Unguarded border bridges could be route into US
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL

ACALA, Texas — On each side of a towering West Texas stretch of the $2.4 billion border fence designed to block people from illegally entering the country, there are two metal footbridges, clear paths into the United States from Mexico.

The footpaths that could easily guide illegal immigrants and smugglers across the Rio Grande without getting wet seem to be there because of what amounts to federal linguistics. While just about anyone would call them bridges, the U.S.-Mexico group that owns them calls them something else.

"Technically speaking it's not a bridge, it's a grade control structure," said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission, which maintains the integrity of the 1,200-mile river border between the U.S. and Mexico. The structures under the spans help prevent the river — and therefore the international border — from shifting.

Whatever they're called, there are fresh sneaker tracks on the structures — indicating they're being used as passages into the country.

"This is outrageous and yet another example of the federal government failing miserably in its duty to secure the border from those who wish to do us harm, and they need to take immediate action to address this situation," Katherine Cesinger, spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said in a Wednesday statement.

The realization that a section of the border fence is sandwiched between two footbridges comes at a time of heightened alarm along the U.S.-Mexico border as the drug war in northern Mexico continues unabated. President Barack Obama ordered thousands of National Guard troops to the border but Perry has railed that the federal government isn't doing enough to keep Americans safe and illegal immigrants out.

The steel fencing that dots about 600 miles of border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California was built under former President George W. Bush's administration amid a national outcry for border security. The steel fencing appears in rural areas, while urban areas have shorter, concrete vehicle barriers.

In this Aug. 4, 2010, photo is the walkway of a footbridge across the Rio Grande near Acala, Texas, connecting the United States and Mexico _ that is sometimes used by illegal border crossers to come into Texas. The crossing is owned by both the United States and Mexico and the commission that maintains them says they are needed for workers to maintain and occasionally fix the bridges. (AP Photo/Alicia A. Caldwell)

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