Texas border city of Del Rio embraces fence idea

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 at 4:39 p.m.


DEL RIO, TEXAS (AP) -- Del Rio is welcoming a 15-foot-high steel border wall the U.S. government wants to build to guard against illegal immigrants.

Some other Texas border cities have denounced the barrier as a waste of money, an eyesore, a giveback of hard-won American soil and an insult to Mexico.

But Del Rio's City Council voted unanimously last month to sell 70 acres to the Department of Homeland Security for 1.2 million dollars.

Mayor Efrain Valdez says Del Rio considers itself lucky -- it bought the land decades ago for $90,000 and regards it as useless.

Valdez told The Associated Press that an existing chain-link fence is too easy for illegal immigrants to jump.

He's also glad Homeland Security will clear the waterfront land of foliage -- enabling Border Patrol agents to see the Rio Grande.

Del Rio, population 34,000, is next to Lake Amistad reservoir -- a destination for bass fishing.

Del Rio sits opposite the Mexican city of Ciudad Acuna.

Del Rio's city limits extend all the way to the Rio Grande. But Del Rio's city center is miles from the winding, muddy flow.

Del Rio was built around a natural spring.

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