LA Times By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Apr 30, 2018
The moon narrowed to a sliver as several migrants paddled a raft across the Rio Grande to the banks of this small Texas border town, scrambled up well-worn dirt trails through thorny mesquite into a cluster of shabby houses.
There was no wall to stop the migrants. That job fell to half a dozen Border Patrol agents on bicycle and foot patrol last month. Flashlights bobbing, the agents found a pregnant Central American migrant stopped by a Family Dollar parking lot. She surrendered in hopes of applying for asylum. The others had disappeared.
“We do not have control,†said Manual Padilla Jr., the Border Patrol’s sector chief for the Rio Grande Valley. In the area around Roma, he said, traffic has shifted to where the agency does not have sufficient personnel, technology and infrastructure — including a wall.
But where and how to build the wall? That’s the complicated question in the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest stretch of the southern border for migrant apprehensions and marijuana seizures.
When Congress in March approved $1.6 billion for border wall and fencing, it covered 100 miles of barriers in California, New Mexico and Texas. The largest stretch — 33 miles — is expected to rise later this year in the Rio Grande Valley and have the most potential to deter immigrants and drug smugglers. But it’s still not clear where the limited barrier will go, including hot spots like Roma.
“Locations for border barriers are operationally driven,†Border Patrol officials said in a statement, noting that the agency “considers strategic objectives, border census data, and the feasibility of constructing physical barriers along the border.†Border Patrol officials and experts analyze that material and additional factors — such as risk and intelligence — to decide where to build barriers.
The land along the Rio Grande is perhaps the trickiest stretch of new wall to build. The river winds for 350 miles, and with it the border, a floodplain where construction is restricted by water treaties with Mexico. Residents and businesses own property south of existing border barriers, land that’s still legally part of the U.S., so the Border Patrol adds entrances to allow agents and landowners access south of the wall.
Officials have not released maps of where the new wall will be built, but confirmed that
it will be erected in adjacent Hidalgo and Starr counties.
More:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texas-mexico-border-wall-20180430-htmlstory.htmlMy Outlaws live in Hidalgo county about 4 miles from the border.
