Thread: Controversial border fence hot issue in Texas primary

Controversial border fence hot issue in Texas primary

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AFP) — If it can be smuggled or dumped across the US-Mexico border, Ray Loop has probably seen it turn up on his South Texas farm: Bags of dope, Chinese immigrants, dead bodies, you name it.

But Loop says he is facing his biggest threat ever, not from illegal activity but from the government's proposed solution to it: a massive border fence that would cut right through his property and leave him in what he calls a "no-man's land."

Now Loop has joined a growing resistance to the controversial project, which has sparked a heated debate in Washington and, more recently, on the presidential campaign trail.

The renewed attention has fueled hopes in South Texas that the next president will either scale back or torpedo plans for the massive fence.

Though wildly popular on conservative talk radio, the project has drawn almost universal scorn along the Texas border.

"There is a sense of hope that the next administration will be more border-centric," state lawmaker Aaron Pena, a supporter of Democrat hopeful Hillary Clinton, told AFP.

"Because of the dynamics in the presidential election, with Texas being at the center point of the debate, we might leverage more acceptable options."

At a debate Thursday in the Lone Star state's capital, both Democratic presidential hopefuls, Clinton and Barack Obama, said increased patrols and improved surveillance methods would be a better solution than the fence.

"There is a smart way to protect our borders and a dumb way to protect our borders," said New York Senator Clinton, who lambasted the "counterproductive" fence which interferes with "family relations, business relations, recreation, and so much else that makes living along the border, you know, wonderful."

Likewise, rival Illinois Senator Obama said he would explore alternatives in consultation with local communities.

"As senator Clinton indicated, there may be areas where it makes sense to have some fencing," he said. "But for the most part, having a border patrol surveillance, deploying effective technology, that's going to be the better approach."

Never mind that both Obama and Clinton voted in favor of the wall. Republican frontrunner John McCain voted for it too, though his moderate views on immigration reform have played well in the Texas border area.

Congress passed a law in 2006 calling for 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) of double-layer fencing along the 2,000 mile (3,220 kilometers) border with Mexico. More recently, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to erect 370 miles (595 kilometers) of it before President George W. Bush leaves office in early 2009.

Environmentalists, farmers and elected officials have been complaining about the project, and allegedly heavy-handed tactics by the Bush Administration, for months. The US Department of Homeland Security has filed lawsuits aimed at expropriating land from dozens of landowners up and down the border.

Even the University of Texas at Brownsville could lose access to buildings and grounds on the other side of the fence and is facing a potential legal battle after refusing to allow authorities on campus to survey the land.

The Loop family has also refused to sign a release allowing the government to survey their farm.

Ray Loop and his brothers are fourth-generation Texas farmers, growing produce and grain on a 2,000 hectare (5,000 acre) spread along the banks of the Rio Grande.

He's prepared to leave it all behind if the fence goes up as planned, as the bulk of his land will be a dangerous swath of riverfront property on the Mexican side of the barrier.

That could make him a target of smugglers and drug traffickers, he said.

"That's just not a risk I'm willing to take," said Loop, who has three young daughters.

It's a heart-breaking scenario for his father. Leonard Loop, 70, never had the money to buy the soil his family tilled as tenant farmers, but his boys finally did a few years ago.

"Every time I think of this stupid fence going up out there and ruining this place, it just makes me sick," the elder Loop said as he looked out across his soon-to-be worthless farm.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCf ... K6m88gugWA

why the hell would part of the campus be on the mexican side of the border?-who do they pay property tax too?IF a crime is committed on mexican site,what police do they call ?What would stop anybody from crossing there?MAAYBE THEY DO NOT WANT IT SURVEYED BECAUSE THIS IS A LIE!

This story is a crock! I am a Texan and have been one since my birth 51 years ago and I say PUT UP THE FENCE NOW! I'm tired of a few people that have filled there pockets because of illegal activity and our governments hidden agenda undermining the soverignty of this once great nation! If these idiots property crosses the border who's fault is that? If the government is playing games by trying to cede land to Mexico then they need to get their act together or find a new vocation. I know I am not voting for the globalist Cornyn but rather his Republican opponent that wants Texas to succede from the Union. I also will not vote for the elitest's nominees Obama, Clinton, or McCain, but will instead write in the name of the most honest politician this country has ever had and that is Ron Paul. Unless of course alipac succeds in getting Lou Dobbs to run in which case it is a no-brainer!