Thread: Chertoff announces alternative to border fence in Hidalgo

Chertoff announces alternative to border fence in Hidalgo


By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press
Feb. 8, 2008, 3:16PM

EDINBURG— The federal government and local officials in one border county announced Friday they had reached a compromise that would eliminate the need for the much-maligned border fencing there.

Private land in Hidalgo County border towns such as Granjeno, where dozens of homes could have been lost behind the fence in a no-man's land between Mexico and the United States, would no longer be threatened by a land grab, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

But the 22 miles of combined levee and border wall under the compromise would be a small portion of the 370 miles of border barriers that Homeland Security is charged with building by the end of the year.

The city of Eagle Pass, about 200 miles west, has been faced with land-seizure orders for fence that will be built through the city of 26,000. No compromise plan is in the works.

Since the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for border security and natural disasters such as flooding, the Hidalgo County solution to modify levees along the Rio Grande with an 18-foot sheer face on the river side satisfied Chertoff.

"When completed at the end of the year, they will serve both functions," Chertoff said at a border patrol station in Edinburg, the Hidalgo County seat. "It's a great example of where we are able to dovetail what we need with what the community needs."

Gov. Rick Perry, who with local officials has opposed the fence, thanked Chertoff for being receptive to local feedback.

Chertoff noted that a "legislative fix" allowing the local and federal funding contributions to the project would be required for the agreement to move forward.

It was the most conciliatory atmosphere between border communities and Homeland Security since the border fence dispute began more than a year ago, and an about-face from last month, when Chertoff said people worried about the impact of increased security on cross-border travel should "grow up."

Chertoff had also filed more than 50 lawsuits against landowners along the U.S.-Mexico border to get access to their land for surveys, including eight more in Cameron and Starr counties Friday.

One of Friday's lawsuits was against the Texas Southmost College District, which oversees the combined University of Texas at Brownsville campus and Texas Southmost College in Brownsville. The college's president, Juliet Garcia, has been one of the fence's most outspoken critics.

Chertoff said that the compromise could be workable for other communities along the border, but they would have to be able to meet the tight timeline that forces Hidalgo County to have its part of the levee-wall work wrapped up by the end of the year.

Hidalgo County, which sits on the U.S.-Mexico border, had already been working to improve its levees when Congress and President Bush approved the border fence to combat illegal immigration and smuggling. The county will contribute about $45 million from a local bond issue, while the federal government will adds about $66 million.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said he would work to get reimbursement for the county since both border security and the levees are federal responsibilities.

Hidalgo County chief executive J.D. Salinas said the levee improvements would also save property owners who faced millions of dollars in insurance premium increases because of poor flood control in the area.

But most significant is that the border wall-levee system will stay along the river's edge. Earlier plans had the fence winding through towns like Granjeno as far as two miles inland from the Rio Grande, cutting off huge swaths of property into a no-man's land between the fence and the river. The fence also would have cut off water access to farmers and ranchers in the area.

"The people of Granjeno should not be concerned," Salinas said.

"Great, great, great," said Granjeno resident Gloria Garza, whose house backs up to the levee. "Our prayers have been answered."

Residents and elected leaders throughout the Rio Grande Valley had bristled at the idea of a border fence, fearing both the loss of private land and the message it would send to their sister communities in Mexico.

But last fall, Salinas and his Cameron County counterpart, Carlos Cascos, suggested the levee compromise, figuring they could fix two problems at the same time.

"I think that's a big victory for all of us here," Cascos said.

Cascos said Hidalgo reached an agreement first because it had already passed a bond issue with money for levee repairs. He was hopeful that a similar compromise could be struck in Cameron County.

"It's just going to make sense to continue that same project in Cameron," he said.

Some remained skeptical.

An anti-border wall group said Thursday that it was concerned the new compromise idea could be pushed through without thorough study and evaluation.

"We question whether the abrupt change in Homeland Security's plans is the result of a newfound concern for those who live in the wall's path, or is simply a matter of political expediency," a statement from No Border Wall said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5525924.html

Rolled right over.