Border fence: Legislature should join opposition
November 17, 2008
El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez was in Austin last week talking with members of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus. He asked that the Texas Legislature file legal briefs in support of lawsuits lodged by El Paso governmental and environmental bodies.
Written by Editorial, The El Paso Times
Opponents of the border fence want Texas state legislators to rally behind the cause. That's a good idea.
El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez was in Austin last week talking with members of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus. He asked that the Texas Legislature file legal briefs in support of lawsuits lodged by El Paso governmental and environmental bodies.
Rodríguez said, "I asked them to pass a resolution opposing further erection of the fence ... to show support for communities like El Paso. We think that the state of Texas has been entirely too quiet. As a state we should be on the forefront of this issue."
He's right. State legislators, who must be sensitive to border issues no matter what their district, should join border colleagues, governments and other groups and unite in opposition to the fence.
There are many reasons to argue against the fence, running the gamut from aesthetic to environmental. A perfect case in point is occurring in El Paso with the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.
This ecological jewel in the Lower Valley, painstakingly revived through a partnership between the city of El Paso and the University of Texas at El Paso, could be severely harmed by the fence running nearby. In the words of Gloria Villaverde, president of the Friends of the Rio Bosque, a preservation organization committed to the park, "In nature, things need to be in balance." She said the fence will create "the possibility for habitat fragmentation; it cuts off migratory patterns as well as gene flow."
And that's just one fence-connected problem, one of hundreds or thousands of such concerns along the border.
More attention should be paid to getting increased numbers of "boots on the ground" - Border Patrol agents - and more use of high-tech electronic surveillance equipment.
We urge Texas legislators to heed Rodríguez's call and to join with the Texas Border Coalition, the city and county of El Paso and others in opposing the border fence.
The fence is more a measure of desperation than a well-thought-out plan for border security. It's just not a good idea.
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