Thread: Border-fence protesters plea for unity

'The march has not ended'
Border-fence protesters plea for unity
By MichaelD. Hernandez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 09/01/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


Father Arturo Banuelas greeted children on the other side of the border fence at Sunland Park New Mexico Sunday at the bi national closing ceremony for the border wall march. (Vanessa Monsisvais / El Paso Times)
Photo Gallery: Border-fence protesters

SUNLAND PARK -- The four-day, 60-mile trek by protesters of the fence being built along the U.S.-Mexico border concluded Sunday afternoon with calls for peace, unity and stronger opposition to the border barrier.

"For us, the march has not ended," Carlos Marentes, director of Centro de Trabajadores Agricolas Fronterizos, the Border Farm Workers Center in South El Paso, told more than a hundred people on both sides of the fence. "On the contrary. We have stopped walking but now begins the good stuff. Now begins the work."

The U.S. government is building a fence in the El Paso area that will be nearly 100 miles long along the U.S.-Mexico border, stretching from Columbus, N.M., to Fort Hancock.

The fence is expected to be completed by the end of the year and will be part of a system of barriers in South Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California used by Border Patrol to help deter illegal immigration and smuggling.

Several organizations participated in the march that began in Fort Hancock on Thursday and drew more support as it continued west during the weekend.

Sal Quintanilla, a master naturalist with the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, said he decided to join the march on Sunday because he believes the fence will harm wild animals in the area who depend on access to

water from the Rio Grande.
"From the deer mouse all the way to the coyotes, all these animals go back between the wetlands and the river and they are just cutting things off with the fence," he said.

El Pasoan Salvador Gomez, the lone protester against the march, said he favors the fence because he believes the unchecked movement of people across the border into the United States presents a dangerous threat to national security.

Border Patrol agents in vehicles and on horses kept watch over the border and scanned the march from a distance.

Michael D. Hernandez may be reached at mhernandez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6151.


http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_10353133

Haven't any of these protesting fools ever heard of property rights? The US can do whatever it wants on its sovereign territory.

So they want to build bridges, not walls??? As if we should open up the entire border and put up a big welcome sign? Unbelievable!
~~~

09.01.08
Dozens protest border fence from Fort Hancock to Sunland Park

Updated: Sep 1, 2008 05:48 PM PDT

By ABC-7 Anchor/Reporter Marissa Monroy

El Paso -- Protesters gathered Sunday to speak out against the border fence going up along the U.S.-Mexico border near the Border Highway.

The group walked more than 55 miles from Ft. Hancock to Sunland Park, New Mexico. Holding up signs and waving flags, the immigration-rights groups met with other protesters in Mexico.

"This is not the answer to the problems that we have, in both countries. A wall is not the answer. It divides," Rosa Vega said. "We want to build bridges not walls."

But not everyone agreed with their cause.

"I oppose anything that is illegal, including illegal immigration. Now there's a big difference," Salvador Gomez said. "There's immigration which I am 100 percent in favor of, but illegal says it all."

The Associated Press reports the fence is expected to cost about $16-million dollars a mile.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=8933880&nav=AbC0

Father Arturo Banuelas greeted children on the other side of the border fence at Sunland Park New Mexico Sunday at the bi national closing ceremony for the border wall march. (Vanessa Monsisvais / El Paso Times)

((("This is not the answer to the problems that we have, in both countries. A wall is not the answer. It divides," Rosa Vega said. "We want to build bridges not walls." )))

WHY? To make your invasion easier for gangs, drug wars and Tuberculosis? No thank you, you can keep it. Build the fence with an aligator filled moat around it.