Granjeno dusts off border fence protest

GRANJENO — There are no TV cameras or national press roaming the streets.

No town hall meetings railing against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Even the “no border wall signs” are fading, lost in a sea of political posters for the candidates running in next week’s primary.

Granjeno, the little village that became the face of the anti-border fence movement, is slowly returning to its normal state of peaceful tranquility.

“It’s quieted down a bit. We’re just hopeful they’ll leave our properties alone,” said Rafael Garza, the town’s former mayor.

“We’re still protesting it, but I think everyone’s fought as long as they can.”

Like most people living in Granjeno, Garza has grown accustomed to talking with reporters.

Articles in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times datelined Granjeno showcased the town’s 400 or so residents to a national audience as the victims in the federal

government’s border security initiative.

But after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced last month that all 22 miles of border fence planned in Hidalgo County would be built atop the flood-control levees that run north of the Rio Grande, the town seemed spared.

Under the government’s original plans, the town’s homes looked like they would be demolished to make way for a border fence set 150 feet back from the levee that marks the town’s southern boundary.

Beginning last summer, a number of residents banded together and started contacting local politicians and lawyers. Before long, the media came knocking, undoubtedly intrigued by the rustic town’s possible destruction.

“It opened up a lot of doors for us. A lot of people didn’t know we existed, people started seeing our point of view,” said Gloria Garza, one of the town’s more vocal opponents of the border fence.

“I got calls from several people once we started getting in the paper. I got calls from California. These were people who knew representatives and they were calling Washington.”

Only 15 years earlier Granjeno was involved in a protracted legal battle with the cities of Mission and McAllen over the construction of an international bridge through their community. That and other incidents since the town’s settlement in 1767 seem to have cultivated the belief among residents that Granjeno is a town under threat.

Even now, there’s a sense the federal government’s plans could change.

“I’m sure something else will come up, something to get rid of us,” Gloria Garza said.

_____

James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.