GAPS!

November 16th, 2009
A sign for a hiking trail points straight at the border wall.

A sign for a hiking trail points straight at the border wall.

There are still many gaps in the fence that are in need of gates and in some places it is not clear if the gaps will become gates, and if so what kind of gates.  For example, the Hidalgo Pump House, a World Birding Center, has a gap in the wall where naturalists can enter the trails that lead to the Rio Grande River.  A border patrol vehicle usually patrols right at this gap.  During a number of visit to the Hidalgo Pump House we have yet to see anyone access these trails.  Indeed, for many the idea of approaching a border patrol agent to seek permission to hike on nature trails on the south side of the Wall is daunting.  It is not clear if the Birding Center will get a gate or will border patrol check the nationality of anyone bird watching on the South side of the Wall.

The border wall at Brownsville Texas.

The border wall at Brownsville Texas.

Near Brownsville the Loop family owns a home that will now be on the south side of the Wall.  DHS has yet to full inform the family on what type of gate will be put in place to allow the family to access their land.  The gaps normally measure about ten feet.  Unless the gate is not mechanized, it will be too heavy for many to open.  The story can be found at:  http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/moves-104925-border-orchard.html#slComments

During a recent trip to the Wall we drove down to a number of gaps along clearly marked county roads.  The gaps are now a favorite place for border patrol agents to patrol.  We were stopped and told that we could not proceed because south of the Wall was private property.  Our protests that we were on a public road were not heard so we had to turn back.

It is amazing that so little planning has gone into the construction of gates.  Without the gates, and only the gaps, the Wall does seem like a fiasco. However, the end result might be to force landowners to give up claims on their properties south of the Wall.  Indeed, naturalists are now not able to access Sabal Palm Audobon Center.  Is it only a matter of time that the birding trails at the Hidalgo Pump House will officially become closed.

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Is the U.S. Mexico Border Wall the New Berlin Wall?

November 9th, 2009

Texas State Representative Aaron Pena has called for the tearing down of the U.S. Mexico Border Wall to mark the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The comparison to the Berlin Wall is one of the major points of anti-border wall activists though pro-border wall forces argue that the Berlin Wall kept people in while that U.S. Mexico Wall keeps people out.? I have included Rep. Pena’s comments below, as published in the Rio Grande Guardian .? Comments?

Pena: Tear down this Wall
9 November 2009
Aaron Pena

[President
President Ronald Reagan called on Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Twenty years ago, students from East and West Germany did so.

EDINBURG, Nov. 9 – The Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago on Nov. 9, 1989, ending almost 30 years of family separation of a singular community.

On a day like today it is always fitting to remember President Reagan’s speech at the Berlin Wall. Perhaps the most momentous event in the last half of the 20th century took place on this date The Berlin Wall came down.

“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Reagan said.

Interestingly enough and rightfully so, most Americans see it as a symbolic end of tyranny. Here in the borderlands of this country, on the edges of my legislative district, Americans forget that a similar wall was constructed (sadly with the help of misguided elected officials) separating family members and a singular community.

How long will it take the people of this country to see the contradictions in today’s celebrations while we continue to construct our own wall in my community’s backyard. I hope to live to see the day. In the meantime, I join in the celebrations ending this symbol of tyranny.

Here in South Texas we ask that our nation continue to remember this day, as we undoubtedly will, with the vivid and wasteful reminder that we live with here along the border. After the fear diminishes and the recognition of the enormous cost to our country is realized maybe we here on the border can find an additional reason to celebrate. Until then this day shall remain bitter-sweet.

Today is a day when all lovers of freedom can happily proclaim their rejection on any attempt to divide a people. In the words of a wise president, “Tear Down this Wall!”

Aaron Pena is Texas state representative for District 40. A Democrat, he resides in Edinburg, Texas.

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Younger Texans more liberal on immigration, how does the RGV compare?

