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 Editorials | Issues | November 2007 
Border Plan Deserving of Consideration
 Midland Reporter-Telegram
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| | Men walk back into Mexico after being spotted by U.S. Border patrol as they were crossing the Rio Grande river separating the U.S. and Mexico in Laredo, Texas. Texan mayors opposed to a planned border fence with Mexico want to widen and deepen the Rio Grande river instead, and say it will be more effective in keeping out illegal immigrants. (Reuters/Rick Wilking) |
Several Texas mayors along the border think it might be wiser to widen and deepen the Rio Granderiver instead of building a border fence with Mexico.
In short, they believe that such a move will be more effective in keeping out illegal immigrants.
It is a plan that hasn't gotten much play, but we may be seeing a time when there are many beginning to listen. A group of six border mayors are calling the fence a "wall of shame" and have vowed to take the federal government to court to block its construction.
The U.S. government aims to build 700 miles of new fencing along the frontier with Mexico to boost security and try to stem the tide of immigration from the south.
That move will cause a host of problems, especially along the Rio Grande, according to the mayors. The current fence plan has it being built on the Rio Grande's desert flood plain, and would cut off some ranchers' access to the river, the main source of fresh water in the arid region. The mayors say it would also damage trade and centuries-old ties with Mexico. The Rio Grande has marked the Texas border with Mexico since the 19th century.
The mayors say a wider, deeper waterway along the lower Rio Grande would create a more formidable barrier than a fence that immigrants can cut, climb over and tunnel under. Also, it is reasoned that a widened river would be a bigger deterrent to illegal immigration and the project doesn't send the wrong message to Mexico that the wall does.
Brownsville mayor Pat Ahumada has proposed 42 miles of river widening at a cost of $40 million. In addition, the city of Laredo is also pushing to widen a stretch of its river front and the other four mayors along the Mexico-Texas line say they are evaluating similar plans.
The Brownsville and Laredo projects involve digging out the river bank on the U.S. side to triple the river's width to up to 500 feet and deepening the river from 2 feet to about 10 feet at its shallowest, and up to 24 feet in the deepest sections.
Mexico, which must also approve the project because the river is a bi-national waterway, has shown support for the plans, although Brownsville and its Mexican sister city Matamoros have yet to agree on the positioning of necessary waterworks.
Even some Border Patrol officials are also warming to the idea, seeing it as an opportunity to make the border area easier to protect.
It is certainly a plan that deserves more serious study. Any plan that works while keeping both sides of the border happy deserves serious consideration. |
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