irresponsible to spend billions of dollars on a wall that will not only scar our environmental landscape but also damage our relationship with communities and countries across the Americas. The $6.3 billion[1] that the federal government plans to spend on the border wall would be better spent on developing the infrastructure of the border region. The recent appointment of Governor Janet Napolitano clearly signifies the importance of immigration reform to your administration. I sincerely hope that your plan will not include the main component of immigration reform pursued by the Bush administration and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff—the border wall.
Already, in churches and homes from Chihuahua to Buenos Aires, these walls are called "muros de odio," symbols of a new hatred for which America is now known. For centuries, America has served as a symbol of freedom and democracy throughout the world. How long will it take for our great nation to repair the ill will that these walls have already engendered around the world?
Border walls are currently under construction in all four southern border states, and hundreds more miles of walls called for by the Secure Fence Act are in the planning stages. In April 2008, for the fifth time, Secretary Chertoff used the power granted to him by the Real ID Act to waive laws along the border so that walls and roads could be built without regard to public health and safety or environmental protection.
Already, erosion has begun to degrade the Tijuana River Estuary, a direct result of the canyon that DHS has filled in above it. The border wall between Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, caused severe flooding, which threatened life and damaged property.
In Texas, condemnation proceedings have been initiated against border municipalities and landowners, in spite of the fact that the Consolidated Fiscal 2008 Appropriations Act obliges homeland security officials to consult with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, states, local governments, Indian tribes, and property owners in communities affected by the wall.
During an October 2006 visit to The University of Texas–Permian Basin, the former Soviet President and Nobel Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev commented on the importance of innovative ideas to control the flow of immigration and argued against the building of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. In a reference to President Reagan's 1987 visit to the Berlin Wall, when Reagan told Mr. Gorbachev, "this wall should be torn down," Mr. Gorbachev said, "I don't think the U.S. is so weak and so much lacks confidence as not to be able to find a different solution… Now the United States seems to be building almost the Wall of China between itself and this other nation with which it has been associated for many decades and has had cooperation and interaction with."
For our country to prosper, we must lead the way in the safe, fast and secure movement of people and products in a post-9/11 world. To achieve success, our borders need adequate staffing, state-of-the-art technology, modern infrastructure and effective enforcement. As Governor Napolitano aptly stated in a 2007 address to the National Press Club:
I also have refused to agree that a wall by itself is an answer…As I often say, ‘You show me a 50-foot wall, and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder’…I also refuse to concede that illegal immigration is a political winner for those who simplistically suggest we can just “seal” the border…Here are some of the key elements of a real border plan: The first is the development of innovative, technology-driven border control between the ports of entry. Boots on the ground definitely help, but we can shore up our border gaps with ground-based sensors, radar, and unmanned aerial vehicles for wide-area intrusive-detection. Any combination of the above will work far better than any 10 or 20 or 50 miles of wall. The Department of Homeland Security is now installing this kind of technology. They need increased funding to sustain their efforts.
We ask you to stop building muros de odio on our southern border—let us stop building these ill-conceived walls founded in current notions of racism. As the next President of the United States, we hope your administration will lead the U.S. to once again be the beacon of hope to the world.
Let us make the case for safer, faster ports to move people and products in a 21st Century world. And most of all, let us work together, strengthened by the proud legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy to reach out to our neighbors, family and friends in all the Americas to build lasting bridges of friendship, safety and prosperity—not walls of hatred and division.
http://riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=20
December 3, 2008
EL PASO, December 3 - El Paso leaders have written to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team urging the border wall project to be stopped. Details of the letter were unveiled at a press conference at El Paso Wednesday.
Among those participating were state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, El Paso County Attorney José Rodriguez, who is also a board member of the Texas Border Coalition, and El Paso City Rep. Steve Ortega.
The press conference coincided with a two day conference in El Paso about the border wall hosted by the Border Ambassadors group.
Among those participating in the conference were Stefanie Herweck, a Weslaco resident and co-founder of the No Border Wall group, and Matt Clark, a member of Defenders of Wildlife.
As well as to Obama's transition team, the letter was also sent to Secretary of State designee Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Homeland Security designee Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Commerce designee Bill Richardson, and Presidential Transition Team Co-chair John Podesta.
Here below is the full letter:
Dear President-Elect Obama: All along the U.S.-Mexico border, our local economies thrive due to our close relationship with Mexico. In fact, in 2007 alone, the U.S.-Mexico export and import trade totaled $347.3 billion. Texas alone trades more with Mexico than all the European Union combined. At a time when our country faces a severe financial crisis, we believe it is irresponsible to spend billions of dollars on a wall that will not only scar our environmental landscape but also damage our relationship with communities and countries across the Americas. The $6.3 billion[1] that the federal government plans to spend on the border wall would be better spent on developing the infrastructure of the border region. The recent appointment of Governor Janet Napolitano clearly signifies the importance of immigration reform to your administration. I sincerely hope that your plan will not include the main component of immigration reform pursued by the Bush administration and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff—the border wall.
Already, in churches and homes from Chihuahua to Buenos Aires, these walls are called "muros de odio," symbols of a new hatred for which America is now known. For centuries, America has served as a symbol of freedom and democracy throughout the world. How long will it take for our great nation to repair the ill will that these walls have already engendered around the world?
Border walls are currently under construction in all four southern border states, and hundreds more miles of walls called for by the Secure Fence Act are in the planning stages. In April 2008, for the fifth time, Secretary Chertoff used the power granted to him by the Real ID Act to waive laws along the border so that walls and roads could be built without regard to public health and safety or environmental protection.
Already, erosion has begun to degrade the Tijuana River Estuary, a direct result of the canyon that DHS has filled in above it. The border wall between Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, caused severe flooding, which threatened life and damaged property.
In Texas, condemnation proceedings have been initiated against border municipalities and landowners, in spite of the fact that the Consolidated Fiscal 2008 Appropriations Act obliges homeland security officials to consult with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, states, local governments, Indian tribes, and property owners in communities affected by the wall.
During an October 2006 visit to The University of Texas–Permian Basin, the former Soviet President and Nobel Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev commented on the importance of innovative ideas to control the flow of immigration and argued against the building of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. In a reference to President Reagan's 1987 visit to the Berlin Wall, when Reagan told Mr. Gorbachev, "this wall should be torn down," Mr. Gorbachev said, "I don't think the U.S. is so weak and so much lacks confidence as not to be able to find a different solution… Now the United States seems to be building almost the Wall of China between itself and this other nation with which it has been associated for many decades and has had cooperation and interaction with."
For our country to prosper, we must lead the way in the safe, fast and secure movement of people and products in a post-9/11 world. To achieve success, our borders need adequate staffing, state-of-the-art technology, modern infrastructure and effective enforcement. As Governor Napolitano aptly stated in a 2007 address to the National Press Club:
I also have refused to agree that a wall by itself is an answer…As I often say, ‘You show me a 50-foot wall, and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder’…I also refuse to concede that illegal immigration is a political winner for those who simplistically suggest we can just “seal” the border…Here are some of the key elements of a real border plan: The first is the development of innovative, technology-driven border control between the ports of entry. Boots on the ground definitely help, but we can shore up our border gaps with ground-based sensors, radar, and unmanned aerial vehicles for wide-area intrusive-detection. Any combination of the above will work far better than any 10 or 20 or 50 miles of wall. The Department of Homeland Security is now installing this kind of technology. They need increased funding to sustain their efforts.