November 6th, 2009

As reported by the Texas Tribune see link below, immigration is the top concern of Texas voters and more than half say that undocumented immigrants should be deported while 41% believe that immigrants should be allowed to assimilate. However, younger voters and minorities favor assimilation while older Anglos favor deportation.? According to the poll conducted by The University of Texas/Texas Tribune, 52% of voters age 18 to 29 favor assimilation while 32% favor deportation.? Latinos favor assimilation, 69%, while 20% deportation.

It is curios that the choices are assimilation versus deportation. I wonder how these numbers compare with attitudes of residents in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, any comments?

http://www.texastribune.org/stories/2009/nov/05/mixed-impressions-inside-poll-numbers/

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Why are we not talking about citizenship?

November 5th, 2009
An editorial about border security, published by the New York Times on September 21, 2009, emphasizes the high cost of the border wall and the lack of ways to evaluate its effectiveness. The editorial rightly calls for broader immigration reform. In a reply that we wrote to the editorial, that was not published, we noted that there is a higher price that should be emphasized—the denial of citizenship.? We include our response and the original editorial below.Any comments?
Border Fantasies rightly criticizes the cost of building the border wall and lack of oversight. As anthropologists studying border wall construction, citizens of South Texas shocked us when they explained that the United States government ignored over 30 laws to expedite construction, ranging from environmental laws to historic preservation laws. Our research demonstrates that these waivers severely limit the ability of local citizens, landowners and politicians–including border city mayors–to challenge fence construction. For many Texans, DHS??s circumvention of established laws created an atmosphere of distrust and extreme frustration. In effect, Congress and DHS stripped Texans of their legal rights. Congress needs to look at the costs associated with the border wall, both fiscally and as an affront to our democracy.”

BORDER FANTASIES

Members of Congress who voted for the Southwest border fence as the fix for illegal immigration professed shock? shock at the news that the project is running years behind, and billions of dollars ahead, of the Bush administrations early, rosy projections.

Auditors reported last week that the high-tech, 28-mile virtual section of the fence was running a mere seven years behind this months planned opening. Initially, designers talked of using off-the-shelf technology for the radar, cameras and other sensors, but problems cropped up. (Imagine, discovering that cameras tremble in rough weather.) I am trying to figure out why this is so difficult, said Representative Michael McCaul of Texas. ??These are basically cameras on a pole.??

The current cost estimate for the Buck Rogers barrier? $1.1 billion.

Investigators from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office report that the larger, actual fence covering a 600 mile-plus stretch between San Diego and Brownsville, Tex. cost $2.4 billion to build and will cost an extra $6.5 billion in upkeep across two decades.

Investigators also concluded that theres no good way of gauging the effectiveness of the fence.

The current decline in border arrests could be because of the bad economy as much as the fence (which the innovative have already learned to breach with cutters, torches and ladders). Even then, the fence covers only the more manageable third of the border with Mexico.

Members of the House border security subcommittee voiced grave concern but did not peer much beyond fencing technology to the more complex reality: the need for Congress to reform the nations immigration laws. No fence can keep a determined immigrant out or absolve Congress of that responsibility.

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The Texas Rangers on the Border

November 4th, 2009

Americo Paredes, writing about the Texas Rangers in the early 1900s, describes them as a force whose main goal was to create terror among border residents. Now, with Governor Perry sending a special tactical unit of Texas Rangers to secure the U.S. Mexico Border this historical memory of the rangers (or rinches) is now bringing back memories of this violence.

Consider the following post in the blog South Texas Chisme (http://stxc.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html):

“They seem to be speaking to the Anglo populace, because they sure are not speaking to me. Am I supposed to be thrilled that Perry is bringing Los Rinches back? They just don’t get it, do they? Now comes PERRY – an Anglo – to remind us Mexicans/Chicanos that the killer Texas Rangers are still alive and well. Known by Mexicans as Los Rinches de Tejas ? these foul-mouthed lawmen too often took the law into their own hands and lynched Mexicans simply because they were there and because they were defenseless.

