Thread: TX:Border Fence construction to begin in 2008

Border Fence construction to begin in 2008

Updated: Dec 27, 2007 04:29 PM PST


(AP) -- It's been a year of protests, outcry, and worry for Texans opposed to a federal plan to build more than 80 miles of steel border fencing along the Rio Grande.

In meeting after meeting, city leaders and residents from Brownsville to El Paso have begged the feds to rethink the fence plans.

Those plans call for 26 sections of 15-foot-high, two- or three-layer fencing that can withstand a hit from a 10,000-pound vehicle going 40 miles per hour.

Despite the pleas, U.S. Homeland Security officials say the fence project should be done by the end of 2008.

Some South Texas residents and elected officials have tried to block the government's progress by refusing to let surveyors come on border properties to look at land that could be the site of new fencing.

Since then, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has sent letters to South Texas officials and land owners warning that continuing to refuse access will lead the department to ask for a court order. The letters also allude to the government's plan to use eminent domain if they can't negotiate a deal to buy land.

DEVELOPMENTS TO LOOK FOR IN 2008

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is making plans to complete the Texas sections of border fencing by the end of 2008. But new legislation easing requirements for specific fencing designs and locations could change the situation.

Developments to look for:

1. Construction is expected to begin in South Texas by spring.

2. Court hearings could start early in the year as federal authorities follow through on threatened legal action to gain access to private land.

3. Leaders in South Texas cities may file countersuits to block federal access.

4. Legislation allowing more local input and easing some fencing requirements could reduce the number of parcels needed for fence construction in Texas.

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.a ... v=menu90_3

I wonder if they really meant to say 20008?

Originally Posted by Sam-I-am

I wonder if they really meant to say 20008?

Probably

Originally Posted by cvangel

Despite the pleas, U.S. Homeland Security officials say the fence project should be done by the end of 2008.

Let's see . . . they have completed six and a third percent of the fence during the past 14 months. They should get it done by April of 2025.

If we still have a country by then.

Originally Posted by cvangel

In meeting after meeting, city leaders and residents from Brownsville to El Paso have begged the feds to rethink the fence plans.

Who are these people!?!

Originally Posted by patbrunz

Originally Posted by cvangel

In meeting after meeting, city leaders and residents from Brownsville to El Paso have begged the feds to rethink the fence plans.

Who are these people!?!

Pat, many of them are OBL types who profit from illegal alien cheap labor. But there are also many who have legal alien employees who work stateside by day, then go home at night to Matamoros, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, or Juarez. They don't wait an hour or two each way at the international bridge either; they put their dry clothes and shoes in a big zip-lock bag and swim across in a minute. Nasty water, though.

The fence will cause a sea change in how American employers - legit and non-legit - staff their businesses. The legit employers want the immigration laws enforced, but to provide housing for their day laborers would be prohibitive, and many of the day laborers are not the kind of folks you want for house guests, even in the bunkhouse. Without the daily flow of migrant workers, many of these upstanding, squeaky-clean employers will not be able to make a profit or stay in business, and they will lose their land, which has been in the family for generations. Without the day laborers to work the land, even its market value will decline steeply.

The day laborers and their legit employers within a couple of hours of the border are the unmentioned victims of the fence. If you can think of a way to save the country without ruining these decent working people, please let it be known.

IIRC we do already have a temporary worker program, don't we?

Originally Posted by patbrunz

IIRC we do already have a temporary worker program, don't we?

Pat, we have many temp worker programs, and ag workers of any stripe are welcome in any number. They can cross freely, but they still may have to wait for an hour or two at the international bridge - there are huge lines. Ag day laborers won't spend two or three hours EVERY DAY waiting in line to go from Mexico to the U.S. and back. But the fence will seal off the ways they get around the bridge. The Mexican (legal alien) day laborers will lose access to the jobs across the border, and U.S. farmers and ranchers in the valley will lose their labor pool. But by building the fence, we hope to avoid losing the whole country, if it's not too late already.

How much do the employers pay for those jobs? What would happen if they offered higher wages for those jobs?