Mon, Feb 25, 2008 page7

• Resistance grows to US-Mexico border fence

  CONTROVERSY Both of the Democratic presidential hopefuls have said that increased patrols and improved surveillance methods would be a better solution than the fence

  • AFP
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  If it can be smuggled or dumped across the US-Mexico border, Ray Loop has probably seen it turn up on his South Texas farm: Bags of dope, Chinese immigrants, dead bodies, you name it.

  But Loop says he is facing his biggest threat ever, not from illegal activity but from the government's proposed solution to it: a massive border fence that would cut right through his property and leave him in what he calls a "no-man's land."

  Now Loop has joined a growing resistance to the controversial project, which has sparked a heated debate in Washington and, more recently, on the presidential campaign trail.

  The renewed attention has created hopes in South Texas that the next president will either scale back or torpedo plans for the massive fence.

  Though wildly popular on conservative talk radio, the project has drawn almost universal scorn along the Texas border.

  "There is a sense of hope that the next administration will be more border-centric," said state Legislator Aaron Pena, a supporter of Democrat hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton.

  "Because of the dynamics in the presidential election, with Texas being at the center point of the debate, we might leverage more acceptable options," she said.

  At a debate on Thursday in the Lone Star state's capital, both Democratic presidential hopefuls, Clinton and Senator Barack Obama, said increased patrols and improved surveillance methods would be a better solution than the fence.

  "There is a smart way to protect our borders and a dumb way to protect our borders," said Clinton, who lambasted the "counterproductive" fence which interferes with "family relations, business relations, recreation, and so much else that makes living along the border, you know, wonderful."

  Likewise, Obama said he would explore alternatives in consultation with local communities.

  "As Senator Clinton indicated, there may be areas where it makes sense to have some fencing," he said. "But for the most part, having a border patrol surveillance, deploying effective technology, that's going to be the better approach."

  Never mind that both Obama and Clinton voted in favor of the wall. Republican frontrunner Senator John McCain voted for it too, though his moderate views on immigration reform have played well in the Texas border area.

  Congress passed a law in 2006 calling for 1,125km of double-layer fencing along the 3,220km border with Mexico.

  More recently, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to erect 595km of it before US President George W. Bush leaves office in early next year.

  Environmentalists, farmers and elected officials have been complaining about the project, and allegedly heavy-handed tactics by the Bush administration, for months.

  Homeland Security has filed lawsuits aimed at expropriating land from dozens of landowners up and down the border.

  Even the University of Texas at Brownsville could lose access to buildings and grounds on the other side of the fence and is facing a potential legal battle after refusing to allow authorities on campus to survey the land.

  The Loop family has also refused to sign a release allowing the government to survey their farm.
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