We ask you to stop building muros de odio on our southern border—let us stop building these ill-conceived walls founded in current notions of racism. As the next President of the United States, we hope your administration will lead the U.S. to once again be the beacon of hope to the world.
Let us make the case for safer, faster ports to move people and products in a 21st Century world. And most of all, let us work together, strengthened by the proud legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy to reach out to our neighbors, family and friends in all the Americas to build lasting bridges of friendship, safety and prosperity—not walls of hatred and division.
http://riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=20
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Flooded with questions
San Diego Union-Tribune
December 2, 2008
SOUTH COUNTY – In the Tijuana River Valley, horses are standing in mud up to their ankles and fields of watermelons are submerged under muck. Local farmers and ranchers blame the federal government – which is moving massive amounts of earth to accommodate a second border fence – for the mess.
But Border Patrol Agent Mark Endicott said the flooding at Monument Road and Hollister Street near the U.S.-Mexico border is not unusual after large storms.
“Every time we get heavy rain in that area, it floods, even before the construction project,” Endicott said.
The water flows from the high mesas that line the border toward about five large properties that sit in the valley below. A number of those properties host multiple families, individual ranches and numerous horse stables. Those who live there say last week's rains – about 1.14 inches over three days – brought more flooding and trouble than normal.
And they don't just blame the federal government. They say local agencies have failed to clean up debris-filled channels that carry the runoff.
After spending the long holiday weekend raking and clearing mud and debris from their land, property and business owners want answers.
Some locals, as well as environmentalists, are blaming the heavy flooding on an earth-moving project that began in August at a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch. The canyon is being filled in with dirt cut from surrounding hills to create a 150-foot-tall earthen berm that will eventually allow a second border fence and patrol roads.
“You always get sediment coming off the hills, but this was different,” said Dick Tynan, who owns about 20 acres on Monument Road and Hollister Street. He said a lot more flooding occurred this time with just a small amount of rain.
The fill project is near complete, with more than 1.2 million cubic yards of earth in the canyon. Another half-million cubic yards will soon be added to finish the berm.
The $48.6 million project is due for completion in May, and though erosion-control measures have been taken near the top of the canyon, the sides of the berm have yet to be reseeded with vegetation to prevent sediment runoff.
Oscar Romo, a professor of urban studies and planning at the University of California San Diego, is tracking the construction's environmental effects on both sides of the border. He visited the site Wednesday and Thursday after the heavy rainfall. Already, Romo said, substantial erosion had occurred along the sides of the berm.
Some river valley residents also blame the flooding on San Diego officials for not cleaning out a flood-control channel coming out of Smuggler's Gulch. It is designed to carry runoff but is filled in some areas with at least 10 feet of plastic bottles, as well as debris and trash, including a refrigerator.
Darren Pudgil, a spokesman for the Mayor's Office, could not confirm yesterday whether the problem was the city's.
Tynan's neighbor Jesse Garcia, who owns J&K Earthworks off Monument Road, said Wednesday's rain flooded many of his fields that run along the flood-control channel. Runoff up to 15-feet high breached one side of the channel when three openings under a dirt bridge were clogged.
“I had the bulldozer out here, and I was trying to build up the wall of the channel with topsoil,” Garcia said. “This is the first time this has happened.”
Garcia, who has been farming there 11 years, estimated he lost $10,000 of watermelons because of the flooding.
Romo said he also noticed mud at the bottom of a sediment basin near Goat Canyon, a smaller fence-construction site nearby.
“It was designed to catch only sediment from Mexico,” Romo said. “It is now experiencing a lot more sediment than it used to.”
Environmental advocate Mike McCoy of the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association, who was part of a 2004 lawsuit to stop the Smuggler's Gulch project, said he was alarmed by the reports of flooding.
“It's coming down off that bare construction area. Wait for another rain or so, and it could really become a problem,” he said. “We'll just have to track it closely.”
Tynan, who has owned his property since 1978, had to pump water off his property, where horses and goats in rented stables stood in wall-to-wall mud.
“I haven't seen it like this since 2005,” Tynan said.
Yesterday, Monument Road was still muddy, especially near Smuggler's Gulch and other canyons. Forecasters say they are 90 percent certain San Diego County will stay dry for the next week or so. However, National Weather Service forecaster Mark Moede said a 10 percent chance exists that rain expected to develop far off the coast might head toward land by Sunday.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081202-9999-1m2smuggle.html
December 2, 2008
SOUTH COUNTY – In the Tijuana River Valley, horses are standing in mud up to their ankles and fields of watermelons are submerged under muck. Local farmers and ranchers blame the federal government – which is moving massive amounts of earth to accommodate a second border fence – for the mess.
But Border Patrol Agent Mark Endicott said the flooding at Monument Road and Hollister Street near the U.S.-Mexico border is not unusual after large storms.
“Every time we get heavy rain in that area, it floods, even before the construction project,” Endicott said.
The water flows from the high mesas that line the border toward about five large properties that sit in the valley below. A number of those properties host multiple families, individual ranches and numerous horse stables. Those who live there say last week's rains – about 1.14 inches over three days – brought more flooding and trouble than normal.
And they don't just blame the federal government. They say local agencies have failed to clean up debris-filled channels that carry the runoff.
After spending the long holiday weekend raking and clearing mud and debris from their land, property and business owners want answers.
Some locals, as well as environmentalists, are blaming the heavy flooding on an earth-moving project that began in August at a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch. The canyon is being filled in with dirt cut from surrounding hills to create a 150-foot-tall earthen berm that will eventually allow a second border fence and patrol roads.
“You always get sediment coming off the hills, but this was different,” said Dick Tynan, who owns about 20 acres on Monument Road and Hollister Street. He said a lot more flooding occurred this time with just a small amount of rain.
The fill project is near complete, with more than 1.2 million cubic yards of earth in the canyon. Another half-million cubic yards will soon be added to finish the berm.
The $48.6 million project is due for completion in May, and though erosion-control measures have been taken near the top of the canyon, the sides of the berm have yet to be reseeded with vegetation to prevent sediment runoff.
Oscar Romo, a professor of urban studies and planning at the University of California San Diego, is tracking the construction's environmental effects on both sides of the border. He visited the site Wednesday and Thursday after the heavy rainfall. Already, Romo said, substantial erosion had occurred along the sides of the berm.
Some river valley residents also blame the flooding on San Diego officials for not cleaning out a flood-control channel coming out of Smuggler's Gulch. It is designed to carry runoff but is filled in some areas with at least 10 feet of plastic bottles, as well as debris and trash, including a refrigerator.
Darren Pudgil, a spokesman for the Mayor's Office, could not confirm yesterday whether the problem was the city's.
