Thread: Border Mayors Suggest New Option

Border Mayors Suggest New Option

Updated: Nov 18, 2007 07:54 PM PST

By the end of 2008, 700 miles of fencing both real and virtual with cameras, underground sensors, radar and other technology upgrades will form a barrier to separate the Unites States from Mexico.

The federal government believes it will greatly deter border crime like illegal crossings, drug and human smuggling. Here in the valley plans call for portions of the Rio Grande River to be eclipsed by a wall stretching across 70 miles.

Opponents of the border wall ask why spend 1.2 billion dollars for something illegal immigrants could likely breach in as little as 4 minutes flat? They want to see the river be widened and deepened to create conditions so treacherous nobody would want to ever cross it.

Brownsville's Pat Ahumada is one of many border mayors joining forces in the push. We caught up with him in California via the telephone.

"What we're doing in essence is building a virtual wall by raising the level of the Rio Grande from 12 feet to 26 feet... above sea level... backing up the river 42 miles and widening it in meter feet."

He believes the 40 million dollar measure in conjunction with improved surveillance is not only more cost effective but more culturally sound as well. A belief Cuban Monsees calls, "stupidity."

As someone who lives along the border in Brownsville, he sees the wall as an opportunity to protect not only himself but his family.

"At least I can get some sleep at night... It will afford me protection and my children... I got one at home right now."

And while he agrees a wall isn't breach-proof, damming the river, he says, is a waste of time.

"There's areas in Eagle Pass... the water is 60 feet deep... so they put 2 more balloons together... 2 more tractor tires together and come across."

Mayor Pat Ahumada says the necessary permits needed to widen and deepen the river have already been approved. Action 4 news could not independently verify that information by news time. However, another obstacle is Mexico. A treaty from the 1940's requires any alteration of the river to be mutually approved... and this latest plan has not been approved.

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=7370102

no thank you... this option stinks; we'll take the fence