Border fence plans still shaky

LOS INDIOS — Like other farmers along the Rio Grande, Tudor Uhlhorn wants to know where federal officials will build a fence that will cut across his family’s land as part of an effort to secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

“I’d like to know how that fence is going to get across drainage ditches and irrigation canals,” said Uhlhorn, a farmer who owns part of a sprawling industrial park here.

“But they’re going to do what they want anyway,” he said.

On Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham canceled a meeting in which he was expected to field questions from local government leaders. Landowners and news media were to be barred from the meeting.

“They’ve never sat down to talk to the people who it’s really going to affect,” said Noel Benavides, an alderman in Roma. “It’s a very touchy subject when it comes to us because we’re right here.”

After Basham’s cancellation, U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar gave a hastily arranged address Friday in McAllen to the Texas Border Coalition. Aguilar told the group of mayors, businesspeople and environmentalists that the federal government would have the final say.

Uhlhorn said he talked with Border Patrol officials Friday, but he still has questions.

“They just said they wanted me to know nothing has been set in stone and they’re still evaluating alternatives for the locations and type of fence,” Uhlhorn said.

“They’re going to build the fence. We just don’t know where or what the fence is going to look like. … All I can do is wait and see.”

For landowners like Fermin Leal, a long list of questions surrounds the project, which threatens the farm business he has built up since 1966.

“If we don’t know where the fence is going to be built, we won’t know where we’re going to farm,” said Leal, who farms 3,200 acres that stretch from San Pedro to El Ranchito. “That would divert our operations.”

Federal officials have scrapped the plans outlined on a map showing that a fence would run across long stretches from Brownsville to Roma.

The map, designed by Customs and Border Protection officials, was leaked to the media early last month.

“The map that you have was a snapshot of planning and progress but not reflective of final decisions,” said Russ Knocke, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C.

Congress allocated $1.2 billion for construction of 370 miles of fencing by the end of 2008. The law calls for 153 miles of fencing along the Texas border.

Overall, the project calls for 700 miles of fencing across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Federal officials have not determined specific sites for construction, Knocke said.

“No final decisions about border infrastructure projects in South Texas have been made but we continue to talk with local officials … in moving forward with plans for border infrastructure projects,” he said.

Border terrain will determine the type of fencing to be constructed, Knocke said.

“There are a handful of different types of fencing that we use along the border. The fencing is going to vary depending upon geography. The topography would be different in one location than another area,” he said.

Three primary types of fencing include metal panels, wire mesh and cable barriers made up of multiple bands of cable, Knocke said.

Other barriers include steel poles designed to stop vehicles from crossing the border, he said.

The project will also feature a “virtual fence” made up of high-tech devices such as underground motion sensors, ground-based radar and unmanned surveillance aircraft, he said.

“We are working … to map out every inch of the border and make determinations where we will use traditional fencing, vehicle barriers and a virtual fence,” Knocke said.

Federal officials have not awarded contracts in the project, Knocke said.

Last month, local officials railed against Homeland Security’s move to call for bids for as much as $250,000 worth of work to construct fencing in Laredo.

But Knocke said the request for proposals was misunderstood. Its purpose is to set up the process for a contract bid so the bid process can begin once federal officials determine construction sites, he said.

Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge of the project, Knocke said. Greg Giddens, director of the Secure Border Initiative Net, or SBI Net, oversees the project, he said.

Uhlhorn said he doesn’t want to be a “poster boy” for a cause — he just wants answers.

“Hey, the decision is already made that they’re going to do it, and they’ve got the Patriot Act behind them to negate any need to take heed of any input from other stakeholders,” he said.

“I don’t want to come off as too hard on the Border Patrol. It’s not their fault.

“The decision was made around a large committee table in Washington, D.C., that the fence is what we need, without considering the implications of a fence along a river … and the private landowners.”