Tynan's neighbor Jesse Garcia, who owns J&K Earthworks off Monument Road, said Wednesday's rain flooded many of his fields that run along the flood-control channel. Runoff up to 15-feet high breached one side of the channel when three openings under a dirt bridge were clogged.
“I had the bulldozer out here, and I was trying to build up the wall of the channel with topsoil,” Garcia said. “This is the first time this has happened.”
Garcia, who has been farming there 11 years, estimated he lost $10,000 of watermelons because of the flooding.
Romo said he also noticed mud at the bottom of a sediment basin near Goat Canyon, a smaller fence-construction site nearby.
“It was designed to catch only sediment from Mexico,” Romo said. “It is now experiencing a lot more sediment than it used to.”
Environmental advocate Mike McCoy of the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association, who was part of a 2004 lawsuit to stop the Smuggler's Gulch project, said he was alarmed by the reports of flooding.
“It's coming down off that bare construction area. Wait for another rain or so, and it could really become a problem,” he said. “We'll just have to track it closely.”
Tynan, who has owned his property since 1978, had to pump water off his property, where horses and goats in rented stables stood in wall-to-wall mud.
“I haven't seen it like this since 2005,” Tynan said.
Yesterday, Monument Road was still muddy, especially near Smuggler's Gulch and other canyons. Forecasters say they are 90 percent certain San Diego County will stay dry for the next week or so. However, National Weather Service forecaster Mark Moede said a 10 percent chance exists that rain expected to develop far off the coast might head toward land by Sunday.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081202-9999-1m2smuggle.html
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Border crossings shift back to California routes
San Jose Mercury News
November 28, 2008
TIJUANA, Mexico—In a flash the two men were over the double fence and into the San Diego parking lot.
As a waiting pickup truck sped them away, the smuggler who boosted them over the 15-foot walls scrambled toward Mexico.
Border Patrol agents could only tag Juan Garcia's black sweatshirt with pepper spray bullets as he escaped back over the wall to Tijuana, red-eyed and coughing but $30 richer for a few seconds of daring labor.
It's just another night along the most heavily guarded stretch of U.S.-Mexico frontier, where Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal crossers have increased 28 percent since 2005—even as apprehensions have dropped nearly 40 percent border-wide over the same period. While illegal crossings are impossible to count, experts look to Border Patrol apprehensions as the best indicator of migrant traffic.
The Tijuana area's surprising increase is a booming business for cut-rate daredevils like Garcia, who are willing to try almost anything to get their clients across.
"I'll get you a bicycle, and I'll throw you over the fence with the bike," said part-time smuggler Giovanni Lopez, 28, after watching Garcia climb over. "But I'll also get you a little helmet and everything, so the Border Patrol thinks you're...what's the word in English? Exercising.
"And I cross over with you until a certain point, and I come back like this," he said, brushing away his tracks with an imaginary tree branch.
The Border Patrol's San Diego Sector—which covers 60 miles of border from the Pacific Ocean through strip malls and shanty towns into a boulder-strewn desert—is no stranger to such cat-and-mouse games. But its recent growth in traffic is driven by a curious convergence of strategies by both immigrants and the U.S. officials who chase them.
Analysts say the migrants encountering ever-increasing enforcement in the Arizona desert are bouncing back to California's traditional smuggling corridors, which offer shorter, cooler treks to cities and highways. The Border Patrol, meanwhile, takes migrants caught in Arizona to San Diego for deportation, hoping to break their ties to desert smugglers and daring them to try again against the border's toughest fences and highest concentration of agents.
"We're getting the right mix of personnel, technology and infrastructure there in San Diego, which allows us to take on that kind of surge," said Border Patrol spokesman Jason Ciliberti.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also is adding a growing number of deportees from the country's interior to the Tijuana corridor, where they quickly try to return to the lives they left up north. ICE removed a record 349,000 illegal immigrants in 2008, a 21 percent increase over last year and a 77 percent jump since 2005.
It's impossible to divine the split in Tijuana-area traffic among new arrivals choosing California over Arizona, apprehended migrants transferred between the two and deported illegal residents now trying to get back.
The Border Patrol declined to release numbers of migrant detainees moved from Arizona to Tijuana since it started relocating them in May, and ICE does not release its deportation statistics by repatriation point.
But other indicators are much clearer. In Arizona, increased enforcement and Operation Streamline—which slaps illegal crossers with criminal charges and possible jail time—have proven to be a sharp deterrent in the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma Sectors.
Yuma has seen apprehensions drop from 118,000 in 2006 to only 8,000 in 2008. Tucson apprehensions have fallen 20 percent in the same period.
Whatever the balance among factors, their combined effect is clear: San Diego Sector agents apprehended 162,000 illegal immigrants in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, up from 127,000 in 2005. Border-wide, the 723,000 apprehensions this year were down sharply from 1.2 million in 2005.
Statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute show Tijuana has received more than 40 percent of all Mexicans deported from the U.S. this year, or 50,000 more displaced migrants on its streets than last year. Indeed, the San Diego Sector traffic remains far below its peak of more than 500,000 apprehensions in 1993, the year before the U.S. launched Operation Gatekeeper, which erected fences to stop crowds from rushing across the open border nearly every night.
The current surge "is a function of the most flagrant problems having been addressed in San Diego first," said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies which advocates stricter immigration control. "Once the migration flow moved to Arizona, then enforcement efforts moved to Arizona, and some aliens and smugglers thought they would try their luck back in San Diego."
The weekend cyclist ruse is only one method. Throughout Tijuana, spotters watch the Border Patrol's movements day and night, coordinating runs northward by walkie-talkie cell phones.
Smugglers have even tried to take advantage of a $57 million project to extend double fencing between San Diego and Tijuana: Agents recently found 49 migrants packed inside the tank of a water truck stolen right off a Border Patrol construction site.
Others try to cross by water. San Diego immigration authorities have stopped 33 boats smuggling migrants or drugs north to area beaches in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, up from 10 in 2007.
But most Tijuana-area crossers still head into the deserts east of town. Near the sleepy border city of Tecate, crossing points are marked by piles of shredded blankets migrants cut into improvised moccasins to cover their tracks.
Santiago Rivera, 27, has been deported to Tijuana twice since May after serving a 25-month sentence for dealing heroin. He's lived most of his life in Los Angeles and said he no longer knows any relatives in his home state of Michoacan.
His pockets empty, he recently headed to Tecate to try crossing again.
"My sister lives in Beverly Hills. She goes to UCLA," Rivera said as he sat on a hot sidewalk waiting for a small migrant shelter to open for the night. "My mother is a cosmetologist and a nurse. She lives in Culver City. My girlfriend lives in Granada Hills, and she's manager of a restaurant. She's born over there. My daughter's born over there.
"What do I have here?" he continued. "Look at me. You think this is life?"
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11102252
November 28, 2008
TIJUANA, Mexico—In a flash the two men were over the double fence and into the San Diego parking lot.
As a waiting pickup truck sped them away, the smuggler who boosted them over the 15-foot walls scrambled toward Mexico.
Border Patrol agents could only tag Juan Garcia's black sweatshirt with pepper spray bullets as he escaped back over the wall to Tijuana, red-eyed and coughing but $30 richer for a few seconds of daring labor.