By some estimates, thousands of Mexicans were lynched by Los Rinches who, in their brutality, executed them without suffering any repercussions from Texas courts. Los Rinches would falsely arrest Mexicans and would promptly lynch them, without benefit of a court trial or any other venue where the person’s guilt or innocence could be proved.

In the period from 1848 to 1870, some official records show that 473 out of every 100,000 Mexican migrant workers died at the hands of Los Rinches. In the 1850s, Tejanos faced expulsion from their Central Texas homes on the accusation that they helped slaves escape to Mexico. Others became victims of Anglo wrath around the Goliad area during the Cart War of 1857, as they did in South Texas in 1859 after Juan N. Cortinas’ capture of Brownsville.”

Our question is to what extent does this quote capture the views and sentiments of border residents. Any ideas?

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Brownsville, Texas, the Border Wall and Public Meeting Tonight

June 2nd, 2009

While almost all border wall construction has been completed in Hidalgo County, DHS has not completed its work in Cameron County where Brownsville and University of Texas-Brownsville are located. Brownsville’s Mayor Ahumada sent out a press release about tonight’s meeting stating:

“This is to inform all interested parties opposing the Border Wall to make note of a proposed agreement between the City of Brownsville and DHS (Department of Home Land Security) which, has been posted on the city agenda for consideration and action on June 2, 2009. The city meeting will take place at City Hall on the second floor, at 6:00 p.m., located at 1001 East Elizabeth Street, which is at the corner of East 10thStreet and Elizabeth Street.”

The people of Cameron County continue to fight construction of the border wall. ?On our tour of various border wall construction sites, it seems that challenging DHS does bear fruit. While communities who challenge DHS have not completely stopped the wall’s construction what they have been able to do is make a place for themselves at DHS’s table and make their voices heard by DHS. ?In other words, at this point, it appears that the struggles open dialogue with DHS for negotiating a compromise. We visited UT-Brownsville’s campus this weekend and viewed the border wall. Here’s what it looks like.

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That’s the border wall on UT-B’s campus. ?We took the photo from the southside of the wall looking north onto the university’s baseball stadium. ?UT-B’s beautiful and growing campus merges with a delightful park near the border called “Lincoln Park.” ?Community activists are working hard to keep DHS from building the wall on this park. ?Below are some photos from the park.

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The park has picnic areas with bbq pits, walking trails, little league fields, slides and swings for small children to play and basketball courts.?

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We found strolling through UT-B’s campus and playing at this park to make for a wonderful family outing. UT-B’s campus is gorgeous, with a canal and resacas cutting through the campus.

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While crossing the bridge, we saw an array of tropical birds in their habitat. Margaret loved seeing a pair of parrots flying in and out of their home in a dead palm tree. We also sighted a variety of herons and ducks. Our daughter Liz thoroughly enjoyed watching the ducklings waddle and swim alongside their parents.

The university is in the process of building and upgrading pedestrian paths. The campus reminded Miguel of Stanford in places and Margaret of Indiana University. Both universities also have large green spaces to walk through where you fell like you are out in the country. In Bloomington, for instance, IU’s campus fells like a forest. We found it surprising that DHS built the wall north of the university’s golf course. It looks like in the future, one might be required to pass through a border patrol access point to golf. Here’s a photo of the golf course.img_3718

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The photo below is taken near where it looks like DHS might build a gate so that students can golf. The next photo is taken on the levee one crosses to reach the golf course. We took the photo near the possible point of entry. Notice DHS’s lights in the background.

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Border Wall at Hidalgo Pumphouse and World Birding Center, Sunday 24 May 2009

