Hector Guzman Lopez, a spokesman for the Fuerza Del Valle workers center in Alamo, speaks during the rally held Wednesday outside of U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela's office in San Benito.[/SIZE]
SAN BENITO — Immigrant rights groups Wednesday joined environmentalists to support U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela’s stand to oppose a proposal to increase the numbers of Border Patrol agents and expand the border wall as part of a plan to pass a federal immigration reform bill.
Under pelting rains, about 100 demonstrators gathered as part of nationwide rallies called National Day of Action Against Border Militarization. The Rio Grande Valley rally was held outside Vela’s office at the Cameron County annex building.
Armed with bullhorns, demonstrators chanted “No border wall” and “Education not deportation.”
“We need measures that help people who have crossed the border to make a better life in the United States,” said Humberto Garza, Vela’s spokesman in San Benito.
By FERNANDO DEL VALLE Valley Morning Star July 18 2013
Garza said the proposed immigration reform bill would cost taxpayers $30 million to double the number of Border Patrol agents and continue construction of the wall from Brownsville to San Diego.
Garza suggested using the money for the region’s economic development.
“We need to invest in our communities,” he said.
Vela, a Democrat from Brownsville, resigned this month from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, criticizing support for the proposal to increase the number of Border Patrol agents and expand the border wall. Garza said that the congressman was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
“We don’t want a pathway to citizenship to depend on militarization,” said Rogelio Nuñez, executive director of Proyecto Libertad, an immigrant rights group based in Harlingen. “This is a border different than other borders, with families related on both sides, with a long history and tradition.”
Hector Guzman Lopez, a spokesman for Fuerza Del Valle workers center in Alamo, said increased enforcement could mean death for some undocumented immigrants who journey into the United States.
“We’re in favor of immigration reform and humanitarianism,” Guzman Lopez told the crowd. “We want a free border for workers. We don’t want more deaths. We don’t want more violence. We already have human rights violations. If (the bill passes as proposed) we’ll double the human rights violations.”
Jose Medrano, program development director for the South Texas Adult Resource and Training Center here, said the proposed addition of 20,000 Border Patrol agents would be “very intrusive” to residents in border communities.
“It potentially can change our day-to-day life,” Medrano said.
Scott Nicol, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, said the border wall’s continued construction would cut through additional swaths of wildlife habitat to further threaten endangered species such as the ocelot.
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