It's just another night along the most heavily guarded stretch of U.S.-Mexico frontier, where Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal crossers have increased 28 percent since 2005—even as apprehensions have dropped nearly 40 percent border-wide over the same period. While illegal crossings are impossible to count, experts look to Border Patrol apprehensions as the best indicator of migrant traffic.
The Tijuana area's surprising increase is a booming business for cut-rate daredevils like Garcia, who are willing to try almost anything to get their clients across.
"I'll get you a bicycle, and I'll throw you over the fence with the bike," said part-time smuggler Giovanni Lopez, 28, after watching Garcia climb over. "But I'll also get you a little helmet and everything, so the Border Patrol thinks you're...what's the word in English? Exercising.
"And I cross over with you until a certain point, and I come back like this," he said, brushing away his tracks with an imaginary tree branch.
The Border Patrol's San Diego Sector—which covers 60 miles of border from the Pacific Ocean through strip malls and shanty towns into a boulder-strewn desert—is no stranger to such cat-and-mouse games. But its recent growth in traffic is driven by a curious convergence of strategies by both immigrants and the U.S. officials who chase them.
Analysts say the migrants encountering ever-increasing enforcement in the Arizona desert are bouncing back to California's traditional smuggling corridors, which offer shorter, cooler treks to cities and highways. The Border Patrol, meanwhile, takes migrants caught in Arizona to San Diego for deportation, hoping to break their ties to desert smugglers and daring them to try again against the border's toughest fences and highest concentration of agents.
"We're getting the right mix of personnel, technology and infrastructure there in San Diego, which allows us to take on that kind of surge," said Border Patrol spokesman Jason Ciliberti.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also is adding a growing number of deportees from the country's interior to the Tijuana corridor, where they quickly try to return to the lives they left up north. ICE removed a record 349,000 illegal immigrants in 2008, a 21 percent increase over last year and a 77 percent jump since 2005.
It's impossible to divine the split in Tijuana-area traffic among new arrivals choosing California over Arizona, apprehended migrants transferred between the two and deported illegal residents now trying to get back.
The Border Patrol declined to release numbers of migrant detainees moved from Arizona to Tijuana since it started relocating them in May, and ICE does not release its deportation statistics by repatriation point.
But other indicators are much clearer. In Arizona, increased enforcement and Operation Streamline—which slaps illegal crossers with criminal charges and possible jail time—have proven to be a sharp deterrent in the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma Sectors.
Yuma has seen apprehensions drop from 118,000 in 2006 to only 8,000 in 2008. Tucson apprehensions have fallen 20 percent in the same period.
Whatever the balance among factors, their combined effect is clear: San Diego Sector agents apprehended 162,000 illegal immigrants in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, up from 127,000 in 2005. Border-wide, the 723,000 apprehensions this year were down sharply from 1.2 million in 2005.
Statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute show Tijuana has received more than 40 percent of all Mexicans deported from the U.S. this year, or 50,000 more displaced migrants on its streets than last year. Indeed, the San Diego Sector traffic remains far below its peak of more than 500,000 apprehensions in 1993, the year before the U.S. launched Operation Gatekeeper, which erected fences to stop crowds from rushing across the open border nearly every night.
The current surge "is a function of the most flagrant problems having been addressed in San Diego first," said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies which advocates stricter immigration control. "Once the migration flow moved to Arizona, then enforcement efforts moved to Arizona, and some aliens and smugglers thought they would try their luck back in San Diego."
The weekend cyclist ruse is only one method. Throughout Tijuana, spotters watch the Border Patrol's movements day and night, coordinating runs northward by walkie-talkie cell phones.
Smugglers have even tried to take advantage of a $57 million project to extend double fencing between San Diego and Tijuana: Agents recently found 49 migrants packed inside the tank of a water truck stolen right off a Border Patrol construction site.
Others try to cross by water. San Diego immigration authorities have stopped 33 boats smuggling migrants or drugs north to area beaches in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, up from 10 in 2007.
But most Tijuana-area crossers still head into the deserts east of town. Near the sleepy border city of Tecate, crossing points are marked by piles of shredded blankets migrants cut into improvised moccasins to cover their tracks.
Santiago Rivera, 27, has been deported to Tijuana twice since May after serving a 25-month sentence for dealing heroin. He's lived most of his life in Los Angeles and said he no longer knows any relatives in his home state of Michoacan.
His pockets empty, he recently headed to Tecate to try crossing again.
"My sister lives in Beverly Hills. She goes to UCLA," Rivera said as he sat on a hot sidewalk waiting for a small migrant shelter to open for the night. "My mother is a cosmetologist and a nurse. She lives in Culver City. My girlfriend lives in Granada Hills, and she's manager of a restaurant. She's born over there. My daughter's born over there.
"What do I have here?" he continued. "Look at me. You think this is life?"
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11102252
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Appraisers scarce for border fence landowners
Associated Press / Houston Chronicle
November 29, 2008
McALLEN, Texas — As Rio Grande Valley property owners gird for hearings that will determine how much the government pays for the land it takes to build the border fence, some are struggling to find a key witness — an appraiser.
The limited supply of qualified appraisers for this sort of work in the Valley, the cost of importing an appraiser from elsewhere and the fact that the government grabbed the Valley's premier appraisal firm for its side could ultimately lead to fewer landowners holding out for a trial, said lawyers involved with the cases.
"I don't think there are enough appraisers and a lot don't want to get involved," said lawyer Albert Villegas, who is representing several properties. Some appraisers Villegas approached were uneasy about determining the impact of a yet-to-be-built 18-foot fence on property value and others still hoped to get a piece of the government work, he said.
"They've pretty much negated everyone else," Villegas said. He was talking to appraisers in San Antonio and Houston.
But pulling in appraisers from outside the Valley to prepare a report and potentially testify if the case goes to trial becomes cost prohibitive for many owners.
Villegas has received quotes more than $10,000 for the work. For small landowners "that's a prohibitive amount," he said.
The Justice Department expects about 270 condemnation lawsuits against Valley landowners. Most have settled, but federal lawyers say about 80 holdouts could carry their cases all the way to trial. Trials are scheduled to begin in March and April, but the government can begin construction beforehand.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is trying to complete 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. It will not meet its end-of-year deadline, but has promised to have all sections under contract by then.
Some landowners in the Rio Grande Valley, where the project has been delayed by litigation, hope that a new administration will rethink the controversial project. Earlier this month Customs and Border Protection announced it was putting off three fence sections totaling about 14 miles in the Valley to further study their impact on Rio Grande floodwaters.
Richard Schell, another attorney representing border fence property owners, said he usually turned to the firm of Robinson, Duffy & Barnard LLP in Harlingen for appraisals involving litigation, but the government had them sewn up. So far the firm has been included on the government's witness list in only one case in Cameron County. No one from the firm returned calls for comment.
If appraisal work for these cases costs more than $10,000, Schell said one client would have to forego the outside expert and testify to the value himself.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen extended the deadline for naming experts by a month for a group of cases, including those handled by Villegas and Schell. They are scheduled to go to trial in March if Hanen opts for jury trials rather than a court-appointed land commission to determine compensation.
