Sheriffs Coalition Says Border Fence Not Answer

May 23, 2007 09:50 PM PDT

Despite the federal government's belief that building a fence along the Rio Grande will help to curb illegal immigration in the Valley, some members of the Texas Sheriffs Border Coalition announced Wednesday that they believe that a fence is not the answer.

At a meeting in Pharr Wednesday, sheriffs from across South Texas met with local law enforcement authorities to discuss the issue of building a border fence.

Ironically, about 15 miles east of Pharr, Hidalgo County Sheriff's deputies accidentally came upon 75 illegal immigrants hiding out.

Action 4 News cameras were the only ones there Wednesday afternoon, when officers raided the alleged stash house, located on Bentsen Palm Drive and 3 Mile Line north of Palmview.

Investigators said that sheriff's deputies were following a lead on stolen vehicles when they came upon the house filled with about 75 illegal immigrants.

Maria Gipe said in Spanish that she can't believe 75 people were hiding out there just across the street from her home.

Action 4 News asked her if she thought building a fence along the Rio Grande would help to curb the illegal immigration problem her and her neighbors are seeing.

She said that she doesn't think that it would work and feels illegal's would somehow still find a way to get across.

Those same sentiments were echoed at the Sheriffs Coalition meeting.

"Information that we have gotten from some cartel members, our intelligence's comes from the cartels, if they build a fence, they're going to knock it down anyway," said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. "They're going to make holes through it anyway. So what I get out of the fence deal. The burden if the fence were to be built and the maintenance of the fence will be left to local officers."

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino also said that he believed the fence is not a good idea, especially the millions of dollars it will cost to build it.

"That money could be better spent in maybe personnel," Trevino said. "If they gave us some of that money so that we could hire more deputies to secure our border and even lower our crime rate more than we already have."

The 75 illegal immigrants, which included both men and women, were taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol to be processed for deportation.

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