TX - County may reconsider border wall
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE | STAFF WRITER 5 hrs ago
EDINBURG — Hidalgo County leaders will consider changing their stance on the construction of a border wall/levee project at their next meeting Tuesday.
County commissioners placed an item on the agenda for the upcoming Hidalgo County Drainage District meeting that would express opposition to the physical barrier between the U.S. and Mexico.
The vote comes about two months after commissioners expressed support for the construction of a physical barrier that sought to beef up the levees throughout the region.
If commissioners agree and vote in favor of the item, a letter that has already been drafted will be sent to Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly, Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of Homeland Security, and members of the Texas Delegation.
“A letter sent on behalf of the Hidalgo County Drainage District Board of Directors, which I chair, on February 21, 2017, was not meant to be an endorsement of any sort of border barrier or border wall to be constructed along the Texas-Mexico border,” County Judge Ramon Garcia wrote in the document. “At that time, the directors and I felt that if the federal government was going to build a barrier, then some good should come out of it, so we proposed shoring up our levees in lieu of a wall or fence.”
Since then, the board has heard from constituents who have urged them to take a stronger stance on the issue and the board now seeks to “clarify” its position.
“The Hidalgo County Drainage District #1 Board of Directors are adamantly against the construction of a barrier or border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border- including levee-border walls - and believes the logic behind the plan to be dangerously flawed and ill informed,” the letter reads. “We were pleased to learn that initial funding for the Border Wall was removed from the proposed budget. Since the Border Wall is now off the table, please consider reinstating funding for much-needed social service programs that benefit the poorest in our county, including U.S. veterans, the elderly and working-poor families.”
A resolution that accompanies the letter states several reasons for their opposition, including an anti-wall sentiment throughout the majority of the community, the potential impact to wildlife and the land rights of residents living along the affected areas.
“(The board) expresses its opposition to any border walls built in our county because they would not make us safer but would detract from the economic well-being of the County and from the quality of life of our residents,” the resolution states.
http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...1396acd50.html