Bud Campana, a Brownsville appraiser not handling any border fence cases, said he was approached by a landowner this summer but was not comfortable with the job.
"The problem with these appraisals is it's a unique circumstance," Campana said. A big part of an appraisal is comparing the property to the sales of similarly affected pieces of land. But there is still nothing to compare the fence to, he said.
Some of the properties are further complicated by issues involving hunting leases, access to the Rio Grande and the value of land accessible — but in a more limited fashion — on the Mexican side of the fence.
"Based on what I've seen and generally heard I think it's a shame the way some property owners have been run over and treated," Campana said.
Not everyone is having problems though.
Norton Colvin, who is representing six properties in Cameron County, said the appraisals on his clients' land are nearly finished. He used an appraiser from Austin.
John Malcolm, president of Professional Appraisal Services in McAllen, said his firm will do appraisals for some landowners and possibly the government, too.
"I don't think there's a particular conflict in doing work for both the government or an individual property owners," Malcolm said. His appraisers would do the same job either way. "It doesn't matter who the client is."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6138177.html#
November 29, 2008
McALLEN, Texas — As Rio Grande Valley property owners gird for hearings that will determine how much the government pays for the land it takes to build the border fence, some are struggling to find a key witness — an appraiser.
The limited supply of qualified appraisers for this sort of work in the Valley, the cost of importing an appraiser from elsewhere and the fact that the government grabbed the Valley's premier appraisal firm for its side could ultimately lead to fewer landowners holding out for a trial, said lawyers involved with the cases.
"I don't think there are enough appraisers and a lot don't want to get involved," said lawyer Albert Villegas, who is representing several properties. Some appraisers Villegas approached were uneasy about determining the impact of a yet-to-be-built 18-foot fence on property value and others still hoped to get a piece of the government work, he said.
"They've pretty much negated everyone else," Villegas said. He was talking to appraisers in San Antonio and Houston.
But pulling in appraisers from outside the Valley to prepare a report and potentially testify if the case goes to trial becomes cost prohibitive for many owners.
Villegas has received quotes more than $10,000 for the work. For small landowners "that's a prohibitive amount," he said.
The Justice Department expects about 270 condemnation lawsuits against Valley landowners. Most have settled, but federal lawyers say about 80 holdouts could carry their cases all the way to trial. Trials are scheduled to begin in March and April, but the government can begin construction beforehand.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is trying to complete 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. It will not meet its end-of-year deadline, but has promised to have all sections under contract by then.
Some landowners in the Rio Grande Valley, where the project has been delayed by litigation, hope that a new administration will rethink the controversial project. Earlier this month Customs and Border Protection announced it was putting off three fence sections totaling about 14 miles in the Valley to further study their impact on Rio Grande floodwaters.
Richard Schell, another attorney representing border fence property owners, said he usually turned to the firm of Robinson, Duffy & Barnard LLP in Harlingen for appraisals involving litigation, but the government had them sewn up. So far the firm has been included on the government's witness list in only one case in Cameron County. No one from the firm returned calls for comment.
If appraisal work for these cases costs more than $10,000, Schell said one client would have to forego the outside expert and testify to the value himself.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen extended the deadline for naming experts by a month for a group of cases, including those handled by Villegas and Schell. They are scheduled to go to trial in March if Hanen opts for jury trials rather than a court-appointed land commission to determine compensation.
Bud Campana, a Brownsville appraiser not handling any border fence cases, said he was approached by a landowner this summer but was not comfortable with the job.
"The problem with these appraisals is it's a unique circumstance," Campana said. A big part of an appraisal is comparing the property to the sales of similarly affected pieces of land. But there is still nothing to compare the fence to, he said.
Some of the properties are further complicated by issues involving hunting leases, access to the Rio Grande and the value of land accessible — but in a more limited fashion — on the Mexican side of the fence.
"Based on what I've seen and generally heard I think it's a shame the way some property owners have been run over and treated," Campana said.
Not everyone is having problems though.
Norton Colvin, who is representing six properties in Cameron County, said the appraisals on his clients' land are nearly finished. He used an appraiser from Austin.
John Malcolm, president of Professional Appraisal Services in McAllen, said his firm will do appraisals for some landowners and possibly the government, too.
"I don't think there's a particular conflict in doing work for both the government or an individual property owners," Malcolm said. His appraisers would do the same job either way. "It doesn't matter who the client is."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6138177.html#
Friday, November 28, 2008
Border gulch fill-in faces the wet test
San Diego Union-Tribune
November 27, 2008
Three months after border fence construction began in a coastal canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch, crews have all but filled in the once-deep breach.
Since mid-August, contractors have cut more than 1.2 million cubic yards of dirt from surrounding hills and deposited it into the canyon, creating a 140-foot-tall earthen berm that vehicles can now drive across.
While the fence has yet to be built, Border Patrol officials estimate the controversial fill-in is about a week from completion.
The project was for years contested by environmentalists who feared sediment runoff could damage the Tijuana River estuary, a claim countered by federal officials who promised to re-seed and stabilize the site to prevent erosion.
Now, with start of the winter rains this week and more rain expected, observers on both sides will get to see how well the massive project holds up.
“This is the first test,” said Oscar Romo, a professor of urban studies and planning at the University of California San Diego who is tracking environmental impacts of the construction on both sides of the border.
While there has been some seeding and other erosion-control measures at the top of the canyon, the sides of the berm have yet to be replanted with vegetation that can slow runoff.
The fence project, which the fill-in is part of, is not due to be completed until May.
Romo, who spent yesterday afternoon checking the site and a nearby sediment channel for erosion following the previous night's rainstorm, isn't optimistic.
“I saw what I had expected to see,” he said. “Everywhere you look at the berm, there is erosion going on.”
Romo said future rainfall could create enough runoff to reach the estuary unless steps are taken to halt erosion.
On Tuesday, before the rain began, Border Patrol special operations supervisor Jim Swanson stood at the edge of the canyon and pointed out nearby coastal sage scrub and other native plants that will eventually be replanted at the site.
“The people opposed to this don't like to hear this, but it's actually adding acreage of coastal vegetation,” he said.
A planned freeway-style retaining wall will also help, he said. By the time it is finished, the berm will be 150 feet tall and made from about 1.7 million cubic yards of earth.
Swanson, a 22-year veteran of the agency in San Diego, said Smuggler's Gulch has been a particularly dangerous place to patrol, especially in fog, with narrow dirt roads clinging to the sides of the canyon. An agent was killed in a rollover accident there in 2002.
Once the new fence is in, paved roads on either side will allow agents to zip across in seconds.
“This area needed something like this,” Swanson said.
The Smuggler's Gulch fence project is part of a federal plan dating to the mid-1990s that calls for 14 miles of contiguous secondary fencing running inland from the ocean.
The federal government is spending $60 million to complete approximately 3½ miles of secondary fencing that had yet to be built across the canyon, in Border Field State Park and in surrounding areas.