May 27th, 2009

Last week we interviewed elected officials who hold office around Hidalgo County about the combined border wall–levee structure that passes through the majority of the county. ?One construction site that has been a focal point for this study is the Hidalgo Pumphouse and World Birding Center in the town of Hidalgo. ?The renovation of the Pumphouse and the creation of a world birding center are part of larger project undertaken in Hidalgo to transform the area, making it more attractive for tourists and residents alike. ? The border wall project bisects the pumphouse/world birding center, so in our conversations with elected officials we were keen to learn about their interaction with DHS during the construction process. We learned that DHS was responsive to the concerns of elected leaders. ?For instance, they agreed to include a large gate in the wall at the pumphouse-birding center so that people would still be able to traverse their hike and bike trails. ?From what we understand, there will be a border patrol gaurd at the gate, but s/he will be under orders not to ask for papers when individuals cross through the gated area. ? ?The gate will be closed when the center does at the end of the day. ?We also learned that the visitors will not be able to see the border wall from the north side of the property. DHS will build ground up around it so that it looks like a green hill–or something that looks as though it came from mother nature. ?The view from the south side, however, will not be scenic or blend into the surrounding landscape.

Margaret wants to shift the tone of this blog to a more personal level. ?On our trip on Sunday, we ran across a couple of border patrol agents walking along the property. ?They were young and polite (unlike agents we ran across at other places along the border wall that we visited on Sunday) and armed. ?Margaret still finds it shocking to be walking around a birding center with her two young children and see heavily armed men, or –for that matter–in a Subway buying a sandwich and see another two heavily armed men ordering sandwiches. ?Margaret sees the pistols and bullet proof vests and becomes nervous. These armed men are not police. It is not their job to protect her from criminals. ?Their job is immigration. ? Why do they need to be wearing pistols in public places? ?It’s one thing for an agent to be out in the bush by him/herself but driving around in towns in SUV’s and buying sandwiches–are the arms necessary in such places?

Below we include some photos from the pumphouse of the wall and where we think that the gate might be located.

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Pipes that take water from canal (once Rio Grande)

Old pipes that would have been used to transport the pumped water from the Rio Grande (this canal was the Rio Grande until a hurricane in 1933 re-routed the river) to other parts of Hidalgo County.

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Border Wall Forces the Closure of Sabal Palms Audubon Sanctuary

May 11th, 2009

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On Saturday morning, we attended a final event in celebration of the Sabal Palms Audubon?Sanctuary whose official last day will be?Friday 15 May 2009. ?Audubon decided to close The Sabal Palms Sanctuary primarily due to the construction of the border wall. ?DHS plans to build the wall north of the Sanctuary, making access to the park difficult. ?The location of the Sanctuary is north of the Rio Grande, providing another reminder that U.S. residents have increasingly limited access to land on the southside of the border wall. ?This proposed construction reminds us, once again, that DHS’s inability to provide transparency in the process of the border wall construction hinders the everyday movement and lives of U.S. citizens. ?This lack of transparency makes planning incredibly difficult.?? Not to mention that during these hard economic times, the loss of jobs and revenue from tourism that these parks generate effects the quality of life for residents and workers in the Rio Grande Valley.??? According the Sierra Club, DHS will not provide compensation for damage and devaluation that the border wall construction brings to properties adjacent?and often times on?their construction sites.? DHS also leaves completely uncertain the basic issue of access to property.

The Sabal Palms Sanctuary is a significant place for a variety of reasons. To us, the foremost is that it is one of the last remaining places where residents and visitors can glimpse what this region looked like before farming and ranching stripped the land of its trees:? imagine a forest of palms.? Rather than heat parching desolate tracts of land with outposts of mesquite, this land once stood thick with native palms trees.? The trees were so dense that when you looked up, you couldn??t see the sun, just palm fronds. ?You would hear the sounds of those fronds shaking in the breeze.? It felt more like a rain forest in Costa Rica than the flatlands of soil that you see today.? The density of the palms is why some of the first Europeans to visit this region named the Rio Grande ??Rio de las Palmas?? (River of the Palms).

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The other two places where you can see the palm forests will also be located behind the border wall.

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Hidalgo Pumphouse (Updated)

March 13th, 2009

New Post on Pumphouse March 2009

We wanted to add some more recent photos from the construction on the Pumphouse property as well as add more dimension to our previous post on the Pumphouse. As discussed in the earlier post on the Pumphouse, the site itself is a significant marker of the history of the region. If one visits the Pumphouse today, as we did last month or last week, one misses an element of the story. That element relates to labor and the treatment of Mexicanos in the United States. Hidalgo, the town where the Pumphouse is located, was also a port of entry for laborers.

