Pubdate: Mon,  9 Oct 2000
Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Copyright: 2000 San Antonio Express-News
Contact:  http://www.expressnews.com/
Forum: http://data.express-news.net:2080/eshare/server?action=4
Author: Dane Schiller, Express-News Staff Writer

PATROL PUSHES BORDER DEFENSE

Don't expect the Berlin Wall or a superhighway hugging the Rio Grande.

But the Border Patrol is pushing ahead with plans for the military to build 
as many as 1,300 miles of road and install fences, spy cameras and 
thousands of stadium-style lights along the river that divides Texas and 
Mexico.

The projects are aimed at combating drug traffickers and undocumented 
immigrants by giving agents quicker access to remote canyons and ranches 
that make up the borderlands.

But the plans, which come at a time when Mexican President-elect Vicente 
Fox is calling for a more open border, have some critics charging that 
Mexico is being cast as the enemy.

"We feel they treat us like criminals," said Andres Cuellar, official 
historian for the border city of Matamoros, Mexico.

The Border Patrol contends the additions are necessary to cut down on 
covert entries into the United States.

While it remains to be seen how many projects would be carried out, some 
frustrated border residents said just about anything would help.

"If that is what it takes, that is what it takes," said Tommy Vick, a 
retired railroad foreman who lives seven miles upriver from Del Rio.

Vick said his problem is thieves crossing the border to Texas, breaking 
into his home, then dashing back to the safety of Mexico.

"Just about every week you hear about somebody getting something stolen," 
he said.

Smaller projects would be carried out in other border states a=80=94 New 
Mexico, Arizona and California a=80=94 according to a five-year plan that 
calls for unarmed military construction units to take up temporary duty 
within 50 miles of the border.

The joint effort is seen as a way for the military to get much needed 
training building base camps and roads and for the patrol to stretch its 
budget and cover a border that is often left wide open for drug traffickers 
and undocumented immigrants.

The roads give agents quicker access to remote canyons and ranches, while 
the lights take away the cover of darkness and the fences limit areas 
vulnerable to covert crossers.

And since military personnel are already on the federal payroll, the patrol 
only has to pay for building supplies.

The Texas proposals are ambitious, but the military has been working with 
law enforcement agencies to combat drug trafficking for more than 10 years.

Efforts have ranged from building roads in the Rio Grande Valley and West 
Texas to armed patrols, such as the one that shot and wounded an 
undocumented immigrant in the back near Brownsville in January 1997 and 
another that fatally shot a high school student who was herding goats near 
Big Bend National Park in May 1998.

None of the current plans call for armed personnel and none are set in stone.
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