At a cost of $48.6 million, Smuggler's Gulch is by far the most expensive, and controversial, part of the project. Plans for the massive fill-in led to a February 2004 lawsuit against the federal government by environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the San Diego Audubon Society.
That same month, the California Coastal Commission stalled construction after concluding it would cause environmental damage to the estuary, which had cost millions in state and federal tax dollars to restore.
The next year, however, Congress passed legislation that enabled the Department of Homeland Security to waive all laws standing in the way of building the fence. The environmental lawsuit was dismissed in December 2005.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20081127-9999-1m27gulch.html
November 27, 2008
Three months after border fence construction began in a coastal canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch, crews have all but filled in the once-deep breach.
Since mid-August, contractors have cut more than 1.2 million cubic yards of dirt from surrounding hills and deposited it into the canyon, creating a 140-foot-tall earthen berm that vehicles can now drive across.
While the fence has yet to be built, Border Patrol officials estimate the controversial fill-in is about a week from completion.
The project was for years contested by environmentalists who feared sediment runoff could damage the Tijuana River estuary, a claim countered by federal officials who promised to re-seed and stabilize the site to prevent erosion.
Now, with start of the winter rains this week and more rain expected, observers on both sides will get to see how well the massive project holds up.
“This is the first test,” said Oscar Romo, a professor of urban studies and planning at the University of California San Diego who is tracking environmental impacts of the construction on both sides of the border.
While there has been some seeding and other erosion-control measures at the top of the canyon, the sides of the berm have yet to be replanted with vegetation that can slow runoff.
The fence project, which the fill-in is part of, is not due to be completed until May.
Romo, who spent yesterday afternoon checking the site and a nearby sediment channel for erosion following the previous night's rainstorm, isn't optimistic.
“I saw what I had expected to see,” he said. “Everywhere you look at the berm, there is erosion going on.”
Romo said future rainfall could create enough runoff to reach the estuary unless steps are taken to halt erosion.
On Tuesday, before the rain began, Border Patrol special operations supervisor Jim Swanson stood at the edge of the canyon and pointed out nearby coastal sage scrub and other native plants that will eventually be replanted at the site.
“The people opposed to this don't like to hear this, but it's actually adding acreage of coastal vegetation,” he said.
A planned freeway-style retaining wall will also help, he said. By the time it is finished, the berm will be 150 feet tall and made from about 1.7 million cubic yards of earth.
Swanson, a 22-year veteran of the agency in San Diego, said Smuggler's Gulch has been a particularly dangerous place to patrol, especially in fog, with narrow dirt roads clinging to the sides of the canyon. An agent was killed in a rollover accident there in 2002.
Once the new fence is in, paved roads on either side will allow agents to zip across in seconds.
“This area needed something like this,” Swanson said.
The Smuggler's Gulch fence project is part of a federal plan dating to the mid-1990s that calls for 14 miles of contiguous secondary fencing running inland from the ocean.
The federal government is spending $60 million to complete approximately 3½ miles of secondary fencing that had yet to be built across the canyon, in Border Field State Park and in surrounding areas.
At a cost of $48.6 million, Smuggler's Gulch is by far the most expensive, and controversial, part of the project. Plans for the massive fill-in led to a February 2004 lawsuit against the federal government by environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the San Diego Audubon Society.
That same month, the California Coastal Commission stalled construction after concluding it would cause environmental damage to the estuary, which had cost millions in state and federal tax dollars to restore.
The next year, however, Congress passed legislation that enabled the Department of Homeland Security to waive all laws standing in the way of building the fence. The environmental lawsuit was dismissed in December 2005.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20081127-9999-1m27gulch.html
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
'Green' groups push for Coronado National Forest protections
Tucson Citizen
November 26, 2006
A partnership of environmental groups and other nonprofits is calling for a wider swath of wilderness and more emphasis on quiet recreation in the Coronado National Forest.
The Coronado Planning Partnership represents a combined membership of more than 300,000 people in 20 groups. The partnership issued a state-of-the-forest report Nov. 7 aimed at influencing the forest management plan, on which Coronado is taking public comment.
"We wanted to make sure we got a plan based in conservation," said David Hodges, policy director for the Sky Island Alliance, under whose name the partnership report was written.
The group was spurred to write the report by the planned revision of the Coronado management plan, which was last revised in 1986.
"There are a lot of new pressures on the forest that the agency has to take into account," Hodges said.
Population in Pima County has risen by 250,000, illegal immigration has become a destructive flood and global warming looms. None of those was a recognized threat two decades ago, he said.
To deal with the border, the partnership suggests strengthening interagency cooperation and preventing a border fence.
"A border wall would seriously disrupt the movement and availability of resources to a variety of species that are of conservation concern for the Coronado along with ecological systems that support those species," the report says.
The forest should prepare for global warming impacts, including changing habitat boundaries, invasive species and changes in species viability, the group said.
Hodges laments the shift toward using forests for recreation instead of conservation - a move he says leans away from the reason forests exist.
The groups' report calls for several new wilderness areas and "sound sheds" where only quiet activities are allowed. The group identified eight areas the forest should manage as more-restricted wilderness areas, Hodges said.
Despite receiving comments from more than 600 people, the partnership wants more. The group will take public comments on its draft report, with a final version out next spring, Hodges said.
No timeline has been announced for the Coronado management plan revision, though it is expected to take until next summer.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/border/103738.php
November 26, 2006
A partnership of environmental groups and other nonprofits is calling for a wider swath of wilderness and more emphasis on quiet recreation in the Coronado National Forest.
The Coronado Planning Partnership represents a combined membership of more than 300,000 people in 20 groups. The partnership issued a state-of-the-forest report Nov. 7 aimed at influencing the forest management plan, on which Coronado is taking public comment.
"We wanted to make sure we got a plan based in conservation," said David Hodges, policy director for the Sky Island Alliance, under whose name the partnership report was written.
The group was spurred to write the report by the planned revision of the Coronado management plan, which was last revised in 1986.
"There are a lot of new pressures on the forest that the agency has to take into account," Hodges said.
Population in Pima County has risen by 250,000, illegal immigration has become a destructive flood and global warming looms. None of those was a recognized threat two decades ago, he said.
To deal with the border, the partnership suggests strengthening interagency cooperation and preventing a border fence.
"A border wall would seriously disrupt the movement and availability of resources to a variety of species that are of conservation concern for the Coronado along with ecological systems that support those species," the report says.
The forest should prepare for global warming impacts, including changing habitat boundaries, invasive species and changes in species viability, the group said.
Hodges laments the shift toward using forests for recreation instead of conservation - a move he says leans away from the reason forests exist.
The groups' report calls for several new wilderness areas and "sound sheds" where only quiet activities are allowed. The group identified eight areas the forest should manage as more-restricted wilderness areas, Hodges said.
Despite receiving comments from more than 600 people, the partnership wants more. The group will take public comments on its draft report, with a final version out next spring, Hodges said.
