Border Residents Ask Presidential Candidates to Listen to their Perspective!

As we approach the March 4 Texas primary, all eyes are on Texas. The following are excerpts from area newspapers and advocacy groups.

Texas Border Residents Report:

"If Barack Obama wants to win Texas big, if he wants to win the hearts of the real Texas grassroots, if he wants to garner the Hispanic vote, if he wants to be the champion of the poor, he needs go no farther then the Texas-Mexico border. It is here that the poorest region of all America exists, where hundreds of thousands of neglected Veterans live, where the highest percentage of Texas Hispanics live. He would need to convince us that he will stop the border wall, that he will stop the internment camps (Detention Centers), that he will stop the ICE raids and the ENDGAME, that he will end the militarization of American soil and the harassment of American citizens of color, that he will treat our neighboring country and Number 1 trading partner with love and respect, that he will stop the economic slavery of NAFTA, that he will insure that children are not imprisoned for profit, that he will not allow private and public land to be seized for something as totalitarian as an “iron curtain”. He will have to convince “we the people” of South Texas that that he will stand WITH us in leadership."

From the Houston Chronicle:

Border locals complain DHS uncompromising
By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Border residents complained to a House panel Thursday that the Homeland Security Department has been unwilling to listen to them as it builds a security fence along the U.S-Mexico border.
The complaints stem from the federal government's effort to build 700 miles of fence along the southern border, required by a 2006 law signed by President Bush. The Homeland Security Department wants to finish about 370 miles by the end of the year. But local officials said the department has ignored them and their concerns in its rush to meet that goal. For example, some landowners want the department to leave in place barbed wire fencing that costs $8,000 to $10,000 a mile. The fencing is being ripped out as vehicle barriers are erected along the border, said Nan Stockholm Walden, an Arizona farmer and rancher. "There's been a breakdown in trust," she said. "There seems to be no willingness to compromise or listen at all and that's where people become suspicious and tell DHS they won't let them on their land." The Homeland Security Department has filed dozens of condemnation lawsuits against landowners in Texas, Arizona and California to get access to their property. Recently, Homeland Security agreed to a local plan to improve levees on the Rio Grande near Hidalgo County in response to opposition to plans that would put homes behind the fence. The hearing was held by a House Appropriations subcommittee that approves the Homeland Security Department's budget.
Last year, Congress required the Homeland Security Department to consult with other government agencies as well as local officials as a condition of getting money for the border fence. Subcommittee chairman David Price questioned how meaningful the consultation has been. He said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is ignoring "the fact that consultation leads to an outcome that may be superior". Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster asked the panel to "use your muscle to bring them to the table and work with us." "We were told that the (Customs and Border Protection) had held 18 town hall meetings that, on investigation, turned out to be meals in restaurants and phone calls," said Foster, chairman of the Texas Border Coalition of elected officials and business owners. Foster's city has been sued for access to city owned property. Eagle Pass has opposed plans for a fence that would run through the municipal golf course. But city officials have agreed to improve a golf cart path so Border Patrol vehicles can use it and have agreed to have light towers erected to illuminate the course. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar, speaking to reporters, defended his department's consultation with local officials and communities. "I think it is important to recognize there is a massive amount of outreach going on," he said. He said the city of Eagle Pass is the only land owner in the El Paso, Marfa, Laredo and Del Rio Border Patrol sectors that has refused to allow the Border Patrol on its land. Many residents in the Rio Grande Valley, including the city of Brownsville, has refused the Border Patrol access.
"While DHS certainly has a duty to secure our borders and ports of entry and to enforce our immigration laws, the department also has a duty to be considerate of citizens' rights — especially law abiding citizens — while carrying out the mission of securing our borders," said Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, the committee's top Republican.