Go to?http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_441.html?for a highly significant photograph of Bracero workers being fumigated at site not far from the Pumphouse from the Smithsonian Collection.

(Thank you Dr. Spener for bringing this photograph to my attention.)

More Photos

Below are a few photos that we took at the Pumphouse during the first week of March.

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The photo below is an update of the photo from the original post photographs. ?Recall the photograph of the Winter Texans beside the wall at approximately 18 feet in height. ?That wall segment is the short segment in the far right of the photo below.
Pumphouse March

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Pedestrian Trails Closed

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Hidalgo Pumphouse

February 3rd, 2009

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A View From the Pumphouse

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Hidalgo Pumphouse

On Sunday 18 January 2009, Miguel, Margaret and family toured the Hidalgo Irrigation Pumphouse—or more simply put The Pumphouse—a historic site located across the Rio Grande River from Reynosa, Mexico.

Control of water is a centerpiece of borderlands history, and understanding water rights and control of those rights lends insight into the transformation and priorities of the region??s inhabits.? For example, when the lower Rio Grande Valley was primarily based on a ranching economy, the Mexican and Spanish government gave certain settlers long and narrow tracts of land with access to the River so that the cattle had a place to water.?? For Midwestern and Southern farmers who moved to the region around the turn of the 20th century, moving water from the River to their crops became crucial to the success of their farming operation.? Today, you can find approximately 500 miles of canals throughout Hidalgo County.

The Pumphouse, then, built in 1909 stands as a testament to the modernization of Hidalgo County and the shift toward a farming-based economy. The water pumps from The Pumphouse distributed over 300,000 gallons of water per minute across the County, starting in 1909.? In 1983 officials closed The Hidalgo Pumphouse and opened another pumphouse operated by electricity. For the past twenty years, citizens worked to transform The Pumphouse into a museum and birding center and not let it waste away into an eyesore. These efforts bore fruit.

In January, we arrived at a beautiful structure carefully maintained by staff that was surrounding by a lush and blooming green space meant to attract birds and butterflies. We enjoyed sitting underneath the gazebo and watching Zebra and Queen butterflies flutter around us.

Toward the end of our guided tour of The Pumphouse, we were taken outside to view a water canal that also served as habitat for migrating ducks. As the ducks quacked in the distance, we turned to look south and about 100 yards away stood the 18 foot high border wall (or combined levee structure or modified levee). Our tour group primarily consisted of Winter Texans. About eight of them walked over to various portions of the wall and took photos. I visited with a couple from the State of New York who has been living here every winter for the past eight years. They expressed disgust at the wall and said that they never thought that they (our government) would actually build the wall. When our tour guide was asked about the wall, she explained that the wall is half a mile north of the Rio Grande, all land that The Pumphouse owns. She continued explaining that they had bike trails in that area that have been bisected by the wall. They dont know how people will gain access to that portion of Pumphouse property. Since their fairly new bike trail has been bisected, they do not plan on re-opening it, but have more modest goals of opening a walking trail to the public?even though DHS has not told them where their will be openings in the wall. The tour guided expressed dismay when she pointed to what remained of the biking trail?a much less scenic pathway cut by roadways. We ran into a Canadian bicycler (flag mounted on his handlebars) while on our tour, and he was rather disappointed by this lack of access.

Below you will find photos of The Pumphouse and the border wall/modified levee structure that stands within easy view and walking from The Pumphouse. It seems as though water control, once again, is playing a crucial role in the history of the region, defining the perameters of the 18 foot high border wall/modified levee structure that vehicles will be able to drive on top.

Pumphouse Entrance

Pumphouse Entrance

Historic Marker Outside Pumphouse

Lizzie Under Gazebo in Butterfly Park

Wall Construction in the Background

Tourist Taking Photo of Construction

A Final View of the Wall from The Pumphouse

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