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  1. #1
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    U.S. to raise Texas levees in lieu of border wall

    U.S. to raise Texas levees in lieu of border wall

    Fri Feb 8, 2008 6:48pm EST
    By Steve Taylor

    EDINBURG, Texas, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Federal officials said on Friday they will raise a stretch of Rio Grande river levees in Texas instead of building a small section of the controversial U.S.-Mexico border wall across the property of reluctant landowners.

    The compromise only applies to about 22 miles (35 km) along the border in Hidalgo County, a small section of the 370 miles (595 km) of border fencing the Department of Homeland Security plans to build by the end of the year.

    "This will serve both Border Patrol's need to have an effective barrier against smuggling and illegal migration and this community's need to upgrade its levees and protect against natural disasters," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told reporters.

    "This is a great example of a project that when it's concluded at the end of this year will serve both of those functions. It's a win-win outcome," he said at the border patrol headquarters in Edinburg, Texas.

    Levees are man-made embankments to prevent flooding. The ones in the area will be reinforced with 18-foot-high (six-metre) concrete barriers with sheer faces.

    Stefanie Herweck of the No Border Wall Coalition said the government's "assertion that these are not walls is just spin. They are making the deal sound sweeter than it is."

    The federal government says a wall is needed to stem the tide of illegal immigration from Mexico, but it is hugely unpopular with communities along both sides of the border.

    Ranchers are concerned about their access to the river and other property owners do not want the fence slicing across their land. Environmentalists fear that wildlife migration routes could be blocked while outdoor enthusiasts do not want to lose their access to the Rio Grande.

    A Texas woman whose property has been in her family for more than 250 years has filed a class-action suit to keep the U.S. government from surveying her land for the border fence, in the latest skirmish over federal efforts to fight illegal immigration.

    Lawyers for Eloisa Tamez, a descendant of Basque settlers and Native Americans, filed the suit against Chertoff on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCr ... SN08516163
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  2. #2
    Senior Member gofer's Avatar
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    it is hugely unpopular with communities along both sides of the border.
    But it's wildly popular in the communites in the rest of the Nation and we realize a lot of peoples relationship with the drug cartels and smugglers will be ruined, but that's life.

  3. #3
    Senior Member LawEnforcer's Avatar
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    Stefanie Herweck of the No Border Wall Coalition said the government's "assertion that these are not walls is just spin. They are making the deal sound sweeter than it is."
    If the open border activits oppose it then I love it!!!! Call it a levee or a border wall. Heck, I don't care if you call it a banana. If its a physical deterrant against illegal entry. I am all for it.

    I love the fact that the levees will shoot down any argument by the pro-illegals.

  4. #4
    Senior Member lccat's Avatar
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    Senator Kamnesty Bailey's Amendment

    It didn’t take long for Senator Kamnesty Bailey’s amendment to be used by another Bush Open Borders, Pro ILLLEGAL, Pro Blanket Amnesty, Anti Enforcement of Our Immigration Laws crony such as Chertoff NOT to build our National Border Security Fence!!!

  5. #5
    Senior Member lccat's Avatar
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    Additional Information

    Another Article on the same subject with additional information. Even Senator Cornyn is getting into the act.

    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

  6. #6
    MW
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    The open border lobbyist win again.

    Chertoff needs to grow some larger man ornaments and quit caving in at the slightest resistance.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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  7. #7
    Senior Member lccat's Avatar
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    Chertoff caved because that is the Bushwacker administration policy to support Open Borders and NOT Enforce our Immgration Laws!

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    Senior Member SOSADFORUS's Avatar
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    I can't picture this at all....can anyone else and explain to me how this will work and will it stop people from coming across the border...

    evidently the 18 foot sheer wall is not above ground as then it would be a fence!!

    Will they still be able to swim the Rio Grand and get to the other side??
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  9. #9
    Senior Member LawEnforcer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS
    I can't picture this at all....can anyone else and explain to me how this will work and will it stop people from coming across the border...

    evidently the 18 foot sheer wall is not above ground as then it would be a fence!!

    Will they still be able to swim the Rio Grand and get to the other side??

  10. #10
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    May as well put a welcome mat there too.
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