No timeline has been announced for the Coronado management plan revision, though it is expected to take until next summer.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/border/103738.php
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Border Security Challenges Next Administration
National Public Radio
November 23, 2008
Weekend Edition Sunday, November 23, 2008 · Two years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama voted to pass the Secure Fence Act. The law authorized nearly 700 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was part of a three-pronged strategy to beef up border security. Now as president-elect, Obama is set to turn over that strategy to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who knows the subject firsthand. If she is confirmed as head of the Department of Homeland Security, she will have to assess whether the strategy is working.
The U.S.-Mexico border just east of the twin cities of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Ariz., rattles with construction noise. It's part of the DHS plan to build more than 350 miles of fence along the border by the end of this year.
Add to that a couple hundred miles of vehicle barriers, thousands of new border patrol agents and a virtual fence — and you have the current strategy.
Current DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff says almost all the fence will be finished by the time the next secretary comes in. Napolitano was critical of the fence plan when it was proposed. "Build a 50-foot fence," she said, "and they'll find a 51-foot ladder." But Chertoff points to a drop in illegal crossings where it's been built — mostly near cities where the fence slows people who would otherwise blend quickly into the urban environment.
Critics of the strategy say the fence is a negative symbol for America, it cuts off wildlife corridors and it's expensive. The latest cost estimate weighs in at about $3 billion. No one is talking about tearing down the fence, but look for Congress to try to take away a controversial power it gave to the DHS secretary to build the fence in sensitive areas: the right to waive more than 30 environmental and land use laws. It's especially contentious now in South Texas where the remaining fence has not yet been built.
The second part of the strategy is the huge border patrol buildup — 18,000 agents by the end of this year. Even critics of border policy agree this part of the strategy is working. The U.S. Border Patrol expects to have another 2,000 agents by the end of January.
The last part of the strategy, though, is way behind schedule.
As DHS secretary, Napolitano would have to make a decision about the high-tech virtual fence, or SBINet. It's supposed to be a series of towers with radar, video and microwave links. The idea is for agents to quickly spot, track and catch smugglers. But a pilot project last year was so fraught with bugs that DHS forced its designer, Boeing, to forfeit some of its payment. Boeing's contract is up next fall. Meanwhile, Chertoff has ordered redesigned towers.
No one knows how much the virtual fence will cost, because no one knows exactly where it will go or how well it will work. In the long-run, though, Napolitano says border security strategy will be far more effective if there's immigration and visa reform.
"You've got to have the comprehensive immigration reform," she told Phoenix public radio station KJZZ. "You can't just stop with ground sensors and fences. You've got to have more to deal with the labor issues that underlie this migration."
Both Democrats and Republicans said they would deal with those issues once the border was secure. But the economic downturn may be taking away pressure to deal with the issue. The Mexican government reported this week that the number of people leaving the country dropped by 42 percent over the last two years.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97355518
November 23, 2008
Weekend Edition Sunday, November 23, 2008 · Two years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama voted to pass the Secure Fence Act. The law authorized nearly 700 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was part of a three-pronged strategy to beef up border security. Now as president-elect, Obama is set to turn over that strategy to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who knows the subject firsthand. If she is confirmed as head of the Department of Homeland Security, she will have to assess whether the strategy is working.
The U.S.-Mexico border just east of the twin cities of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Ariz., rattles with construction noise. It's part of the DHS plan to build more than 350 miles of fence along the border by the end of this year.
Add to that a couple hundred miles of vehicle barriers, thousands of new border patrol agents and a virtual fence — and you have the current strategy.
Current DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff says almost all the fence will be finished by the time the next secretary comes in. Napolitano was critical of the fence plan when it was proposed. "Build a 50-foot fence," she said, "and they'll find a 51-foot ladder." But Chertoff points to a drop in illegal crossings where it's been built — mostly near cities where the fence slows people who would otherwise blend quickly into the urban environment.
Critics of the strategy say the fence is a negative symbol for America, it cuts off wildlife corridors and it's expensive. The latest cost estimate weighs in at about $3 billion. No one is talking about tearing down the fence, but look for Congress to try to take away a controversial power it gave to the DHS secretary to build the fence in sensitive areas: the right to waive more than 30 environmental and land use laws. It's especially contentious now in South Texas where the remaining fence has not yet been built.
The second part of the strategy is the huge border patrol buildup — 18,000 agents by the end of this year. Even critics of border policy agree this part of the strategy is working. The U.S. Border Patrol expects to have another 2,000 agents by the end of January.
The last part of the strategy, though, is way behind schedule.
As DHS secretary, Napolitano would have to make a decision about the high-tech virtual fence, or SBINet. It's supposed to be a series of towers with radar, video and microwave links. The idea is for agents to quickly spot, track and catch smugglers. But a pilot project last year was so fraught with bugs that DHS forced its designer, Boeing, to forfeit some of its payment. Boeing's contract is up next fall. Meanwhile, Chertoff has ordered redesigned towers.
No one knows how much the virtual fence will cost, because no one knows exactly where it will go or how well it will work. In the long-run, though, Napolitano says border security strategy will be far more effective if there's immigration and visa reform.
"You've got to have the comprehensive immigration reform," she told Phoenix public radio station KJZZ. "You can't just stop with ground sensors and fences. You've got to have more to deal with the labor issues that underlie this migration."
Both Democrats and Republicans said they would deal with those issues once the border was secure. But the economic downturn may be taking away pressure to deal with the issue. The Mexican government reported this week that the number of people leaving the country dropped by 42 percent over the last two years.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97355518
Friday, November 21, 2008
Elected officials ask Obama to stop border fence construction in San Diego
Rio Grande Guardian
November 21, 2008
SAN DIEGO, November 21 - Nine elected officials from California, including two members of Congress, have written to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team to ask that border wall construction at Friendship Park, San Diego, be stopped.
The letter has been sent to John Podesta, co-chair of Obama’s presidential transition team and a former chief of staff to President Clinton.
The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Susan Davis and Bob Filner, California state Senators Denise Ducheny and Christine Kehoe, California state Assembly members Mary Salas and Lori Saldana, and San Diego City Council members Donna Frye and Ben Hueso.
The letter points out that the Department of Homeland Security has halted plans to build a border fence in parts of South Texas (in Roma, Rio Grande City and Los Ebanos). The authors of the letter ask for similar treatment for Friendship Park, which they describe as a place of "great historic and cultural significance to the people of the U.S.-Mexico border region."
The letter, dated Nov. 14, 2008, was written on Congresswoman Davis's letterhead.
Here is the letter in full:
Dear Mr. Podesta,
We appreciate this opportunity to share with you a single and simple recommendation for the 2008 presidential transition. Unlike some requests that may be submitted for your consideration, this one would require immediate action in order to have the desired effect.
We are asking your transition team to intervene to save "Friendship Park" - a place of great historic and cultural significance to the people of the U.S. - Mexico border region. By seeing to it that the Department of Homeland Security halts construction of supplemental border fencing near Friendship Park, the transition team can make a powerful and symbolic gesture of bi-national goodwill that will be hailed by people on both sides of the border.
"Friendship Park" is a half-acre plaza overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the southwest-most corner of the continental Unites States. The plaza sits atop Monument Mesa, a six-acre mesa within the bounds of California's 800-acre Border Field State Park.
