Thread: Border fence deters immigrants, residents conflicted

Border fence deters immigrants, residents conflicted
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 10/20/2007 08:24:52 PM MDT


COLUMBUS, N.M. -- This is not your grandfather's border fence.
The new fence flanking the Columbus port of entry soars 15 feet high and is buried 5 feet into a bed of concrete in the ground.

It is made of more than 17,000 6-by-6-inch steel poles. They are filled to the top with concrete and stand only 4 inches apart.

It replaces a stretch of chain-link fence that was sliced into daily by migrants and smugglers; some vehicle barriers that stopped cars but not humans ; and, in places, plain cattle fencing.

This new breed of fence may be a glimpse into the future of border security in Texas.

Border Patrol officials said this style of fencing has been used in other locations, including Douglas and Sasabe, Ariz., and Calexico, Calif.

It might now be used, with some variation, in the Rio Grande Valley, where the government expects to build 70 miles of fencing by the end of next year, and in El Paso, where a stretch of chain-link fence may be replaced by the sturdier kind. A report specifies the El Paso fence replacement would have to be at least 15 feet high and cut-resistant, although the exact design would be up to the contractor.

In Columbus, the change has been noticeable, said Andrea Zortman, Border Parol spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.

The 3.31-mile new fence is close to impossible to cut or climb. Those trying to go around it will find a Border Patrol car lying in wait.

"This fence has already made significant impacts on operations in this area as it deters or slows illegal incursions into the United States, granting Border Patrol agents the additional time required to respond and apprehend those that are capable of scaling this obstacle," she said.
Local residents are conflicted.

"I'm sorry to see it go up because it's always been a sharing community here in Palomas (Mexico)-Columbus," said Sharon Maxwell, curator of the Columbus Historical Society Museum. "But we also have a problem that has developed here that needs to be addressed ... (The fence has) made things, I think, a little safer."

Illegal immigration exploded in Columbus about three years ago, after a border enforcement program in Arizona pushed smugglers to New Mexico.

In 2005, Gov. Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency on New Mexico's border, especially at Las Chepas, a derelict Mexican town about 15 miles West of the border crossing. The town has served as a staging area for smugglers and migrants.

An increase in Border Patrol agents and local police in the area, and the arrival of the National Guard troops, have helped get the situation under control, locals said.

James Johnson, vice president of Carzalia Valley Produce, which has fields across from Las Chepas, estimated that crossings of migrants have gone down from 500 people a night to a current 100. But there's more to be done, Johnson said.

"When we got the vehicle barriers, it really slowed down the car traffic. We still see a lot of foot traffic. It can be a menace. They destroy crops and there are thefts. You can look around and you still see footprints everywhere," he said. "A fence will work in some places and not in others. I believe this is a very good candidate for it."

The new fence doesn't reach Johnson's land, but the farmer hopes to get his stretch of steel in about five years.

Apprehensions of undocumented immigrants have been down 41.5 percent in the past year in the El Paso sector, which includes El Paso and all of New Mexico.

Border Patrol agents apprehended 71,467 undocumented immigrants during the first 11 months of the fiscal year, compared with 122,256 for all of last fiscal year. Apprehensions are also down nationwide.

The Columbus fence was completed Sept. 14 by U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 21. Last week, National Guardsmen were still working on the structure, pouring concrete into the square, hollow steel poles. They positioned sideways in a diamond pattern, to make it more aesthetically pleasing and harder to cut through.

Border Patrol officials did not say how much the fence cost, but estimated previously that fencing projects cost $3 million per mile.

Several members of Congress revealed last week that Chinese steel was used in a new fence in San Luis, Ariz., and said they were concerned about the strength of the imported material. Border Patrol officials said all the material used in the Columbus fence was made in America.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_7237294

If this is a good fence, then it must be used for all 854 miles, if at all feasible. Unfortunately, based on what I've heard and read, much of what the govt has built lately has been flimsy. Talk radio host Kevin James had two guests on who visited Glenn Spencer's ranch near the border, and said the fencing they saw on their tour (if they saw any fencing at all) was mismatched and looked like it had been built by teenagers. A couple miles or so of really good fencing has been built for political photo ops.

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