On the Border

Texas will keep you guessing, that’s one of the reasons I like living here. In a state as Red as this, something like the proposed border fence would pass with flying colors. Or maybe not. Several Texas border towns are quietly refusing to allow federal workers on to their lands to begin preliminary construction work.

Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada said Tuesday that he refused two weeks ago to sign documents granting federal workers permission to begin work if it was to be on city property. Del Rio granted limited access and El Paso allowed workers only on its outskirts, said Monica Weisberg Stewart of the Texas Border Coalition, a group that represents local officials.

“This is exercising our rights. This is our property,” Ahumada said. “We are not going to make it easy for them.” – Houston Chronicle Full Article

Let me be clear – the immigration problem is a clusterfuck. No one has presented a viable solution for immigrant/human rights while securing the borders from various nefarious elements (and to be sure there is some wacky business going on down there). But a wall, a $1.2 billion fence? There was a town in Germany that tried this for while – Berlin was the name, I think ? I seem to remember that not going too well, but I’m sure that Mike Chertoff and the gang at Homeland Security will be able to do a better job than an oppressive Soviet regime. Look at the bang-up job they did with Katrina…