Valley Morning Star by Mark Reagan July 24, 2019
Cameron County Commissioners Court passed a resolution opposing U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s border wall construction efforts in the Rio Grande Valley.
Commissioners approved the item, which was placed on the consent agenda, with no discussion.
Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. said the commission felt it was important to put their opposition on the record.
“ We’re hearing that there is still consideration and thought and discussions being made with the building of additional border wall structures, not just fencing, but structures, but among them, in environmentally sensitive areas, such as the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge,†he said.
He also said Commissioners Court is concerned that more border wall, which has existed here for a decade, is not the best use of limited federal dollars, which could be better used at ports-of-entry to improve drug interdiction efforts.
“ And the idea of saying the border is insecure as justification to build border wall, we just disagree with that anti-immigrant rhetoric,†he said.
The county passed a similar resolution in 2017, but at the time, public plans for President Donald Trump’s border wall focused on Hidalgo and Starr counties.
That’s now changed.
In July, CBP published notices in The Brownsville Herald, The Valley Morning Star and The Monitor, soliciting public comments on the location and potential impacts of border barrier projects, including 19 miles of levee or border wall in Cameron County.
More:
https://www.valleymorningstar.com/2019/07/24/county-opposes-border-wall-two-families-settle-government/
