May 22, 2008, 4:58PM
Border coalition chair denounces fence


By KELLEY SHANNON Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press

AUSTIN — The Texas Border Coalition chairman on Thursday urged that technology, manpower and brush eradication be used instead of a fence or wall to secure the state's border with Mexico.

"There is so much technology now," Eagle Pass Mayor and coalition chairman Chad Foster said at a conference in Austin. "We feel that boots on the ground and technology is the solution to the security of the Texas border."

Foster renewed his call for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to clear carrizo cane and salt cedar from along the banks of the Rio Grande to make it easier for Border Patrol agents to spot illegal immigrants. Negotiations are pending with the homeland security department to find the best way to clear the non-indigenous vegetation, Foster said.

The border coalition has spoken out against a border fence in Texas. It filed a class-action lawsuit last week alleging that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff duped landowners into waiving their property rights for construction of a fence.

The Homeland Security Department has denied allegations of unfair negotiations. It says it has been diligent in working with landowners. The agency wants to build about 353 miles of fence by year's end to bring total fencing, walls and barriers to about 670 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Foster noted that his city was sued for federal access to city owned property for the fence.

Foster made his remarks at the Global Border Security Conference and Expo, sponsored by the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College along with private corporations. The expo displayed private-sector products, like surveillance cameras, for border security.

Foster noted that when the conference was held last year 10 percent to 15 percent of exhibitors displayed physical barrier products. This year that percentage appeared to be down to 5 percent, he said.

Also addressing the conference Thursday was Al Pena, the federal homeland security department's attache for Mexico, who outlined the increasing levels of violence in Mexico involving drug cartels and targeting law officers in that country.

"This is right on our border, and I just hope that people are seeing this and hearing this," Pena said. "Organized crime does not respect nations or borders."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5797094.html