EDINBURG - Leaders on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are ratcheting up their national campaign to get out their message that a border security fence will not solve the problems of illegal immigration and terrorism.

On Tuesday, they Webcast a panel discussion at the University of Texas-Pan American to more than 100 universities nationwide.

Mayors from border cities throughout Texas and Mexico, as well as business leaders and representatives from environmental, trade and other organizations, said they were tired of hearing national media reports misrepresent their home.

They said they were upset the U.S. federal government did not seek local input before unveiled its plans for the border barrier. In response, they formed the Texas Border Coalition as a means of making their voices heard.

"Don't leave it up to someone else to solve the problem for you," Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada said.

The panel was part of the university's weeklong Pan American Days celebration. The university's Office of International Programs hosts the event each year to toast the culture along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Politicians, business leaders, environmental groups and others with ties to the border region have criticized the federal government's fence plans since they were disclosed last year.

The coalition even went so far as to announce Tuesday that it will join as a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's plans to build the barrier. Five Rio Grande Valley residents filed the original lawsuit in February in U.S. District Court in Brownsville in response to lawsuits the U.S. Department of Justice brought earlier this year seeking access to land where the fence is planned.

The attorney now representing the border coalition, Peter Schey, president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, has filed a motion seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, which would expand it to all affected property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Critics of the fence say it would destroy about 30 years worth of wildlife preservation projects, cripple economies on both sides of the border and devalue farmland. Unlike the other three states bordering Mexico, Texas has the Rio Grande as a natural barrier, making a wall or fence unnecessary.

"We're not against border security ... (but) one-size-fits-all does not work everywhere," Del Rio Mayor Efrain Valdez said Tuesday.

Rather than spend money building a fence or wall, the leaders said the federal government should look into hiring more U.S. Border Patrol agents, starting guest worker programs and using newer technology to keep the border safe.

UTPA President Blandina "Bambi" Cárdenas said students need to be aware of what's going on in their community and speak up.

"I think the time has come for us to defend the border, to speak up for the border," Cárdenas told students.

Students who attended the forum said they were glad administrators brought the issue to light, because there might be some out there who remain unaware of the federal government's plans.

"We're from the border and we shouldn't take it for granted," said Marisol Navarro, a 20-year-old junior majoring in Spanish.

And "sometimes we need city officials, someone important, to address the issues," said Manuel Castillo, a 21-year-old junior studying criminal justice.
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Monitor staff writer James Osborne contributed to this report.
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Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.