At the center of Friendship Park stands a monument marking the first meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary Commission in 1848. For generations residents of the United States have gathered around this monument to visit through the border fence with family and friends in Tijuana, Mexico. When Border Field State Park was formally inaugurated as a California State Park in 1971, then-First Lady Patricia Nixon presided over a bi-national dedication ceremony at the monument.. Clearly the idea of the monument as an international meeting place lies at the very heart of the park's design.
On April 1, 2008, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff waived dozens of environmental and other regulations to expedite construction of 670 miles of supplemental fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Operating under the Chertoff waivers, DHS contractors are now beginning construction of a second security wall across the heart of Monument Mesa. This wall will eliminate routine public access to Friendship Park - this despite the fact that illegal border crossings and drug smuggling at Friendship Park are well controlled by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) thorough the current practice of monitoring the area through visual observation and advanced surveillance technology.
As is the case with other construction projects along the length of the border, DHS intends to erect the new barriers atop Monument Mesa by year-end 2008. For this reason immediate intervention is required to save Friendship Park. We are encouraged by the recent announcement that CBP has decided no to move forward this year on the construction of three proposed border fence segments in Texas. We feel this cherished part of the California landscape should receive similar consideration.
The plan to eliminate public access to Friendship Park has become for the peoples of the U.S.-Mexico border region a tragic symbol of the "enforcement only" approach to U.S. - Mexico border policy. For two examples of the widespread news coverage which the case of Friendship Park has been receiving, please see the attached stories from the New York Times (10/22/08) and from the Christian Century magazine (10/7/08). Coverage in the Mexican press has been even more extensive, communicating the dismay of the Mexican people that the U.S. government would eliminate routine public access to this historical gathering place.
Direction to DHS contractors halting all border fence construction on Monument Mesa would send a powerful message to the peoples of the U.S. - Mexico border region. It would also give a new staff at DHS time to solicit new proposals for the re-design of security measures that will ensure continued public access to Friendship Park.
Were such directions given by President Bush, it could be celebrated as a noble gesture reaffirming his lifelong commitment to good relations between the peoples of Mexico and the United States. Were such direction insisted upon by the Obama transition team, it would signal the incoming administration's understanding that our national security is enhanced, not diminished, by the promotion of friendship with the people of Mexico.
Should you have any questions about Friendship Park, please do not hesitate to contact us. With best wishes for a successful transition, we thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Susan Davis, Member of Congress
Bob Filner, Member of Congress
Denise Ducheny, California State Senator
Christine Kehoe, California State Senator
Mary Salas, California Assemblymember
Lori Saldana, California Assemblymember
Donna Frye, San Diego City Councilmember
Ben Hueso, San Diego City Councilmember
John Garamendi, Lt. Governor of the State of California
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=26
November 21, 2008
SAN DIEGO, November 21 - Nine elected officials from California, including two members of Congress, have written to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team to ask that border wall construction at Friendship Park, San Diego, be stopped.
The letter has been sent to John Podesta, co-chair of Obama’s presidential transition team and a former chief of staff to President Clinton.
The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Susan Davis and Bob Filner, California state Senators Denise Ducheny and Christine Kehoe, California state Assembly members Mary Salas and Lori Saldana, and San Diego City Council members Donna Frye and Ben Hueso.
The letter points out that the Department of Homeland Security has halted plans to build a border fence in parts of South Texas (in Roma, Rio Grande City and Los Ebanos). The authors of the letter ask for similar treatment for Friendship Park, which they describe as a place of "great historic and cultural significance to the people of the U.S.-Mexico border region."
The letter, dated Nov. 14, 2008, was written on Congresswoman Davis's letterhead.
Here is the letter in full:
Dear Mr. Podesta,
We appreciate this opportunity to share with you a single and simple recommendation for the 2008 presidential transition. Unlike some requests that may be submitted for your consideration, this one would require immediate action in order to have the desired effect.
We are asking your transition team to intervene to save "Friendship Park" - a place of great historic and cultural significance to the people of the U.S. - Mexico border region. By seeing to it that the Department of Homeland Security halts construction of supplemental border fencing near Friendship Park, the transition team can make a powerful and symbolic gesture of bi-national goodwill that will be hailed by people on both sides of the border.
"Friendship Park" is a half-acre plaza overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the southwest-most corner of the continental Unites States. The plaza sits atop Monument Mesa, a six-acre mesa within the bounds of California's 800-acre Border Field State Park.
At the center of Friendship Park stands a monument marking the first meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary Commission in 1848. For generations residents of the United States have gathered around this monument to visit through the border fence with family and friends in Tijuana, Mexico. When Border Field State Park was formally inaugurated as a California State Park in 1971, then-First Lady Patricia Nixon presided over a bi-national dedication ceremony at the monument.. Clearly the idea of the monument as an international meeting place lies at the very heart of the park's design.
On April 1, 2008, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff waived dozens of environmental and other regulations to expedite construction of 670 miles of supplemental fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Operating under the Chertoff waivers, DHS contractors are now beginning construction of a second security wall across the heart of Monument Mesa. This wall will eliminate routine public access to Friendship Park - this despite the fact that illegal border crossings and drug smuggling at Friendship Park are well controlled by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) thorough the current practice of monitoring the area through visual observation and advanced surveillance technology.
As is the case with other construction projects along the length of the border, DHS intends to erect the new barriers atop Monument Mesa by year-end 2008. For this reason immediate intervention is required to save Friendship Park. We are encouraged by the recent announcement that CBP has decided no to move forward this year on the construction of three proposed border fence segments in Texas. We feel this cherished part of the California landscape should receive similar consideration.
The plan to eliminate public access to Friendship Park has become for the peoples of the U.S.-Mexico border region a tragic symbol of the "enforcement only" approach to U.S. - Mexico border policy. For two examples of the widespread news coverage which the case of Friendship Park has been receiving, please see the attached stories from the New York Times (10/22/08) and from the Christian Century magazine (10/7/08). Coverage in the Mexican press has been even more extensive, communicating the dismay of the Mexican people that the U.S. government would eliminate routine public access to this historical gathering place.
Direction to DHS contractors halting all border fence construction on Monument Mesa would send a powerful message to the peoples of the U.S. - Mexico border region. It would also give a new staff at DHS time to solicit new proposals for the re-design of security measures that will ensure continued public access to Friendship Park.
Were such directions given by President Bush, it could be celebrated as a noble gesture reaffirming his lifelong commitment to good relations between the peoples of Mexico and the United States. Were such direction insisted upon by the Obama transition team, it would signal the incoming administration's understanding that our national security is enhanced, not diminished, by the promotion of friendship with the people of Mexico.
Should you have any questions about Friendship Park, please do not hesitate to contact us. With best wishes for a successful transition, we thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Susan Davis, Member of Congress
Bob Filner, Member of Congress
Denise Ducheny, California State Senator
Christine Kehoe, California State Senator
Mary Salas, California Assemblymember
Lori Saldana, California Assemblymember
Donna Frye, San Diego City Councilmember
Ben Hueso, San Diego City Councilmember
John Garamendi, Lt. Governor of the State of California
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=26
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