EL PASO, Texas, Oct. 25, 2007
U.S.-Mexico Border Fence Plan Nixed
Texas Landowners Have Refused To Allow Federal Government To Build 370 Mile Steel Fence
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A glove abandoned by its owner hangs caught on a barbed wire fence along the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Opponents of the fence refused federal workers access to their land last month in South Texas. About the same time, the government offered to pay some property owners $3,000 in exchange for permission to conduct surveys for the project.
After many of them balked at the money on principle, the government abandoned the plan.
"I think it's blood money, bribery," said Brownsville Mayor Patricio M. Ahumada Jr.
The proposal to build 370 miles of steel fence is widely opposed in the Rio Grande Valley, the most heavily populated part of the Texas-Mexico border and a region with an economy and culture dependent on cross-border traffic.
The payments were being offered in a region where the median family income is about $30,000. But instead of welcoming the windfall, many residents were outraged when federal officials described the payment plan.
Ahumada, whose border city has already denied fence-planners access to city property, said the payments were insulting and disingenuous.
"The federal government is doing all it can to get access," Ahumada said. "They are thinning the herd (of opposition), so to speak, one by one. These tactics are not unusual when they want to get something done like this."
Johnny Hart, owner of the Riverside Club in Mission, said he sees the money as "nothing more than a bribe." But he wouldn't turn it down.
"Give me $3,000 and you can survey all you want, but it doesn't mean I am not going to fight you" on building the fence, Hart said.
Congress has authorized $1.2 billion to build 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The project includes about 330 miles of so-called virtual fence - a network of cameras, high-tech sensors, radar and other technology. The remaining sections, primarily in urban areas are expected to have an actual fence. About 70 miles of actual fence is planned in South Texas.
Noel Benavides, a city councilman and business owner in Roma, said the payments would cloud the issue.
"If this was really something that was going to be beneficial to the whole community and the whole nation, I would be the first person to say, 'My friend, you can go in there and do what you need to do,"' Benavides said. "It's going to be a waste of time. It's not going to stop illegal immigrants."
Benavides, a lifelong resident of Roma, said residents and local governments may eventually lose their battle against the fence, but they plan to keep fighting. State officials, including Republican Gov. Rick Perry, also oppose plans to build the fence.
On Tuesday, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo who is opposed to the fence, said Homeland Security authorities told him the payment plan was off. He did not elaborate.
It was not clear what prompted the change of heart. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Brad Benson did not return several phone calls from The Associated Press.
Ahumada said the issue was also a matter of historical and patriotic pride.
"You are talking about land that Texans and Americans shed blood for to keep," he said. "And now they are trying to move the border further north than established by treaty."
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 116 Commentshahaha Posted by rerrorislam3
"No I think he''d pass...''cause you''d be one of them!
Posted by ozilot
Dang, rerrorislam3!!! I believe you may be the solution to terrorism if we listen to ozilot! rdrr!
These people will have more pesos, than dollars in their future, without fence in place. If you know what I mean.
The next President will be a Democrat.
Chose wisely. Chose Richardson.
Posted by billy1745 at 01:40 AM
Got proof?
Posted by sunsetbillyb at 07:01 PM : Oct 25, 2007
please tell me,,, what was muhammad''''s religion before he tried to convert to judaism???
and it was non muslims that destroyed iraq and afghanistan and before that the ottoman empire haji,,,
why have you not become a suicide murderer coward??? do you not want your 72 virgin pigs???
hahaha
we should do the same. stop hyding behind
mother america''s apron strings. will dr.hyde
cure mr. jekyll? or will dr. jekyll cure mr. hyde?
nationalism was main cause of world war one, two
and ???? wanna die for God, and Texas? i don''t.
all that stuff about getting martyred for the
faith in sunday school? really how idiotic.
let me off this cross. then preach eternal life?
how inconsistent, contradictory. the bible contradicts itself every three or four verses. so
do all ''messages from god''.
Send in the Bluebellies and teach the Texans what "eminent domain" means!
You still have another year, dude. Enjoy!
Then Hillary is going to lose to a Republican, so you can enjoy another 8 years... Lap it up fly.
They are certain it was US government. Why hail, I forget which one of them it was, but they SWEAR up and down the 757 that plowed into the Pentagon never happened.
It will never happen. All Bu$h ideas will whimper and die when he is indicted...
Oh, I gave you credit for following all posts, I obviously should not have done that. I''''ll explane, some earlier posts wanted to return the land to whoever was there/here/wherever first. Try to pay attention!
Posted by thgdriver at 05:09 PM
Well, there is of course that hypocrisy involved in not wanting Hispanics in our country, when nearly a third of the land was originally theirs. Of course, they have been here all along, haven''t they (the Mestizos)? There are documented cases of Native Americans who owned lands around the missions of California and throughout the Southwest. When the US took over the Southwest, people who had no rights to those lands came in, supposedly purchased the lands, and the inhabitants, who lived in their own houses, were thrown out. People like to think history somehow should be forgotten and past wrongs not spoken of, but reality is that it never works that way. History, especially when unjust, always visits the future.
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